By Lexi Matthews ’17

The numbers seem to line up perfectly; with seven hours of it broadcasting daily and 71 percent of Americans tuning in, local stations should be producing some of the most well-informed individuals on earth. Nevertheless, one crucial factor is contributing to quite the opposite: the content.

Filled with useful traffic updates, weather coverage and sometimes-exclusive crime stories relevant only to the broadcasting region, one can understand local news’s appeal. However, how many of these filler, not-so-hard-hitting pieces can a station air before it becomes less of a news source and more of a punchline?

Recently, Fox 5 local news started its usual morning broadcast with flashy headlines of murder, kidnapping and stabbings. Fear and intrigue coursing through them, 35,000 viewers found their troubled thoughts quickly eased by three full minutes of banter about D.C.’s abnormally warm winter this year.

The fear returns yet again with the full story of the kidnapping of a local teen, a reporter on the yellow-taped street. A concerned grimace outlines the reporter’s face before she flashes a smile and throws it back to the studio. The anchors thank her, comment about what a beautiful day D.C. is having again, and launch into a two-minute discussion on Kim Kardashian’s new son. A teaser about stabbings  and holiday stress-management play before four minutes of commercials.

So far, this has seemed more like a Shakespearean tragedy than news report with its constant emotional tuggings, and we’re only eleven minutes in. This is supposed to be “The Capital’s Premier Newscast,” and neither politics nor global news has been teased. Viewers hear no mention of the Supreme Court’s new assault-rifle stance or the end to Venezuelan Socialism that led in The Washington Post that morning; News 4 and 8 offer nothing of the sort either.

The report does not get much better from there; within two hours, weather and traffic are mentioned 19 more times for a total of 26 minutes of the broadcast. The eerie over-dramatizing of local violence continues as the three main crime stories hit viewers five more times; no new information is added. Even more absurd are the seventeen minutes in which anchors, unscripted, discuss the most menial subjects, from eggnog to their spouses.

To many, this may not seem like much of a problem. One may argue that promoting stories like local kitten adoptions or celebrities having fun can brighten society, instead of forcing them to suffer through harsh, unchangeable realities from the outside world.

This could true, but it overlooks one key issue; if millions of Americans depend on local news to learn what is going on around them, and what they’re tuning in for only delivers fluff, we are not shielding innocence but breeding an ignorant society.

In the height of election season, why was politics only given 54 seconds of airtime, and a single story on National Brownie Day given five times that alone? And D.C. crime rates have been on the steady decline since 1997, so why does coverage of local violence still dominate a quarter of the show?

The only logical answer to this is ratings, which garner higher sales revenue. If the average American isn’t interested in the complex workings of government, it only makes sense not to cover it. Instead, they turn to glamorous, easy-to-follow news on celebs and crime, which are sure to evoke enough emotional response in watchers to keep them hooked– and their ratings high.

While this is understandable, it is not right. News itself is extremely cheap to make, requiring little talent, set design, or much planning at all. This means that no matter what stations choose to air in-between the ads, they are still going to prosper; the non-news it sticks in is only adding insult to injury as they earn billions off of ignorance.

Above this, it is an act of injustice to victims in ‘real’ news stories not to report them. Even if  stations avoid these stories not for greed, but to keep their shows ‘lighthearted,’ it does no real good, as locals who can perhaps help the victims never even get to hear their stories.

As millions around the country tune into these trainwrecks each day, a need for reform is an understatement. Generations need to be taught, world problems to be fixed, elections to be conducted, and the only thing local news has made Americans an expert on is why Kim’s son is named ‘Saint.’