Okay, I am officially pissed off at any local news station in existence. Why are news programs part of a station's ratings? This is the cause of my rant.

Local news has gotten so consumed by trying to get good ratings and get more people to watch "their" local news that it is ridiculous. Their tactics to get you to watch started off as annoying, but now have gotten out of control. All of this "only on news 12," or "news 5 has this story first" has gotten out of control.

But now it has literally become dangerous. I can't remember exact examples, but here is a hypothetical example similar to what they have done recently:

"I popular brand of butter may be contaminated. Tune in at 11 to see if this affects you."

or

"A water main broke in Palm Beach County. Find out if your water is contaminated on news 10 at 11."

This is just ridiculous. They're withholding vital information for ratings! Why are news programs even part of a station's ratings? Can't they see how bad this is getting? Telling us to tune in at 11 to see if my orange juice is contaminated? Let's say its 5 o'clock and I want a glass of OJ. What am supposed to do?

Anyway, I was wondering if others here have experienced the same problems with there local news and what they think about it.

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Kids must be shot by Monday.

Honesty tests for workers can't be trusted, report says.

Psychopaths are unpredictable.

Jay Leno's Headlines > Everything

Yes.. very annoying. That's why if I want to know something vital, I'll tune in to one of those 24/7 news channels.

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When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

Problem is, at least down here in Florida, we don't have any 24\7 local news stations. I know in NY they have a 24-hour local news, but not here in FL.

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Kids must be shot by Monday.

Honesty tests for workers can't be trusted, report says.

Psychopaths are unpredictable.

Jay Leno's Headlines > Everything

Yeah well, that's capitalism.

When all else fails, blame the Russians. When the Russians didn't do it, blame the aliens. If there are no aliens, watch the local news and find out why.

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"The Oracle told me I would die with my boots on. I've worn tennis shoes ever since." - Axis

If it's not a major thing, they aren't going to interrupt programming. That's just the way it works

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

Usually those stories end up something like 'drink 500 gallons of orange juice a month, and your chance of getting lung cancer goes up by 10 percent' or some crap like that. If it really was life-threatening, they'd tell you right away.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

I havent watched a local news program in years.

Btw, I'm guessing that if you or your home were in any kind of danger, the police or something local government officials would stop by all the affected houses to make sure the residents were aware.

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And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...

DSettahr's Homepage

My local news acts like "one big constipated family."

I just want the news, not a powwow...

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
-----@%

An exile of the Soviet Massassi Regime

MSNBC? CNN? We get those in canada for kak's sake!

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When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

A popular brand of cola has been found to be lethal. We won't tell you which one it is until 11, after sports!

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--Hinch
Terry Hinch's Web Comic
All opinions expressed by Hinch are the explicit views of Hinch, and only Hinch and his 7 other personalities. In the event that said personalities are in dispute, the majority shall prevail. All opinions are held in perpetuity of the present, past, and future throughout this universe, mirror universes, and all multi-verses, including alternate time lines.

Exercise self-control.

But yes, most of the local news channels in my area have been doing this for a *long* time.

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"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." - Proverbs 27:17

Catalog of Electronic Components - Complete IC data sheets
National Electrical Code (NEC) Online - Don't do wiring without consulting it. OR ELSE!

Round here it's always something like "A moose found its way into the city this afternoon, where it wandered around for a few hours, not really doing anything, but a lot of people did some mean things to it, including our cameramen. It was tranquilized after they (the cameramen) had had enough fun with it. It is now in an undisclosed location. Let's head out to Nancy Smith, who is live, within a five mile radius of somewhere the moose ONCE was, and, now that it is dark, it's not like it matters where the heck she is, Nancy..."
Then they follow that "Developing Story" (even though it's already developed and deceased...) for the rest of the night.
Sigh...

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I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time". So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.
-Steven Wright

"Here's Cindy with the weather! Hope she gives us a good forecast, or my plans are ruined! Ha ha!"
"Shut the hell up, Ralph. I have no control over the weather, and I'm sick and tired of your stupid banter, you motherf-"

DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, THE FOLLOWING PROGRAM HAS BEEN CUT SHORT. TURN TO CHANNEL 72 FOR MORE DETAILS.

I've actually seen this happen.

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Superstition brings bad luck.
-Raymond Smullyan, 5000B.C.

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your curiosity will get the better of YOU one day.
Jon`C:Irony is spelling 'quality' poorly.
Spork:Well I think 'Irony is spelling grammar poorly'
Snail racing: (500 posts per line)-@%

You guys don't have text-tv do you?

It's very handy for local stuff like this. It's like an uninteractive internet limited to about 800 pages of coloured ASCII. You can even check out the arrival and departure times for Helsinki International Airport on Text-tv here.

Here, it's teletext. And the BBC tells us all we need to know.

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The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.
-- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, The Father of Rocketry

I'm not talking about interrupting programming. I'm talking about teasing us with mini-commercials such as "A water main broke. Find out how your water is affected at 11." They'll show that commercial at 10, let's say. Why tease us like that?!?! If it is truly not important, then why tease us? And if it is, why endanger our lives?

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Kids must be shot by Monday.

Honesty tests for workers can't be trusted, report says.

Psychopaths are unpredictable.

Jay Leno's Headlines > Everything

If your life were really in danger, they would interupt programming. If a water main broke and you don't have water, you'll know you don't have water. The aren't news isn't going to tell much more than you already know.

Here, if they'll often add a line of text over the pogramming if they have any important information.

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

Hehe..in my tiny town, the only news that is NOT vital is the only news given.

"This just in: Things people actually want to know about won't be reported on this station."

But my point is why do they tease us? If it is useless info, why tease us with silly promos? If it is useful and necessary, then tell us on the commercial. If the commercial takes up 20 seconds, they could just as well say: "this just in: if you live in Fort Lauderdale you need to boil water for 72 hours."

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Kids must be shot by Monday.

Honesty tests for workers can't be trusted, report says.

Psychopaths are unpredictable.

Jay Leno's Headlines > Everything