I watch a lot of PBS and especially the Create channel on PBS. At least I'm learning something.

Yeah, I think it's pretty much the same all over - at least I've noticed the same format wherever I've traveled. I especially hate the baiting lead-ins, which are the sensationalized blurbs designed to make you stay tuned during the commercial breaks. That's what they're doing when they use a descriptive identifier such as "grandmother", because that's a word that generally tugs at emotions.

Although mentioning someone is a grandmother may often be a headline meant to shock to get your attention, in some states some crimes (battery, abuse, etc.) against the elderly (over 65) often carry stiffer penalties.

Good point, maddielee.

I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I'm considered a senior citizen in many circles. A senior citizen? How did that happen so quickly?

The word "elderly" really hurts, especially when the subject is younger than I am.

Oh, and some classic headlines:

Headless Body Found in Topless Bar

http://nypost.com/2015/06/09/new-york-post-editor-and-film-critic-vincent-musetto-dies-at-74/

P*nis Found on Railroad Track (San Francisco TV)

Gosh, I don't pay that close attention! LOL I normally only watch the early new on days I work. I have a favorite channel and enjoy the anchors. There is alot of community info on that station, plus several local restaurant guests who do a cooking segment, a master gardener who is on weekly, etc. They have a time during the early news where they have guests in regarding charity events, and during the school year they even have one day where they have a guest "jr. weatherman" which is so cute. I like our local news, that station anyway. I rarely watch the 6:00 or 11:00 pm news.

Our news is the same. Plus all the women are dressed in super tight stretchy short dresses, while the men are in suits.

Donna

I have to watch local news for HS Sports coverage. My impression is that it is a lot of state government coverage, car accidents and fires. Yes there is crime coverage but it hasnt felt overwhelming.

ETA our female cohosts/anchors have 'normal' bodies so no complaints about unreasonable body expectations. I also find them articulate(ie not bubble heads).

Interesting question. We have 3 local stations. the first one is what we call "the ambulance chasers" they are always on the local blood, gore & accidents trail. We don't watch them. The second channel we watched for years - until last spring when they "retired" all of the mature, educated, well spoken anchors for a group of younger, interchangeably blah individuals. We no longer watch that channel. #3 is ok. anchors & reporters are a mix of mature & younger & they still report on issues rather than just sensational happenings. Although anymore all local news seems to hype traffic & weather reporting although maybe that's just the Seattle area that I live in.

I don't watch any news and, being deaf, hear none and I like it that way. DH turns on the tv the minute he gets up so I take my Macbook over to the little den and read and chat with my family and friends. Our snowstorm is almost all melted so out to lunch today, it's sunny and pretty.

I live in the NYC media market, and wonder how many local news reports are needed. We have the local versions of the 4 networks, two local stations (9 & 11), and an adjunct to the CBS station (10). Storm coverage on just about all of them until around 1 yesterday afternoon.

I do like the diversity in the anchors and reporters. The dress issue bugs me though, rarely do you see a female anchor or weatherperson in slacks.

We only watch TV news when there is bad weather, or a huge disaster like 9/11. We flipped past one local newscast recently, and I watched a minute or so. My remark to DH was "wow, these people seem really amateurish." I couldn't put my finger on it, but it seemed a bit like a high school play.

Ours definitely does not use the tight dress angle. Sometimes I wonder about the styles, but they are always appropriate.

Fortunately, our women newscasters don't have to wear short tight stretchy dresses and nor are they blonde. They and the men wear what I would call professional wear except that the sports guy wears jeans on the bottom while wearing a suit jacket and tie on top. I'll bet a lot of the guys do that.

A couple of years ago the woman who is the meteorologist - the station that I watch have meteorologists with degrees rather than weather-readers, was pregnant and worked almost to her due date. The grief and crap that she took from viewers over her "appearance" was appalling. She, her fellow newscasters and the station addressed the issue one night and then in further depth on a noon news hour as a story, because the comments addressed to her got to be so vile and insulting.

It's pretty much color variations of the same style of dress, and it's not exactly flattering on everyone.

Ida, I'm not sure it's flattering on anyone! :)

I just avoid watching unless there is a major catastrophe ("major" by my definition, not the crazy news people). And when weather became "news", they lost me. We first discovered this when we spent 10 winters in Maine. In Maine, it was BIG NEWS that a it was going to snow - snow A LOT! Well, fancy that! Who'd have thunk it! Maine! Snow!

And the promotions for the "personality" weather forecasters? "Jay keeps me safe"! Jay tell you there is a tornado coming (the sirens blaring also told you that) and that you better get out of your trailer or you're going to be in big trouble.

Grrrr.....

Yes, they do wear the exact same dress.

bothell, when we moved to the Seattle news market over 10 years ago, I was struck by the maturity of much of the news media (in a good way). It has been changing; moving closer to what I have experienced in other areas. I agree that traffic and weather are highly prominent.

My favorite news station now has two meteorologists reporting the weather every weekday morning. They bounce between the two of them in the same segment. Strange. So there are two news readers, two meteorologists, a traffic person, and then they cut to another person with the breaking news. So there are 6 on-camera people.

A lot of our weather and traffic reporters are women who seem to have been hired according to the size of their enormous boobs and toned arms. Heaven forbid they should wear a dress with sleeves. When they turn sideways, their boobs block the view of the map. And yes, all we get is bad news and mayhem, although we don't get the farm report which I remember hearing while in Colorado once. I rarely watch the local news now and I used to like it.

Fortunately our 2 favorite stations still have some mature anchors during the week. Now, the weekends are different. That's when we get the younger, less experienced crowd reading the news, and oh boy does it show it. They can't pronounce half the names of the small towns in our state. Granted some are pretty odd, but at least inform yourself before you go live. They stumble over unfamiliar (to them) words they should know. And just act silly sometimes. The 3rd local channel - we won't watch their news at all. All silly youngsters who are barely trying.

Don't get me started on some of the weather girls. There is one in particular we refuse to watch. She is stuffed into one of those stretchy dresses and shouldnt be wearing it, although she does appear to have lost some weight recently. And her voice and mannerisms just grate on our last nerve. She acts like a know-it-all as if she has some technical knowledge she must prove to everyone. Get over yourself, girl, this town is full of scientists and PhD's!

I gave up on television news years ago. The absolute blather that they use to fill the air time is objectionable to me. Even when there is a major story, they spend hours repeating the same thing with no NEWS. I'd rather read the news online. I can scan, skip and check out interesting stories in-depth.

I can't stand local news for all the reasons already mentioned. When I am at someone else's house or a doctor's waiting room and it's on, I just can't believe how dumb it is.

We used to have a lot of the older news people but most have now retired. What I think is kind of cool though is that on one station, they replaced a woman news caster with her daughter. Both were on for a while and were/are pretty good. I used to watch for the weather, but lately they're wrong more than their right. LOL

What really bothers me is that EVERYTHING is breaking news and nothing is just news anymore. I used to watch the national news on ABC but have really started to hate the way all the ABC reports talk. Every other word is emphasized as if there is an urgency. I really like Lester Holt. He's got the same style as Brokaw and some of the older more memorable news casters.

It's absurd how the weather report will supersede regular programming when there's the possibility for something severe in my area. Tornado watches are bad enough, but if there's a definite funnel cloud sighted, oh boy! It's like the reporters are just salivating all over themselves to bring us a blow-by-blow play, including reports from "spotters" out there in the midst of it all. (That's stupidly dangerous, but still they persist.) It's incredible how they can labor on about little to nothing, and it's also amazing how one can actually get sucked into this mindless vortex. I swear they are hypnotizing us all.

I don't have cable so any news I get is on CBC on the radio. I usually change the channel to music or my community radio station when the news comes on. News is distorted in importance to sell their brand I think.

I'm also glad I don't have a constant barrage of visuals of how young they are compared to me every day and how blonde they might colour their hair. It spares me having to talk myself out of feeling bad. :)

I may catch a bit of of news from a local station and that's about it. If I'm in front of the tv at that time of night (late), I'm usually just flicking through and don't stay on it too long. There's terrible things that happen everywhere and I don't to constantly hear and dwell on it.

Yes, to PBS and Create.

Anglo, I think a big snow storm, even in Maine, should be huge news. It effects everybody. When we get large storms we always keep it on the local news because frankly, it's fun and interesting to watch. lol

While tornado's aren't fun, (I'm in OK), all coverage is needed. One large tornado traveled over a hundred miles until it wiped out a large town here.

This reminds me of something I buried way deep down and I just now remembered it. Embarrassing! One quiet Sunday afternoon, DH and the boys were out in the shed goofing around. I was sitting in the LR reading. It started raining, and I did have the TV on, then it suddenly got quiet. The kind of quiet you know isn't right.

I looked outside and saw a tornado in the distance! I screamed and screamed for DH and the boys to come inside, this was before we had a cellar, and they didn't hear me. I took cover in the bathroom, then came out when I figured all was safe.

I was so angry at not having it reported on TV that I called the news station and told them I saw a tornado! Of course stupid me gave my name and town.

The 6pm weather said, "Oakley Smith of Smalltown said she saw a tornado. That would have been a cold weather funnel cloud which doesn't hit the ground."

I nearly died. But do you know what DH did? He and the boys saw the "tornado" and got into the car (stupid) and did NOT come inside to tell me! I don't think I fixed anyone dinner that night. :)

I live in a large metro area. I gave up watching local news years ago when the lead story one night was prom dresses. I only tune in if we're in for bad weather. I watch the national news, but am even getting annoyed with that. The first ten minutes is hard news and the rest is just fluff.

We were part of the snowstorm on Monday, which ended up not being a big deal here. Yet yesterday some stations were nonstop with snow reporting. Can't we just get a quick update every hour or 30 minutes? And I really detest it when they ask "the man on the street" inane questions....."what do you think of the snow?"......."how do you plan to stay cool in this heatwave?"

Or worse,

"Someone hit you with their car and left? How does that make you feel? Or

"You've lost all your things in the fire? You have to start all over? How does that make you feel?

I haven't watched local news since I was a teenager. There just isn't anything to it.

This morning there was a story about how a girl from Sugarland TX got a job working as the family nanny while traveling around the world with them. How exactly is this news?

Did anyone see the blurb this past Friday of the little girl who was opening the storm door to enter her home, a gust of wind caught the door and she held on so went "flying" momentarily? On the so-called news. Must've been a seriously slow day, with absolutely nothing of any importance going on in the far reaches of the planet.

I suppose this and the "story" MagadelenaLee mentions are intended as human interest stories, but frankly, they aren't even interesting.

I record the local news, fast forward to the weather, and then delete the recording. I check the local newspaper online for the news.

I once watched a local station for the first time, and was surprised at the two bimbos that they had reading the news standing up. Tight, short dresses, one was blonde and the other one was brunette. T and A.

Whew! I thought I'd become a bitchy old lady shouting get off my TV! At least I'm not alone. I turned the TV off Nov. 6. Even thought I wasn't much of a TV watcher I am surprised that I have not missed it one bit. I usually turn it on for 1/2 an hour before I go to sleep and watch something on antenna Tv or some other old program. I can catch the weather video on the net. There might be one "headline" on the TV station page that I might read. Or not.

Local TV news is worthless. I get all of my local info from a newspaper. Remember those? ;)

Ah yes, the spandex dress. Why do they have to wear them?

We have a fun meteorologist who has a great wardrobe. Sometimes they mousse his hair up too much or his spray tan is a little intense, but that's all. The poor girl in the morning in her spray on dress looks ridiculous.

I'm tired of all the crime. I only watch weather and sports now on the news. I read the paper for in depth stories about local issues. Some important stuff is not even reported except on t h e internet. The regular news does not tell us some stuff so that we are largely ignorant of it. Then some idea they want to push will be featured on all the channels using the same wording. They are trying to distract us or feed us an idea they thought up. This is fake news too. The stuff that is spin to build approval. Especially when someone wants to go to war.

Our local meteorologists are great! One has been at the station over 30 years, and he is a big part of the community. He has a funny weather-related name so he jokes he was destined to do the weather. He does a lot of community service such as food drives and works with the humane society and animal care and control to feature adoptable pets. He was in a bad car accident last spring and was off for several months to rehab, and he was missed, but he is back and doing all his good things. They hired a female meteorologist while he was out on leave, but they have kept her on.

Another meteorologist is awesome at social media and will even live broadcast from his home office when bad winter weather is predicted.

One thing I do not that if bad winter weather is predicted, they will lead in with the weather and then have you wait for the full details. Everyone is watching for the weather!

I think if there is a tornado warning in the area, they said they have to be on the TV to interrupt normal programming.

We had a recent event in my town that was potentially dangerous but also impacts a major issue facing my town, and there was barely a mention in the news. We have one anchor who is getting ticked at having to report that, for example, some restaurant chain is coming out with a seasonal item, etc. He calls it free advertising. I agree with him. Cut it out. And kudos to his management for not removing him from the air when he comments on it!

Wow, you guys have some seriously bad local news! Apparently we are fortunate in our area (pretty large city, not LA or NYC, but pretty big & well-known) the stations do report on a lot of crime/fires, but they certainly don't do a lot of "fluff" stories and the newscasters and weather people are a diverse bunch in terms of age, ethnicity, and body types. (Although why anyone in this day and age would be bothered by a reporter being too fit, fat, blonde, young, old, is surprising g to me....) Both the males and females dress well, I guess, I don't pay that much attention.

I think the Fargo-Moorhead local news-casters (3 stations) are pretty decent!

A couple of the Women are even slightly "fuller" figured! No Hooker dresses or anything, surprisingly! The Men have decent suits. A couple of the younger weekend staff-people on the 3 stations dress conservative too.

It's almost.....boring!

Faron

I don't have cable TV at my house, so when I go to work out, I'm always checking out the TVs. Planet fitness, in its perversity, has FOX news right next to CNN news. It drives me crazy. On my right side, I am seeing that we will reduce the deficit by hundreds of millions of dollars with the proposed healthcare act. On my left side, I'm reading about 24 million people not having insurance. If I really squint to the right, I get to watch animal planet. And the obvious answer is no, I can't move to a different viewing area. This is where "my "machines are.