Post #6 -- Re: Assignment #3 -- Local News Analysis

After watching the local news on a monday night in the beautiful Pearl River, NY, I can't say I was very surprised as to the content. The news that night included things such as information on the school budget next year, the stats of a recent Gaelic Football game (Pearl River supports the largest Youth Gaelic Football league in the nation), and a segment about the way the poor economy is affecting the economy of New York. There were a few moments where the subject matter became somewhat political, but these moments were few and far between. The local news became the most political in a brief spot about the stimulus package and how it will affect Pearl River's business, but this vague and passing reference to the world outside "the Town of Friendly People" was about as political as it got.

In my opinion a little more political content couldn't hurt, but local news may not be the medium for this sort of content. (The few) individuals who watch local news aren't watching it to learn what Barack Obama is doing or about recent legislature going through Congress, they watch to learn about property taxes in New York or about the New York education system. Of course, as somewhat of a political junkie I would be lying if I said it wouldn't be more interesting with some more political content..

The local news was somewhat entertaining, but it is certainly not entertaining enough to keep my attention if I did not have to watch it for this assignment. The only interesting bits were things I could relate to, such as the peice about the Gaelic Football (many, many Pearl River kids play in this league) or the few political segments. I was somewhat surprised that I did not see a single "shock value" segment of the news -- this night, they did not air anything about any fires, crime, or war stories, which seemed atypical of news programs.

All in all, my brief foray into the world of local news was slightly interesting, but I think I will keep my next visit even more brief.