I was thinking about the last two articles I wrote, and I realized that I needed a puff piece. I needed a "Better Tomorrows" kind of article. That's the saying one of the newscasters (Jerry Taff) in Milwaukee had when I was growing up. He usually said it right after the nightly puff story, and maybe it left all of us with a little more hope.
From what I can tell of local nightly news, they say goodnight and that they'll let us know if there's any updates overnight, and tune in tomorrow. Calm down and have a cup of better tomorrows, news people. Sure, you just sent the news van out to check on a double homicide, but we need to go to bed.
I stopped watching news in Milwaukee over ten years ago, so I can't really say if what Jax does is the norm or not. It probably is, since the goal is to keep us on edge, waiting for then next catastrophe. Since I'm still trying to get a feel for the region, I am watching the news each night. However, by this time next year, I will not be watching TV news around here. I'll watch Laugh In or Airwolf or whatever else is on.
I might keep watching if the local news channels started adding some community pieces. I remember a second newscaster who did the Positively Milwaukee segment (Carole Meekins). Same idea, but it was possibly more substantial than just a final puff piece.
My challenge to Action News Jax, News 4 Jax, and First Coast News: get some soft news. When News 4 Jax came to my kids' school, I watched. It wasn't news, maybe, but neither is local high school sports (to me). I used to make fun of news channels that didn't go after the hard news stories, but I guess I kind of miss it.
Here's an analysis I did of Milwaukee news back in the late 1990s. The takeaway then was that crime, money, and politics made up 75% of the news (not including weather and sports).
