I can add this. I have been in the radio/Television news business for 40 years. We always tried to report what the public wanted to hear. We report the stories that affect the greatest number of people in our audience. For example, a blizzard that shuts down the Federal Government.
So, how do you know what they want to hear? It's easy, don't report something and see how they "yak." We observe the ratings. Where do the listeners and views go to get their news? What is that station offering that we are not?
Now days, we get the ratings results "immediately" after the show. Immediately!
If station/network "A" devotes 2 minutes to a snow storm and station/network "B" spends 13 minutes and "B" wins the ratings, we are now guided for the next time.
For every person who says, "you spent too much time on that story," there is another person who says "you didn't cover that story adequately."
People like to demonize the media, using terms like "it must have been a slow news day." So, if you were a news producer on a "real' slow news day, what would you report? A blizzard or a garden party?
I can assure you that every day, news organizations around the country are trying to do their "best." I have never worked in any newsroom that had a hidden agenda. Never once was I told to go out there and do a "lousy" job or telegraph a political point of view. We always tried to do our best. If I ever got into trouble with my boss, it was because he perceived that a bias was visible in my reporting, or that I had poorly researched the story..................or that it was "too long."
I know there will be lots of people who will disagree with me, but I lived it. I know the anguish that goes in to trying to do it right, get the ratings, please the majority of the audience and above all, keep your job.
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