I got a very interesting lesson in newsworthiness over the break. I spent a few days at my parent’s house in Solvang, CA. It’s a white bread-middleclass town of just under 5,000 with nothing going on at all.
Cases in point, the lead story on the local news for Friday night was the building of a gas station. Not a gas station that exploded, or had exorbitant prices or even a fluff piece about a window-washing goat, simply a gas station.
I don’t even know how you report this, “ummmmm first up tonight, uh… there will be a gas station…. Back to you.”
I stopped watching at this point, but I can’t even imagine how the anchors filled the rest of the 10 o’clock hour if the single most important item of the day was a gas station.
Anchor: “Now we take you live to a field behind the high school where our correspondent in the KCOY 12 Action News Van has some shocking breaking developments.”
Correspondent: “Thank you, I’m here beneath a tree in a filed behind the high school where a crowd of 1-3 community members stand in awe of the spectacle they they’ve just seen. Witnesses report that just one hour ago a man was seen who can only be described as- and I quote- ‘a black guy.’ No news on what the black guy was doing in the area, but be assured our entire team coverage- myself and the van driver- will be on the scene to fill you in with further details whenever the present themselves.”
Anchor: “Wow, amazing stuff thank you. Brings to mind the ‘kinda-Mexican-looking or maybe middle-eastern chick of 2003’ And now to sports.”
Sports guy: “there are no sports. Why do I have a job?”
I have a whole new sense of what is important to different demographics. Sometimes proximity trumps impact.
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I know what you mean; some of the stories in my Vermont newspaper aren't any more newsworthy.
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