St George & local telly

[bunn]

There is a big feature on our local TV news about St George's Day, with a special report from Holsworthy. The essence of the report would gladden ladyofastolat's heart, as it basically went: 'what are we doing, why don't we celebrate this more, how come everyone celebrates St Patricks' day, here's what's on this year, let's make more of an effort next year'.

I deduce that there has been even less news than usual, as we also have an extended version of the 'digital photos from our viewers' feature, and an interminable story about a Dartmoor fiddler who has been on an exchange visit with some urban rappers.

A reprise of the famous 'goose that fell in love with a watering can' story cannot be far off, I must try and think if there are any Oldies Club stories I could try and get them to cover since they are clearly short of material.

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

goose that fell in love with a watering can

???

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That was the news story, there is nothing more to it. A goose fell in love with a watering can. It was covered by local news. There were interviews with the owners of the goose, and of course, the goose himself.

Westcountry local news is famous for its coverage of non-stories, but I consider that to be a perfect example: you lose nothing by not knowing about it, it has a mildly agricultural flavour, there is no moral. It exists purely because there is a need to fill x number of news minutes per evening, even in places that just don't generate news on a daily basis!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I deduce that there has been even less news than usual

Both BBC and ITV have less money to throw at regional news this year than they did last...

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Westcountry news has always been pretty much like this, at least since the 1980s: short of sacking people, it's hard to imagine how they could spend even less money. I mean, we already have features on 'scenic bus routes!' Perhaps they will send the cameramen out on bicycles...

We have not that many people and most of them are law-abiding, we have few large businesses or great cultural enterprises, so most of the time our local news is basically gossip. A fire or a shipwreck is milked relentlessly for weeks on end, you can just hear the delight in the presenters voices when something that could be considered 'real' news happens.

How does spending money on news create more news? I'm imagining some sort of 'drop the dead donkey' scenario, with journalists buying a batch of dead seals or something...