Why local broadcast news sucks...

Is it because people are stupid? Or just journalists? I vote for somewhere in between. We don't hold them to any sort of standard, because we don't expect anything from them but inflammatory teases.

Salon had a fun piece today (subscription required), which ripped into local anchors (and named names) quoting their inane statements. Will Farrell would be an improvement.

"A television news reporter is doing a story on a man who murdered both the ex-wife he was planning to remarry and her lover. Fixing the camera with a stern face and an even sterner voice, the reporter intones, "Well, the marriage is definitely over now!"

Have you stumbled across Ted Knight as the hapless Ted Baxter on a "Mary Tyler Moore Show" rerun? No, you've tuned into the WPIX "News at Ten" (the May 28, 2004, broadcast, to be specific) in New York City and heard, courtesy of reporter Vanessa Tyler, a pretty good example of what passes for journalism in local TV news these days."