Editorial

By Briana Baker

            If someone asked you if there has been more dramatic crimes in the Central West End than Kirkwood would you say yes? If so it is probably due to the amount of negative media coverage in certain neighborhoods rather than the way other neighborhoods are portrayed. Local TV news is shallow and leaves an inaccurate view of the community.

            Some will argue that there just isn’t enough time for the Television news to cover stories in depth, which may be true. Still this argument says nothing about the inaccurate views portrayed. Newscasters will breeze through traffic jams, local news and unemployment rates, but will spend a good portion of time telling the story of an outraged crime committed in north St. Louis. TV news’ personnel will encourage viewers to visit articles online or purchase newspapers if they want full coverage, but is this always possible? I’m pretty sure most viewers watch the news on television because it’s much more convenient. Not every home has the Internet to read stories in detail online and most prefer not to read an entire newspaper. PEW Research Center -a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world- reports that 44% of our regular viewers report to Fox for the latest news. This means that 44% of our community could be just as ignorant of factual statistics as some of you who answered yes to the question above and are left with inadequate views of neighborhoods.

            Everyone has heard that violence and crime is entertaining and that’s what viewers want to see, but is the news supposed to be informational or entertaining? If someone is looking for a good laugh or drama then they should turn their channel to Comedy Central or Lifetime. The News should be less focused on entertaining the community and more focused on providing them with more accurate and adequate information.

            Fox 2 has a portion of their time dedicated to “You Paid For It: Colorful Confrontations”. During this time Elliot Davis gives a preview of both Black and White people who have had confrontations with him while in an interview. You will see people of both races swearing, fighting or stating absurd, off-subject comments while being filmed. If viewers wanted to find entertainment in the news, this is where it should be. Not when anchors or broadcast editors want to portray Blacks as the most violent, uneducated race or St. Louis city as the most unsafe neighborhoods.

            Local TV News should dedicate each story with the same amount of time and be sure to cover both sides to stay as objective and informative as possible. You cannot argue there isn’t enough time if coverage such as Colorful Confrontations and cute little photos of pets in costumes are shown. These inaccurate views have caused people to become biased and stereotype certain neighborhoods and races. It’s helping to cause a division among the community based solely from false representations and shallow coverage.