Local news programs should stay local

With war in Iraq grabbing attention from television viewers worldwide, it’s tempting for… With war in Iraq grabbing attention from television viewers worldwide, it’s tempting for news programs to dedicate their time to military coverage. This is to be expected, but it is also likely that local incidents and events are lost by the wayside when all the talk hinges on the Middle East.

While networks such as CNN and MSNBC are obligated to devote serious attention to war coverage, and nightly news programs should do the same in their time slots, local news programs and affiliate networks would better serve their viewers by staying local.

Granted, it would be very strange to turn on KDKA for the evening news and hear nothing about Iraq. When the nation is involved in a war, every news outlet – no matter how small scale – should devote some time to covering it. But with Tom Brokaw following local programming with on-scene reporting and Dan Rather “breaking in when news breaks out,” Pittsburgh viewers really don’t need to hear the play-by-play from local anchors such as Ken Rice.

The problem with local news outlets tackling the gritty details of the war effort lies in the resources. Since Pittsburgh news programs don’t have reporters in Iraq, their in-depth coverage is little more than a re-broadcasting of the coverage offered by NBC, CBS or whatever network they are affiliated with. The bombing footage and interviews seen on local news are also shown on the nightly news, and everything becomes redundant.

It has been highly stressed in recent weeks that life in the States must go on while war rages in the Gulf. So it can be assumed that noteworthy things are still happening in the city and Allegheny County as a whole. Local news programs should continue to give priority to local events instead of devoting much of their airtime to recorded war footage. While updates, breaking news pieces and brief stories from Iraq are appropriate and expected from the local news, it is important that Pittsburgh stories maintain priority.

The American people have many different avenues to learn about military activities in Iraq, and every 24-hour news network will see to it that the war is televised. Since options for war coverage are wide open, local news networks should buck the trend and remember what they are capable of covering.