Misc. Ramblings

I realize that the local TV news business is a very competitive one but I wonder why they do some of the things they do. For example, this concentration on going "live" to report a story. One local TV station (KHNL) sets up their camera just outside their front door and then trumpets the fact that they are live on Nimitz Highway. Said highway runs past their front door so I guess they aren't lying about the location but it's not exactly the truth either.

Then they will cut away from that shot and go "live" from "Kalihi". While the station is in the Kalihi area, where they are actually broadcasting live from is just outside their back door. From there they sometimes cut back to their "Weather Center." Said weather center is a chair inside their studio.

Even when some of these stations go live at a location other than their studios it doesn't make any sense. I saw one live shot (KITV) done after 22:00 at the state Capitol. The only thing is the Capitol was closed, the lights were out, and nobody was there. Except the reporter. The station could just as easily have done this story in the studio with a picture of the Capitol building in the background. But, for whatever reason, they were "live."

All I can say is, "So what?" What does going live to a location have to do with a story that is not occurring at the time the station goes live? Do stations get rated by the FCC on how often they go live? Do stations get higher advertising revenues by the number of live stories they do? Does going live prove anything?

All I can say is there seems to be a inverse relationship between the number of times a station goes live and how well and how in depth that station does the news. Perhaps, this is not a coincidence.

Aloha!