Mayhem Drives Major Newscasts

When recently installed KNBC news director Bill Lord decided that last Tuesday’s airing of a convenience store murder would be the station’s last, he shook the foundations of business as usual at local TV news. (“Tape of Slaying Causes Change in KNBC Policy,” Calendar, April 28).

The change could hardly be more welcome. As a new national study, “A Day in the Life of Local TV News in America,” produced by Rocky Mountain Media Watch, makes clear, Lord’s decision is a bold departure from body-bag journalism.

Bloodlust continues to drive most newscasts around the country. The study, based on an analysis of 50 newscasts in 29 cities on Jan. 11, found that 28.5% of all news stories involved crime and 24.8% involved disaster. That makes for a combined “Mayhem Index” of 53.3%.

Here in Los Angeles, the stations monitored by the study were KCBS and KCAL. Hometown viewers can be proud: Both stations made the Mayhem Index Top 10. Only three stations nationwide outranked KCAL in crime and disaster coverage, which made up 87.6% of the newscast. KCBS ranked only slightly lower with 82.9%.

Until now, our Los Angeles stations have been generally unresponsive to the development of a significant countertrend in news programming. A year ago, a station in Minneapolis re-conceived the way it covered crime and violence. The change quickly gathered national momentum. Today, about 50 stations around the country are trying to do something more than chase police scanner stories. Some stations call it “family-sensitive” news. Others simply call it responsible journalism.

But no Los Angeles station nor any other station in the top 10 news markets in the country have adopted it. It seems that the price of success is convention. L.A. is the toughest news market in the country and those who have succeeded here have worked long and hard. Chances are they haven’t gotten to the top by innovating.

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While L.A.’s news directors struggle to keep their ratings and their jobs, the rest of us are not only not getting news, our conception of what’s news is eroding. When I ask my Cal State students what the pressing issues facing Los Angeles are today, the first thing out of their mouths is O.J. Simpson. And who can blame them? I explain that the O.J. Simpson trial--although it touches upon many critical contemporary issues--isn’t itself “an issue.” It’s just one tediously drawn-out crime story.

Ultimately, our local newscasts may persuade an entire generation that news is crime and disaster leavened with a few upbeat celeb and animal stories. KNBC and Bill Lord have taken one not-so-small step toward reversing the bloody trend. It’s a hopeful beginning.