TV's Fickle News Fixation
When a cat catches a mouse his attention is absolute to the exclusion of everything else. A cat will spend an inordinate amount of time killing a mouse. And when the mouse is dead the cat's interest evaporates and he moves on to something else.
This is pretty much how TV handles local news: It takes a story (important or not), spends an inordinate amount of time on it. And when it feels the story is dead, it moves on.
Take, for example, the recent sad story of one New Trier High School student hitting another student with her car and then fleeing the scene in panic.
It was an accident affecting, really, only the two students and their families. A tragedy for both.
Yes, this is a news item. But, holy Cronkite, for a week or more this was the lead and dominant story on all local TV news shows. After the first day, the story became repetitive. It had no real impact on anyone but the people involved. And, since time is finite, while TV news was covering a traffic accident it was not covering news of importance to its audience.
If TV news believed it had to spend a lot of time on this story, why not expand it so that it had relevance for everyone? Why not use this sad incident to take a look at whether teens should be driving in the first place?
Drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 have the highest annual crash and traffic-violation rates of any age group. Traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death for teens, accounting for 38 percent of all teen deaths in the United States. In Illinois between 2003 and 2008, there were 1,563 deaths in traffic accidents involving teenage drivers.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lists many reasons why teens are such bad drivers: haven't developed ability to detect hazards, low-risk perception, risk taking, not wearing seat belts, lack of skill, alcohol and drugs, distracted by passengers, and just plain less experience.
For once, Illinois leads the way in its approach to teen driving, having some of the most strict rules for teens driving and acquiring a drivers license. And there is legislation in Congress to create national driving standards for teens.
So, there is a lot to be said about the issue of teen driving, a lot about which to debate. That would be useful because we all share the road with teen drivers.
Should teens be allowed to drive? There's a provocative -- and relevant -- topic.
But, TV news isn't interested.
Just as a cat isn't interested in whether there is more than one mouse in the house and what to do about it. All he cares about is that the mouse he caught is dead.
End of story.
