Since I’m in a complimenting frame of mind …
I woke up today and wanted to find out what was going on with Governor Charlie Crist — is he going to the big house or not? (That’s the big Senate house, um, not the other kind of big house.)
I turned on my television — something I don’t typically do in the morning and ratted around those morning shows — the ones with five or six anchors hootin’ it up on the streets and on couches — PLEASE don’t tell me these programs constitute “watching the news” for anyone in America. These are entertainment programs passing themselves off as news.
High-fiving “news” anchors and chattering on a couch about American Idol — that’s not how news is supposed to be.
I suffered the fools not so gladly for about 60 seconds before I came to my senses by turning to my local Comcast channel 6.
No chattering co-hosts. No high-pitched squeals and forced laughter.
Just Lauren Mayk — the news anchor — delivering morning highlights in a straightforward, no-nonsense way.
And, with impeccable timing (just as I sat down with a cup of coffee), she gave a solid, brief update on Charlie Crist — looks like he will run for Senate and she pulled insight from Jeremy Wallace, the political writer over at the Sarasota Herald Tribune, who commented on what Crist’s decision might mean for Congressman Buchanan.
This — this local little cable station news program — was delivering to me precisely what I needed when I needed it with a little juice on Buchanan thrown in. Look, I’m no news junkie; I’m probably less informed than I should be (actually, no probably about it); so I need help in understanding the political machinations of the would-be leaders of my communities and state.
The overview reporting by Mayk will lead me to the more in-depth reporting by Wallace — the television news drives me to dig deeper into the print news (or, as is the case this morning, reading Wallace’s latest online). And that’s precisely what it’s supposed to do. And that’s how good news delivery works.
That’s how news is supposed to be.