TV News is a Phony Wasteland to the Digital Generation
Illustration by Chris Whetzel The college students in my journalism classes do not watch television news. Start a discussion about local-news content, and polite 20-year-olds turn into disgusted critics. They hate yellow police tape stories and stupid live shots during blizzards. “It’s snowing in Wisconsin.” Duh. “It’s the same thing on all the stations,” says junior Maria Corpus. “We’re tired of hearing it.” My students say TV news is pointless, clichéd and boring. It’s not heartfelt, fresh or real. I think the key is “real.” As part of an introductory journalism course, I teach digital-audio editing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.…