Gongol.com Archives: December 2024
December 1, 2024
Sentences that would have once been incomprehensible
The broadcasting journal TV Technology reports with no apparent surprise: "Twin Cities PBS (TPT) said it will premiere 'Broadcast Wars,' an original documentary about local broadcast news in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The program will be available on Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. as a two-hour film on TPT 2 and as a three-part streaming limited series available on the PBS App." ■ For one thing, the thought that the rivalries among different news operations within a major (but not top-ten) market would merit a documentary would almost certainly have shocked anyone living through the time period that is the focus of the project. Producing anything of a scale close to that of a feature film would have been a massively expensive project in the 1980s or times before. "60 Minutes" was a groundbreaking television show in part because only the major commercial networks had the resources to do big feature projects -- certainly not local Public Television affiliates. ■ Then there's the matter of distribution: To anyone living in the Reagan Era, it would seem incomprehensible for a media outlet to develop an ambitious production like a three-part, 120-minute documentary and then distribute it mainly via the Internet, with the thought of possibly broadcasting it later on a digital TV subchannel little more than an afterthought. ■ And then there is the matter of the unspoken subtext: That the era when local television news really, really mattered would someday be a matter more suited for historical documentary than hot topic of current conversation. And yet, that's how it is: Local TV news still matters and still brings in a lot of revenue, but streaming and other digital platforms are where to find the real growth. ■ Self-respecting communities still need journalists and documentarians. The Minneapolis-St. Paul television market is big and robust, and due to geography, it dominates most of the state of 5.7 million people. That would put it roughly between Denmark and Finland in population, both of which can easily claim to have distinctive cultures (including media) of their own. The same could and should be easy to say about Minnesota. ■ But there is also no doubt that the environment generally has become harder for "local" media of all types, as classified advertising has evaporated (massively undercutting the traditional workhorse of newspaper revenues) and conventional synchronous viewing and listening have been widely displaced for television and radio. How we work out what comes next -- which isn't just a business or media question, but a major social one as well -- will have no small impact on the shape of the future.
The massive death toll caused by Russia's continued assault against Ukraine really is hard to fathom. The Kremlin could stop the pointless dying in an instant.
