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COMMENTARY: CONNECTICUT TV -- A WASTELAND STILL

By Bill Collins

Hickory, dickory dock,

You might as well watch the clock;

For what's on TV, it's easy to see,

Is mostly a study in schlock.

It was the late, lamented, Newton Minnow who first called television a "vast

wasteland." He was in a position to know, being chairman of the Federal

Communications Commission at the time.

But even Minnow didn't realize what was coming. He made his famous observation

decades ago. Nowadays this electronic Sahara has expanded beyond his wildest

fears. And Americans still watch it 4.4 hours a day!

My personal observations come mostly at lunch. Our TV is in the kitchen, so I

can munch with one hand and surf with the other. Dutifully, as a paid observer

of Connecticut public affairs, I began with Channel 3. Normally I allot it two

tragedies (fire, crash, murder, trial, or flood) before shifting to Channel 8.

But that visit is mainly just an exercise in Nutmeg loyalty, not a real

expectation that it will show something different. Not only are its news items

ordinarily the same, but astoundingly, they're often in the same order.

Fortunately, for a news maven, cable has brought us other options. CNN was

only the first. Now there are MSNBC, Headline News, Fox News, and Bloomberg

News. True, these channels often mimic the style of their Connecticut

brethren. They just do it on a global scale. Their fires are more

conflagratory, their crashes more epic, and their floods more Biblical. But

again, all tend to cover the same events, just like here. That's doubly true

if there is an exciting trial or a celebrity death.

Then, about the time these national shows switch to the stock market, which

happens all too soon, I switch back to Connecticut. That puts me into either a

commercial or the weather forecast, or perhaps the birthday greetings. Which,

in turn, are enough to chase me back to the nationals, or to the refrigerator.

Returning later to our local stations is particularly fruitless. After the

weather, it's all downhill. If it isn't more commercials, it's time for human

interest and the cooking segment. Yummm. Luckily the high point of this barren

half hour comes at the end. Channel 3 closes each program with an editorial.

Most are well done, even ones I don't agree with. They clearly mark Channel 3

as a higher-level station than Channel 8.

Oh, and let's not overlook New England Cable News. This remarkably pointless

Boston station focuses on regional-size fires, accidents, storms, crimes, and

trials.

But curiously, these providers of infotainment do have something to learn

from, of all people, Rupert Murdoch. Believe it or not, it's Fox News which

does the best job. It frequently sets aside five or ten minutes for a panel

discussion of an important issue. Often the panelists even know what they're

talking about.

Any Connecticut station could easily win my heart by doing the same. Let the

topic be kids without health care, welfare "reform," football stadiums,

gambling addiction, energy deregulation, test scores, zoning, or

what-have-you. They could even save money by laying off "news" crews and just

paying car fare to their experts. Perhaps our little state can't afford a real

TV news-magazine, but it can easily afford serious panels on serious issues.

Why not give them a try?

(Bill Collins, a former mayor of Norwalk, is a syndicated columnist.)