People have really bad infodiet. They eat junk information rather than analyzing if their information is wholesome. On local news, you hear about the latest shooting or the latest robbery or the latest bad thing that happen, all of which doesn't mean anything until you aggregate them into statistics and analyze them.
Local news is pretty terrible for being an informed citizen. For example, people who watch it regularly dramatically overestimate the prevalence of crime in their local communities. This alone probably causes immense human suffering through our injustice system and jails
News do not give you an accurate picture of the world. Almost by definition, if something is statistically average (happens all the time) it is not news. So seeing all the murderers on TV makes people think there is more of it going on than if they simply looked at the statistics.
Here's the thing, local news produces cookie cutter stories and just swaps out the basic facts and injects a little of the mainstream narrative into everything. There really isn't any value in it, which is why they are dying in the first place.
Interesting. Recently, I saw a local news program for the first time in years, and I couldn't believe how many negative and depressing stories they ran.
Most items of local news are highly relevant to a small proportion of locals. E.g. roadworks probably just affect a few % of people using that road.
Then there are shock-news stories like violent crime. How is it relevant to know some kid from my street stabbed another kid over a pack of gum? If I want to know how safe my area is I'd look at crime statistics collected over years and compare it to other areas.
What's wrong with local news? In my experience, it's the most trustworthy, agenda-free source of info. It's the nature of its scope, but I don't see what you're getting at.
My interpretation is people just care about local news far less than they used to? I’m in a semi-major city and the local news is only a small part of my news consumption.
Sometimes I walk by the TV while my mother is watching the local news. It seems to always just be reporting about thefts/gunshots downtown, then some new product available, followed by 15 minutes of weather and sports. I don't find much value in any of that information.
That's an issue which can be solved. Consume more location appropriate news. Social media (ironically, when considering what kind of media is bad for you) can also provide decent local news information.
Maybe even support your local news, if you find it valuable.
Spectacles drive the news. It's easier to frame a negative issue as a spectacle than a positive. Say you have a local festival. That's supposed to happen. There's no news there except for the time and date the festival is open, and any new or interesting things can be found by going there. Car drives into a festival and runs over some people? Wow, unexpected. Might wanna read about that and get the details.
But if your local high school football team wins a state title? You'll sell that paper out. Local refinery explodes? Likewise.
Every time I have known what was going on and read a local newspaper covering it there has been a host of errors. Local news is ok for having a vague idea what's going on, and little else.
So sure, there is some value there. But, less than many people seem to think.
PS: OK, local movie showtimes where generally correct.
Why follow local news? In my case it can be summarized to violence and petty politics. The day something important and out of ordinary happens I will probably know about it from family and friends before it became news.
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