suspect this might actually be sort of an insult to My Weekly Reader, the newspaper many of us got in grade school, and for that I sincerely apologize.

But as far as Channel 29 goes, I am thinking the folk at KHOG may be owing their viewing audience an apology, especially the ones who turn in for the actual news, such as it may be – what they find that is local, between stuff that is “Trending”, three weather updates for those with ADD, and oodles and gobs of national news.

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There are those who sneer at the very idea of watching local news, but nothing I can say at this late stage of the game might change their minds that in-between the grins, giggles and guffaws there can a few important news items to be gleaned.

Let’s just assume they have weighed in with all of their scorn, and continue . . .

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Getting back to Channel 29 – which I do every third day, as it’s emotionally difficult to watch the same station two days in a row – it is almost impossible to miss how they have been swimming in the River of Catchphrases lately.

“Get Ready Traffic” – “Flash Forward” (or some derivation of that – which simply means what is coming up this evening) – and the ever popular (or not) “Happening Now Poll,” in which breathless anchors will ask well-informed viewers questions about the important issues of the day, like was the Embassy bombing suspect caught in the proper amount of time, or whether certain restaurants will make it in Northwest Arkansas.

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This is all very heady stuff.

I mean, it must be, because the anchors keep coming back and telling the viewing audience the results of the poll, no matter how few (and “few” is the operative word here) people respond.

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Tonight’s “Happening Now Poll” asked folks to weigh in on the possible future of various tasty treats.

It must have been more important than my cynical mind gave it credit for, because the anchors seemed as thrilled as if if they were reporting on a foreign disaster.

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Is it possible that all of the stations in the chain ask the same silly questions, and the results are turned in, and the ones that deal with commercial products such as this are a sort of twisted customer survey?

Or is somebody at the station just really bored, and thinks of questions five minutes before the news?

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Whatever the case may be, it is just such “sign post” journalism, and the endless giggle parade, and the seamy suspicion that just perhaps a business may sometimes have paid their way onto a segment on the news and the “Happening Now Polls” which invite viewers to vote on things that are so nonsensical they might might up part of the plot of a satire on the evening news, that give the yahoos of the world reason to proclaim:

“I get me my news off the Internet. And then I share it with all my friends on Facebook.”

******

Then again, Channel 29, thanks for doing your bit to battle literacy in the world

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Tonight’s Facebook posting on their site from an anonymous staffer referred to “Dixon Street” parking.

Go, team.

*****

Quote of the Day

“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.” – Anaïs Nin

rsdrake@cox.net

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