What's Local Media Not Telling You?

For a spiffy, shiny news anchor set, they certainly don't produce a whole lot of substance, do they?

By Thornton Crowe

This week alone, our local media has failed to deliver timely news on a couple of serious situations happening on the Shore. While they tout they are "Delmarva's News Leader" their actions fall grossly short on their moniker's promise.

First, the Hartley Hall incident which was reported to them around the incident date (May 9th) was completely ignored. Instead, even when posted here, they didn't cover it in their newscasts on the 15th or the 16th. While I personally can't stomach local news and avoid it at all costs, I did watch the first five stories of WBOC and WMDT to see if they would pick up the story and I wasn't disappointed. They once again failed to report it even though it was the (and still is) number one news item here on Salisbury News.

Second, on Monday there was a tragic accident at a well known intersection on Route 50 and Sixty Foot Road. This, too, wasn't even covered on Monday night's broadcasts but it was here within an hour of the event.

Why do local businesses continue to advertise on these stations is a mystery. Local people are better off just watching Dog the Bounty Hunter or Dance Moms than watching the local news broadcasts because they're not reporting on anything but human interest stories. Stories about the manager of the now-debunked Christian Bookstore are of interest, but certainly don't warrant being the first news story of the night. What are these news directors on when they make such idiotic decisions is another mystery because clearly, even the bleed, leads doesn't apply to any of our local news outlets except Salisbury News.

Their negligence isn't just local news, they've also been a part of the Trump-bashing witch hunt that frankly, most viewers are getting sick of hearing about. They fail to understand that the vast majority of voters on the Eastern Shore voted for Donald Trump; therefore, they're kind of biting the hand that feeds them. It doesn't make any sense to alienate their viewership by bashing the very person said viewers voted for unless they have a political agenda to push!

Journalism is not about pushing agendas, it's about reporting facts in a fair and balanced manner.

If they missed these two big stories on Monday, just imagine all the other news worthy things you aren't getting from their broadcasts. Maybe if the community demanded better from them, they'd up their game. Until then, I guess locals who aren't fortunate to have cable or satellite and no internet connection will just have to live in a fantasy-driven bubble propagated by a severely negligent local media [sic]!

The choice is really up to viewers and sponsors: just how much BS they will continue to be fed before they take a stand and demand better coverage of the Shore's news items. Honestly, the best thing going for Draper and WMDT's owners is their re-run stations (MeTV and AntennaTV). Other than that, they're a huge fail.