Hiding From Reality

    Turning on the WLKY news at 6 o'clock every white day has been the reality for about 4 weeks now. This project is drawing to a close but I have watched enough news to notice some reoccurring patterns. Overall, WLKY is a station that has informed me about what is going on in Kentucky and has really helped me out on current event quizzes. On the other hand, there has definitely been some issues with this channel, along with many of the other channels. I have also had the chance to reflect on the many crime stories I watch every other night.

    First of all, I understand that WLKY is a local news station, but it only airs 0-1 national stories a night, while other stations, like Wave, air 3-4. WLKY usually has 0 national stories online, and sometimes neglects to show stories on national events that have a large affect on where we live. I consider this a large issue because it makes the station less dependable. There have been two nights where WLKY has not shown any 6:00 news at all, due to football, and it has not been made up or shown later. This has only happened on one other station. WLKY almost always has fewer online stories and I think it's one of the worst stations when it comes to leaving out stories that the people need to hear.

     I have seen countless posts on the incredible amount of crime stories each night, but I feel as if it's something that can't go without being addressed. Out of the 104 stories that WLKY has aired between now and September 22, 31 of them have been crime stories. That's almost 1/3 of the stories and there are 10 other categories that they could fall under. Why does the station air so many crime stories? Because there is so much crime. Television may make us believe there is more than there really is, but many of us want to ignore this increasing issue because it isn't something we have to think about living in fortunate neighborhoods, going to a fortunate school. People like to think terrible things will never happen to them until it's to late to think otherwise and the crime is not something that I would blame on the news stations. As journalists, I feel that it is their job to show what is really going on in the world, instead of hiding from reality.