This Is Why We Should All Hate Fox 6

In Milwaukee, local TV news is its own special brand of raunchy sleaze... even by typical local TV news standards.  Not only do an unusual number of media conglomerates (such as Hearst Television and Journal Communications) have flagship TV stations here; but the demographics correlate closely to national averages, making it an ideal test market for such conglomerates to see how far they can push divisive, hot button issues.

The result is a market that’s just big enough to feel important, with station budgets large enough to make them look important; but still not quite big enough to actually be important.  Thus, TV news in Milwaukee is the perfect storm for sniveling bottom-feeders… from reporters on up through program directors… who are desperate to “make it” by broadcasting the most asininely sensationalistic material possible.

Last night, the local Fox affiliate, WITI (better known as Fox 6), led with this story, which it teased as an “assault,” but wound up being about a Waukesha woman who had a (as in literally just one) not-so-nice sentence said to her by a bus driver.

Yes, seriously.

Mind you, this wasn’t filler tacked on right before the news switched to weather… this was the LEAD STORY.

Granted, the bus driver’s comment “as long as you’re short, fat and white, you will not speak to me like that again,” was inappropriate, and reasonable grounds for termination.  But as anyone who’s the least bit familiar with public transportation can tell you, verbal confrontations on busses and trains are hardly newsworthy.  Even physical altercations that happen to be caught on video barely make it past youtube in most major cities.

So why was this story not only aired, but given the most prominent part of the broadcast?

The simple fact is, Fox 6 knows its audience.  They know inner-city people, and college-educated city dwellers don’t watch local news, meaning their audience skews heavily suburban and rural.  Because this is the Midwest, that means it also skews heavily white, middle-aged, and conservative.  They also know they’re in the most segregated metro area in America.

So… for those of you who haven’t yet clicked on the link above… which part of that “short, fat, and white” comment that the bus driver made to the passenger do you think the story focused on?  

(I’ll give you a hint… they made no mention of the driver’s height or weight.)

Fox 6 has a lengthy and well-documented history of going out of its way to demonize the local African-American population.  I gave up on them (and eventually all local news) during my freshman year of college when they kept re-playing a 5-second clip of a handful of students (mostly of color) being rowdy outside of a local high school as an example of students behavior throughout the entire district.  The next night, they showed mugshots of a Kenosha couple that was arrested for child abuse, but blurred their faces so that all you could see was that they had dark brown skin.

So am I surprised that Fox 6 decided to run with what would be a relatively benign story if not for their ability to package it as a mean black meanie harassing an innocent white girl; knowing their resentful, High Life swilling, AM talk radio-listening audience would eat it right up?  Nope. 

But such conduct is, sadly, quite typical for WITI… and pretty much expected from a Fox affiliate.