Strangers in the Living Room: How Local TV News Found Its Audience and Lost Its Soul

By Terry Anzur,
Anchor / Investigate Reporter, WPEC-TV

Local television news is the primary source of news and information for nearly two-thirds of all Americans. Surveys also show that viewers held their local newscasters in higher esteem than the network anchors.

But viewers and journalists alike express dissatisfaction with local newscasts dominated by crime and ratings-driven sensationalism. How did local TV news get this way?

Strangers in the Living Room traces the story of your local news from its commercial beginnings in 1947. Using the development of local news in the Los Angeles market as a framework, the book identifies significant trends that affected newscasts in cities across the U.S.

Chapter 1: The Kathy Fiscus Story

Chapter 2: Public Interest, Convenience, and Necessity

Chapter 3: The Real Ted Baxter

Chapter 4: Pictures Through the Air

Chapter 5: A Distorted Mirror

Chapter 6: The Rise of Women and Minorities

Chapter 7: Consultants and the Ratings Game

Chapter 8: If It Bleeds, It Leads

Chapter 9: Absentee Landlords and Sleeping Watchdogs

Chapter 10: All News Is Local


This web site and the information contained within is copyright (c) 2000 by Terry Anzur