Am I the only person who loves to watch the local community access television channels? I never seem to find anyone else who's as addicted to them as I so I can't imagine they have a great following, but I love them!
First, I love the government meetings. I especially enjoy all the town meetings: zoning board, planning board, and town board. I love seeing local people doing ordinary things and I find that seeing a meeting on TV and then reading about it in the local papers is truly illuminating. Years ago I didn't realize how much newspaper reporting involved personal interpretation, but it surely does. I often interpret something much differently when I see it than the reporter does and when I read about it in the paper I wonder how that's possible. But then there's no vocal inflection, no twinkle of the eye when the quotations are put down so there are some things that just don't translate to the page. And yet they go a long way toward understanding a person's intent.
I also love watching the local talk shows featuring interviews with community members. Some are so obviously slanted in one direction they provide their own humor. Others are simply informative or fun. I even like the cooking shows. Not every producer is great and not every personality is sparkling. Some people are downright weird. But there's charm in their weirdness, just like there is in the local characters that populate every small village around the world.
Like I said, I love local television. Except of course when I'm on it. Then its just annoying.
First, I love the government meetings. I especially enjoy all the town meetings: zoning board, planning board, and town board. I love seeing local people doing ordinary things and I find that seeing a meeting on TV and then reading about it in the local papers is truly illuminating. Years ago I didn't realize how much newspaper reporting involved personal interpretation, but it surely does. I often interpret something much differently when I see it than the reporter does and when I read about it in the paper I wonder how that's possible. But then there's no vocal inflection, no twinkle of the eye when the quotations are put down so there are some things that just don't translate to the page. And yet they go a long way toward understanding a person's intent.
I also love watching the local talk shows featuring interviews with community members. Some are so obviously slanted in one direction they provide their own humor. Others are simply informative or fun. I even like the cooking shows. Not every producer is great and not every personality is sparkling. Some people are downright weird. But there's charm in their weirdness, just like there is in the local characters that populate every small village around the world.
Like I said, I love local television. Except of course when I'm on it. Then its just annoying.
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