From Salt Lake City to Washington, DC, stations have been losing viewers in droves. In February, compared to the same month a year ago, two Salt Lake stations each lost about 20 percent of their late news audience. Desperate to win viewers back, stations regularly air sweeps stories that are so silly or shameless that anyone with half a conscience should be embarrassed to pass them off as news. During the last round in February, one Houston station warned that your pet cat could make you crazy. Viewers in St. Louis were treated to a report about thong underwear for men.
Sweeps periods bring out the worst in TV news.
Even network programs aren't immune. ABC's Good Morning America broadcast live in February from hospital delivery rooms in Boston and Dallas, so viewers could watch not one, not two, but four babies being born on the air. Not the first time, of course. We've already seen live eye surgery, live mammograms, a live colonoscopy. Let's not even wonder what might be next.