News redundancy

Click from station to station at 6 p.m or 11 and you'll see, for the most part, the same stories.

That's because television news assignment editors feel pressure to cover everything their competitors cover, which leaves few discretionary resources for what they'd like to cover. General news reporters, meanwhile, have been out of the decision-making loop for years, having resigned themselves to covering what management tells them to cover - stories they feel are trivial and inconsequential. With no one taking responsibility for uncovering real news, it has become easier to just steal story ideas from daily papers, neighborhood papers, and websites.

When everyone does the same smash-and-grab journalism, all the stories end up being the same. It used to be you could count on different reporters to bring their knowledge and experience to their coverage of the issues. Now, for the most part, cookie-cutter reporters differentiate themselves more by hairdos than local knowledge.

When local stations pool resources, it's true that they will be able to direct more attention to other, more entrepreneurial stories. But will that happen? Can we expect that from the same stations that lack the courage to simply pass on pro forma news conferences? I doubt it. Starting today, I bet Chicago viewers will be seeing a lot more of the same thing no matter what station they watch.

(Linda Polach is the Executive Producer of "Greater Boston" and a veteran of local television news.)