THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS TV NEWS

By Frank Lewis on Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 10:57 am

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Local television news can be pretty pathetic in general, but is it bad for your mental health?
Humor web-site Asylum thinks so and has ranked Cleveland as a top city for most depressing television newscasts. More than a quarter of Cleveland TV news stories feature crime, according to Asylum's informal survey of its readers.

From Newsweek article "The Roots of Fear"

We can't argue with the findings, given our broadcast counterparts' fetish for blood, tears and "thugs" (and their propensity to cover the same freakin' stories about blood, tears and "thugs"). If you're not buying it, grab your Prozac — here's a quick scan of stories presently featured on their web sites:

Action 19: Gun found at Cleveland school; Cleveland strangler wants out-of-town trial; Cleveland neighbors homeless after gas explosion; a new Carl Monday caper.

Fox 8: Gun found at Cleveland school; cop killer asks to be executed; death row inmate with Sonny Bono-hairdo gets sheared; Cleveland strangler wants out-of-town trial; Anna Nicole Smith/John Edwards tabloid fodder.

WEWS 5: Gun found at Cleveland school; Cleveland strangler wants out-of-town trial; old man punches grocery clerk; Apple unveils new expensive gadget.

WKYC 3: Gun found at school and strangler stories, again (isn't there anything else going on today?); Obama's State of the Union address; Conan O' Brien's last show.

There you have it: guns, creeps and a shameless network plug by WKYC. Aside from Carl Monday, not much to laugh about here in Cleveland. — Damian Guevara