People are lazy.

@Shinmaru:

Hm... I think ours is better than that but I don't know. Guess I'd have to watch yours for comparison. ^^

@TimeChaser:

It's like a watered-down version of what you read in the newspapers.

@Shinmaru:

I don't know. What's it like in your area? We have a station dedicated to local news for the entire central Florida region.

@TimeChaser:

I hope local TV news in your area is better than it is in mine.

I think people are more apt to get their local news from TV rather than newspapers.

I was going to say pretty much what bell said. Reason local papers so often do worse than major/mainstream ones is the same reason the voter turnout percentage is higher for national and state elections than for local.

From what I've experienced, Americans tend to think of national & international news as more "worth their time" than local news. I think a lot of Americans view news on the national/international scale as being of greater consequence, even though local politics & news has a greater effect on our day-to-day lives.

Interestingly, I've read it's the opposite situation in Japan. Not entirely sure why that is, though it might have to do with how much "pork barreling" there used to be in local politics.

Hmmm, your thoughts are really quite rather interesting.

Sadly, I have little to nothing to offer on this matter. I read newspapers rarely at best, and as such, don't feel I can say anything properly on the politics and strategies. lol

Sounds like you need to start a revolution though. Should I expect the "Shinmaru Daily for (insert local area name)" anytime soon? XD

Addendum: Part of my problem is that I just don't really care about what is going on in the world unless it is directly related to one of my interests >>
There's a concert for some reason happening in my city next week? Oh well, I'm not really interested.
I feel bad for it, but eh, that's the way I am. And for anything happening in any of my areas of interest, I have specialty sites and the like that will tell me all about it.
...
Wow I really do sound like an idiot, don't I :/

Honestly, I just don't think there's many people who even pay attention to the local stuff. It's sad, but obvious. We get a county and city newspaper delivered weekly and daily, respectively. The weekly paper is basically filled with whatever bull people send in (which is really stupid sometimes) and a couple local sports stories and the daily has been slipping in quality for years, although their high school sports coverage is pretty decent. I don't think many people care about what's in their community anymore and if they do, they sure as hell don't say so often enough. I just wish that newspapers find something soon before they become extinct, 'cause I seriously don't buy this whole "new age of technology" crap people use to justify going wholly digital. The internet is awesome, but nothing replaces a hard copy in your hands.[/rant]