Networks Need New Nerve Centers

It did not snow even one little flake here in Central Texas. But the major television networks made sure everyone in Texas knows all about the heart attack hazards that come with shoveling snow.

When the big snowstorm hit New York, the networks told everyone in the United States about tire chains, frost bite, road salt, front-wheel drive cars, layering, snow removal and an endless array of tips, suggestions and warnings for people caught in a snowstorm.

But 97 percent of the nation was not caught in a snowstorm. At least not that snowstorm. The folks up in Minot, N.D., Great Falls, Mont., or practically anyplace in upper middle America could tell the network experts a thing or two about winter survival in snowstorms that cover buildings, not just cars.

I’m not trivializing the snowstorm that hit the northern portion of the East Coast. It’s just that the major television networks broadcast out of New York City and the network executives have always acted as though whatever happens to them, or near to them, is more important than what happens to other Americans.

The East Coast blizzard was a big news story. No doubt about it. The storm snarled air traffic nationwide. There were wrecks and storm-related deaths. The blizzard even caused the federal government to shut down in Washington, D.C. On second thought, maybe that part wasn’t big news.

But the way I see it, even though those storm-survival tips are a good idea, they don’t apply to everyone in the United States. The local stations could pass along that information.

If it’s not national newscasts about garbage strikes, subway muggings or the weather in New York City, it’s about politics from inside the beltway in Washington, D.C. Most Americans cannot relate to garbage strikes or subways. And relatively few Americans ever catch the deadly mind-eating, inside-the-beltway virus that afflicts people who make their livings off Washington politics.

One nice thing about CNN is that its headquarters is not in New York City. If we are lucky, as more networks and more cable channels come on line, more of them will be located outside the Washington, D.C.-New York City-Eastern seaboard area.

Americans would get a different view of their country if networks broadcast out of Des Moines, Iowa; Wichita, Kans.; Pueblo, Colo.; Boise; or Flagstaff, Ariz.

Washington politicians and bureaucrats were so out of touch with the feelings of Americans who live west of Pittsburgh that it took more than 20 years to get them to understand that the national 55 mph speed limit was inappropriate for states where people do not live packed together like sardines.

It shouldn’t be that difficult to understand that Americans denied the benefits of subway muggings and garbage strikes might have different points of view and different needs.

The day is rapidly coming, however, when the expanding array of electronic communications tools will be in the hands of average Americans who are full-fledged citizens living on prairies, deserts, mountains and swamps.

A different view of America will emerge when a critical mass of Americans connects electronically with instant communication. Citizens will be connected to each other, their government and their elected officials. That movement is in its infancy. It’s a power-to-the-people movement. Power will shift away from the traditional centers of information dissemination.

When that occurs, a more complete perspective of America will emerge. Society and democracy should be strengthened if individual Americans exercise their new power responsibly.

Then again, Americans might miss the good old days of inside-the-beltway politics and New York City garbage strikes.

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