Where's Huw Edwards when you need him?

Posted by Helen Whitaker at 21:07 on 12 Oct 2009

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I thought I had got used to the random collection of information that constitutes news on my local Los Angeles TV channels. I can deal with the way they don't tell you the headlines and instead trail upcoming stories in the manner of a TV cop drama (Top tip: when a newsreader says ominously, "Coming up - what happened when this man entered this school...with a machete," you can safely assume he didn't use it as a prop while giving a talk to the children about knife crime); I can deal with the way they cut to a ‘live' police chase and stick with it for the rest of the broadcast despite the fact that said ‘chase' is going at 20 miles an hour and they have absolutely no information about why the suspect is being followed other than he's holding something that may either be a gun or a mobile phone; I can even handle the way they place great importance on the American Idol vote (although to be fair the last time I came home the BBC was guilty of this too - seriously, why are you talking about the Strictly Come Dancing result on the news???)

However, what I cannot abide is the way the newsreaders ‘ad-lib' after each story and throw in their ten bob's worth on any given topic. I am firmly of the mind that if I want to hear someone's opinion I'll watch a show where the presenters sit on a sofa and wheel Kerry Katona in to talk about ‘her side of the story'. And with all due respect to Huw Edwards, (who I'm sure has some intelligent insight into current affairs), I don't give a monkeys about what he thinks of the MPs expenses scandal or the teacup pigs that are the celebrity pet du jour. Huw, I feel, understands this, and doesn't weigh in.

Not so over here. But maybe I could tolerate these post-story quips if they added any sort of value to the story. But they don't. Often you even have to hear what the newsreaders think about the weather (The folks in the studio aren't keen on the recent drop in temperature apparently).

Last night I heard my absolute favourite. There was a story about a prestigious golf tournament that happened on Thursday with Tiger Woods and co all playing. After the competition the players traditionally tuck in to a fancy dinner, but someone somewhere had messed up and delivered the meal a day early. So, instead of throwing it out, they decided to donate the food to a nearby homeless shelter. That evening the soup kitchen served shrimp cocktails, baked cod in parmesan and a selection of sumptuous desserts, the news anchor told us, before adding, "How lucky were those homeless people."

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