Utopiarun

9 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

 

This seems so ridiculous.  The segment is only important because of the talent, not because of the information being presented?  

 

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I would be in favor of eliminating regular traffic reports on newscasts.  First of all, it doesn't affect a lot of the audience.  (I have no idea what the percentage might be.  Wish I had more data.)  Second, my guess is that, by the time you get to the area of the incident, it'll be different.  A slowdown caused by a normal accident might have been solved.  A new incident may have popped up.  Traffic on radio seems to make way more sense.  (Not to mention Google Maps and Waze.)  Of course, if there's a major incident, that could be reported more as a news story, perhaps with the chopper.

 

But traffic reports shouldn't be dependent on whether the traffic anchor is available.  It should be based on the need of the segments. 

As someone who drives 35 miles each way to and from work each day, I use the traffic reports on TV and radio to alert me of any issues there may be out there. While it's true that in many cases the incident is gone by the time you get there, at least you are prepared that there may be a delay. I still think traffic reports are essential for the early morning commute.