Fluff: WCCO

WCCO ended their evening broadcast tonight with a hard-hitting news-piece on the arrival of baby sea otters at the Minnesota Zoo.

Comfy news stories are used to finish broadcasts because ending on a lighter note helps maintain an audience. This is one of many signs that broadcasters, in a constant battle for ratings and advertising revenue, have lost track of their grand responsibility: the quality of the public sphere.

The RTNDA code of ethics says that "journalists should [. . .] guard against extended coverage of events or individuals that fails to significantly advance a story, place the event in context, or add to the public knowledge."