Why Is the Media Lying About Digital TV?

[Commentary] After roughly 36 percent of local TV stations switched early to all-Digital TV signals last week, the FCC received more than 70,000 complaints in the first two days. 70,000 complaints in just two days. Based on these developments, you would think that the early DTV switch was a major disaster. Despite local stations' insistence on switching early to save money, it would appear that their viewers were not ready, as many people warned. But good luck in finding that story in many of your nation's top trade and consumer publications, particularly if they are owned by companies that also own local TV stations which desperately want the switch to occur now. There were several examples of newspapers owned by companies that own local TV stations printing digital TV stories that seemed more appropriate for a collection of short novellas. But it wasn't just the consumer press that seemed to go into the tank on this story. If you read the nation's leading TV trade publications, you would think the early switch went as smooth as silk. So, what's happening here? Why are so many publications seemingly so eager to portray the early Digital TV switch as a huge success? It's quite simple. In the case of newspapers with ownership connections to local TV stations, many are following orders. Their corporate parents have a vested interest in creating the perception that the switch is a success, so by God, their newspapers will toe the line or else. Don't kid yourselves, folks. Newsrooms do not make decisions based solely on journalistic reasons. And in the case of the trade publications, they have an historic closeness to the National Association of Broadcasters and other industry heavyweights who want the DTV switch to be portrayed as a success.