While many wait for Trevor Noah to succeed Jon Stewart on
Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," where will they get their "alternative take on the news?" asks Marc Silver, television writer for
The Washington Post. He writes, from an urban journalist's point of view:
I’d suggest tuning into the “Rural Evening News” (RFD-TV, weeknights at
7:30 p.m.), which describes itself as “the number one cable network for
ranchers and farmers.” Like “The Daily Show,” it broadens our
perspective on the news—hey, there’s a whole world out there beyond
the Beltway!
The show is a traditional newscast: anchors at the
desk, reporters in the field, lots of graphics (typically involving
wheat). Much time is spent on the weather for the obvious agricultural
reasons.
Here are a few of the things I’ve learned.
Corn prices have fallen by about 20 percent. Good news for shoppers, bad news for farmers.
Ninety-seven
percent of rural counties have a shortage of primary health-care
professionals, and 9 percent have no physicians at all.
The U.S.
will spend $191 million to pay chicken and turkey farmers for birds lost
to avian flu. But don’t worry about Thanksgiving—turkey farms will be
ready to restock by the end of August.
There’s an actual sport
called barrel racing in which horses literally careen around barrels.
Definitely more action than your typical Nats game.
Factoids like these will no doubt make you the hit of the cocktail party.
The
best thing about the “Rural Evening News” is the smooth pronunciation
of the hard-to-pronounce word “rural,” which fans of “30 Rock” may
remember caused all kinds of trouble when Jenna Maroney starred in a
movie called “The Rural Juror.” Hats off to the “Rural Evening News”
staff for their excellent diction.
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