Don’t Expect Much Improvement In TV News Coverage Of Los Angeles Kings Over Long Term

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COMMENTARY: The Los Angeles Kings are more popular than ever on local television news broadcasts, which should be music to the ears, and candy for the eyes, of long-suffering hockey fans in the area. But the local television news outlets are, evidently, horribly unprepared to cover the game. The result is unfathomable mistakes, and shoddy reporting. Even worse, Los Angeles area hockey fans should not get their hopes up for much improvement down the road.

Coverage of the Los Angeles Kings’ 2012 playoff run by local TV media has been plagued by careless mistakes, so the team decided to help them with the basics.
(click to view entire image).
Photo: Los Angeles Kings

After walking past the Chairman’s Room on the Event Level, I turned into the tunnel leading to the ice surface, nearest the Kings dressing room, and as I turned, I saw KNBC-TV’s (Channel 4 here in the Los Angeles area) Fred Roggin doing a live spot on one of their evening news broadcasts.

At first blush, one might think, “hey, it’s great to see Staples Center and the Kings getting some positive media coverage on local television for a change.”

Alas, that was not my first, or even my second thought. Rather, my first and only reaction was, “we’ll never see him here again, unless the Kings win the Stanley Cup someday.”

To be fair, I have not attended every single game since that night, so perhaps Roggin has been at Staples Center to cover a Kings game since then. However, I can say that I have been a member of the Kings credentialed media since 1997, with the exception of a couple of seasons, and I have never seen him at a game. Read more of this post