The bloodletting at Nexstar, gutting anchors and reporters at WGN and KTLA, is not a shock. It is a symptom. The patient has been terminal for years. There was a time when you could switch on the evening news and actually learn something. Facts. Context. Accountability. Now you get sermons. Viewers are no longer informed. They are managed. Spoon-fed political orthodoxy and campaign messaging dressed up as journalism. Subtle as a brick through a window. TV news did not die in a blaze of glory. It suffocated in a cloud of hairspray, banter, and manufactured charm. Personality replaced substance. Chit-chat replaced journalism. The audience noticed. They left. They fled to podcasters and bloggers who, flaws and all, at least pretend to chase facts instead of cocktail party approval. News breaks on weekends. News happens on holidays. But if you rely on local TV, you wait until Monday, when the hair is perfect and the teleprompter is warm. Two anchors per broadcast, grinnin...