There's a difference between superficial nonsense and actually being communicative about the core of their business.

It'd be another thing if station managers were spontaneously spending extra time they had in this manner, with said extra time existing because things were running so smoothly. Since this is obviously not the case and this is some brilliant directive coming down from a PR department...I think the eyebrow bowing at this is pretty valid, even if it's a bit cynical.