For this week's post, I chose to examine the hour-long midday broadcast of KSTP Channel 5, Minneapolis / St. Paul, which aired from 11AM to noon on Wednesday, November 10th.
First off, I have to say that overall, I was very surprised by what I saw. I went into this assignment with a number of preconceptions of what the "local news" would be like, and since I hadn't actually seen a local news broadcast in years, many of these preconceptions turned out to be way off base, to the network's credit...
All the stories got between twenty seconds and two minutes of airtime, with the most newsworthy stories actually getting the most time. They led off with planned upgrades to Target Field as their "Top Story", which I found a bit annoying, despite the praise I was just voicing. I feel like this "news" should be seen as mere fluff, and the fact that it's their "Top Story" makes me feel like the news media is trying to reinforce to the general public the idea that Pro Sports is a very relevant and important part of our society, which it is NOT. That said, I can understand why many people comprising the ignorant masses out in TV Land would find this interesting and important.
Next, there was a series of very short segments each reporting a different "Terrible Thing". I have decided that "Terrible Things" will be my catch-all term for the type of news segments that fill a huge percentage of the broadcast, which all cover stories involving either crime, injury, tragedy, or social-injustice of some kind. After the initial Twins story, I saw a lot of Terrible Things, followed by some very detailed weather coverage.
This brings me to another major point I want to make. Why all the in-depth analysis and time focused on weather?!? No less than four times during this broadcast, they cut away to the meteorologist who always got between two and three minutes (WAY longer than almost every news segment) to say the same things about the weather. Why is this news?? We can't change the weather. Knowing what "might" happen with the weather isn't going to affect our daily lives in any very significant ways. Why is so much time and attention dedicated to reporting it? I can understand that years ago, when far more people were farmers, that is might have had more relevance. But in today's world, the general news-viewing public doesn't need endless in-depth analysis of pressure fronts and wind patterns. Just tell us if it's gonna be really cold, or really snowy, or if it's gonna rain down sulfur and brimstone. Keep it very short and to the point, for God's sake...
Overall, the news broadcast had a very balanced amount of local-interest stories and national/world-interest stories. I was pleased that Obama's trip to Asia received a lot more time than the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald in Lake Superior, and the MN Gubernatorial recount drama received more time than the broken-down-and-stranded Carnival Cruise ship. I couldn't really detect any political bias in any of the reporting, and it all seemed very fair and journalistically professional...
...Except for one thing: why the heck are they reporting on last night's Dancing With The Stars results?!?! How could anyone consider that news?! This segment received three times as much airtime as the story on the Somali sex-traffic ring, and there is something disgustingly wrong and unjust about that... It's as if the station would like the public to feel that reality TV is important and socially-relevant, in an effort to boost ratings. Disgusting...
That issue and the weather "thing" aside, I felt like this broadcast was overall pretty decent, and of a lot higher quality than I was ever expecting it to be. A definite B+.
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