During the American Idol season our own Fox 9 news has provided us with weekly in-depth coverage of the show. They also have an Idol-themed website run by Chris Matheson, the entertainment beat reporter.
It's tricked out with killer graphics and a chat room where enthusiastic fans can argue over their favorite contestant. It's also tricked out with a disgusting sploosh into the toilet bowl of sensationalism and sycophancy.
Other local affiliates are silent on Idol. Now that it's in its seventh (or is it eighth? ninth? 41st?) season, the show is far from being newsworthy in any sense and should be beyond even the soiled ethical standards of entertainment reporting, especially here in Minnesota which is nowhere near Hollywood (geographically or egotistically). But I guess entertainment news is pointedly shit, and Matheson's reporting is actually funny if we take it as an intended punch-line to a joke that the E! channel has been telling all these years.
Then there's the matter of incest. Fox 9 news is running weekly updates on a show that's broadcast on their own station and that is a backhand to RTNDA ethical standards. I would like to find out if other Fox affiliates run similar bits on their own news broadcasts. Is KMSP getting more than video clips from Fox headquarters for doing these updates?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Catering to Ownership: KARE 11 Reports
Last night KARE 11 News broadcast two stories about Katie Henslin, the first Minnesota native to be a contestant on the TV game show Deal or No Deal. The first report ran at five o'clock, the second at 10 o'clock. Henslin told KARE 11 her half-million dollar win will help her and her husband buy a home and support their children.
The problem is this: Deal or No Deal is on NBC. The show is owned by the same people that own the KARE 11 affiliate here in the Twin Cities.
This might be a violation of the RTNDA's code of ethics that states: "journalists should refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately."
Of all the other local news organizations, only the Pioneer Press, who ran a squib on their website yesterday, thought Henslin's win was worth reporting. The other local stations didn' mention Henslin at all.
The problem is this: Deal or No Deal is on NBC. The show is owned by the same people that own the KARE 11 affiliate here in the Twin Cities.
This might be a violation of the RTNDA's code of ethics that states: "journalists should refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately."
Of all the other local news organizations, only the Pioneer Press, who ran a squib on their website yesterday, thought Henslin's win was worth reporting. The other local stations didn' mention Henslin at all.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
About This Blog
Of course I will rant. When it comes to criticizing local television journalism, ranting is too easy, too necessary to avoid. And that is the goal of this blog: to monitor, analyze, and personally react to the quality of television broadcast news generated in my home town.
What I won't do is babble. I will use industry tools to lend credit to my judgements. I am a student at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and I will often relate my critiques to coursework, but mostly I will use ethical guidelines set by the Radio and Television News Directors Association to weigh the quality of local TV news. In the case of local news and national news, ethics (or lack of ethics) affect everything from the form and quality of reporting to its content.
Some of the most relevant, most ignored guidelines include (in no order):
Electronic Journalists Should:
* Resist distortions that obscure the importance of events.
* Clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders.
* Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately.
* Use technological tools with skill and thoughtfulness, avoiding techniques that skew facts, distort reality, or sensationalize events.
* Seek to understand the diversity of their community and inform the public without bias or stereotype.
* Manipulate images or sounds in any way that is misleading.
I will also look at and react to results from the Minnesota News Council's hearings as they happen, and rant appropriately (or inappropriately).
I will rant. Expect the rant.
What I won't do is babble. I will use industry tools to lend credit to my judgements. I am a student at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and I will often relate my critiques to coursework, but mostly I will use ethical guidelines set by the Radio and Television News Directors Association to weigh the quality of local TV news. In the case of local news and national news, ethics (or lack of ethics) affect everything from the form and quality of reporting to its content.
Some of the most relevant, most ignored guidelines include (in no order):
Electronic Journalists Should:
* Resist distortions that obscure the importance of events.
* Clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders.
* Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately.
* Use technological tools with skill and thoughtfulness, avoiding techniques that skew facts, distort reality, or sensationalize events.
* Seek to understand the diversity of their community and inform the public without bias or stereotype.
* Manipulate images or sounds in any way that is misleading.
I will also look at and react to results from the Minnesota News Council's hearings as they happen, and rant appropriately (or inappropriately).
I will rant. Expect the rant.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Post Uno
The title of the blog gives a good idea of how I will use this blog. The only thing that I need to clarify is this: by "local" TV news, I'm referring to local news in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. If you live somewhere else, then I encourage you to turn a firm eye on your own local news broadcasts, but I can't provide criticism of any broadcasts that happen outside the Twin Cities (except, maybe, as a comparison to our own).
The stations I watch will all be local network affiliates. I don't have cable and can't watch anything broadcast on the local public access stations. The local news programs I will monitor and write about in this blog include those broadcast on:
WCCO/Channel 4: CBS
KSTP/ Channel 5: ABC
KMSP/Channel 9: FOX
KARE/Channel 11: NBC
Thank you for reading.
The stations I watch will all be local network affiliates. I don't have cable and can't watch anything broadcast on the local public access stations. The local news programs I will monitor and write about in this blog include those broadcast on:
WCCO/Channel 4: CBS
KSTP/ Channel 5: ABC
KMSP/Channel 9: FOX
KARE/Channel 11: NBC
Thank you for reading.
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