KARE 11 Wins Award

It was late Sunday when a romp through Lexis Nexis led me to a news-wire that said four Gannett television news programs had won RTNDA Edward R. Murrow awards. With the chagrin of a man-proven-wrong I considered the list, which began with this entry: "KARE-TV at Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN –[. . .] for '35W Bridge Collapse'."

I put the laptop down to think. After a couple days I decided it was my obligation to post the good with the bad, and I went to check and see if KARE 11 had reported their big win. They did, along with video of the coverage in question.

So with palms sweating as I type: kudos to you, KARE 11. If your Internet video technology wasn't so horrible, I might go into more detail about the coverage.

KARE 11 receives their award on October 13, during an official ceremony at RTNDA headquarters in New York City.

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.

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.