News Log & Assignments

NEWS VIEWING LOG

• KSTP 10pm News Wed, June 2

• FATHER KILLED – Father killed by semi truck while changing tire on highway. Characterize him as a family man. He got his daughters to giggle. They are really playing up the sympathy. Showing grieving wife, daughters. 2 girls in car. “The girls told me they saw too much.” 120 seconds

• Nurses vs. Hospitals labor dispute – AD TRUTH TEST – Nurses set to strike on June 10th, hospitals have a 1 minute ad. The truth is the first casualty. Nurse’s spokesperson calls the hospitals’ radio ad outright lies. They play the ad. Point out that there are different perspectives on the claims. Pretty even-handed. About 180 seconds

• LAWMAKER REPRIMANDED. – Local lawmaker reprimanded for pushing special fishing law on lake on which he owns a cabin. Clip of Sen. Chaudry claiming he did not have his own interest in mind. Sen Linda Scheid of Brooklyn Park being critical. 60 seconds

• OFFICER FIGHTING TO GET HIS JOB BACK after being dismissed after a domestic dispute. 30 seconds.

• JAILED IN RWANDA – Local law professor in Rwanda has been jailed and allegedly attempted suicide. His family says the accusations are false. He is being accused of denying genocide. 10 seconds

• STANDING UP FOR OTHERS – teased for after break – image of man with terrible facial wounds – “How standing up for others almost cost him his life”

• THROWN IN JAIL – teasing how mowing lawn or kids playing in lawn could get you thrown in jail

• SOLDIER’S WELCOME – soldier returns from tour of duty only to get wounded.

o COMMERCIAL BREAK

• HISTORIC HOME FIRE – Firefighters tried to save a 100+ year old home on Lake Minnetonka. 20 seconds.

• BEATING VICTIM – Man comes to aid of gas station clerks clerk beaten with baseball bats after defending two clerks from bullies. Victim’s mother talks about how good deeds sometimes are punished. 30 seconds.

• MURDER SUSPECT – Suspect in 2005 Natalee Holloway disappearance in Aruba is now wanted in Peru murder. 30 seconds.

• SAW FREED – BP looking for new way to stop oil leak in gulf. Images of pollution and animals in gulf. 30 seconds

• NEW FINES – teasing the local fines story again. Fines or jail time.

• Dave Dahl – weather – something that hasn’t happened in weeks.

o COMMERCIAL BREAK

• Throw from anchors to weathercaster Dave Dahl

• Break an 11 day streak of above average highs, coolest since 65 degrees on May 11

• Pollen levels, comfortable now, but going up over weekend.

• LIVE RADAR some sprinkles, but moving away. Some rain, perhaps significant, coming late Thursday into Friday

• CURRENT TEMPERATURES, CONDITIONS

• HIGHS THURSDAY

• THURSDAY NIGHT SEVERE STORMS RISK

• Tonight and tomorrow’s forecast.

• 7 day outlook – approximately 180 seconds

• Back to anchors.

• NEW AT 10 – new laws in Glencoe

• Glencoe residents fighting the city’s wide-ranging nuisance ordinances. Angle – the city has gone too far. Reporter says, The city is interested in public safety, not making money (no one mentioned making money). Petition being circulated to put the ordinances on a November ballot. City official put on camera, stammers a response, looks kind of like he’s equivocating. 90 seconds

• CONTROVERSIAL AD – St. Cloud print ad accused of being anti-muslim. Pastor claims it’s about piety. Detractors say it’s anti-muslim. Pretty-even-handed. 60 seconds

• IDENTITY THEFT – Green Bay residents steal the identities of war veterans. 15 seconds.

• SOLDIER’S RECOVERY – A hero’s welcome in Rochester for the last hospitalized victim of the Fort Hood massacre. Ziglar incredibly survived tour of duty in Iraq and then was shot at Ft. Hood. His fiancée lives in Rochester. “Good example of Minnesota Nice. 60 seconds min.

• teasing next stories –
• GLOBAL WARMING – What do ghosts and global warming have in common?
• HIGHWAY ROBBERY – one of the most controversial calls in the history of baseball (pretty emphatic there) “That is not an overstatement” the sports guy says. Bad news for the twins as well, a couple players will be out.

o COMMERCIAL BREAK

• “Are humans really causing temperatures to rise and ice caps to melt?” More and more people don’t think so. Public opinion changing about global warming. Conference mocking people who believe global warming is a problem. A state senator blames the change in opinion on the Media. Anchor admits there were no other media outlets at that conference. It does seem to be fairly even-handed that they admit this; however, they give the lead to the people pointing out that almost as many people believe in ghosts (25%) global warming. tease story for tomorrow about why global warming is a local issue 150 seconds

• STUDENTS RETURNING HOME – High school seniors stuck in Guatemala are returning home. 30 seconds.

• “Almost had bseball history in Detroit. Wait til you see…” also… tease Ken Griffey’s retirement.
• Lottery numbers.

o COMMERCIAL BREAK

• Blown call costs pitcher perfect game.
• Twins lose 2 – Cuddyer to bereavement and Casilla to surgery
• Twins trail mariners 1-0
• Neshek starts rehab assignment
• Griffey Jr. retires
• Stanley cup finals update – Flyers def. Blackhawks
• golf tournament
• Praises umpire for admitting mistake

• Repeat 7-day forecast and then conclude


My reflection. I am generally pretty cynical about TV news. I really don’t watch it because I believe it to be mostly fluff. I think a majority of the stories on local news really aren’t newsworthy. Take the lead story about the dad who was killed changing a flat tire on the highway. I think there is some value in warning community members about the dangers of changing a flat on the highway, but really the whole of the story was spent showing the grieving wife and (step)children. It was pure melodrama; look at these sad images. The narrative was, a family tragically loses a loving husband and father. Very maudlin. Certainly I sympathize with the survivors for their loss, but I don’t find the content of the story journalistically important.

Of the other stories in the first 10-15 minutes, there were a fair number of stories that I would deem as significant and relevant, and I was pleasantly surprised at how even-handed the reporting seemed to be. Story #2 about the nurse’s strike was handled as a traditional 5 W’s story, and I thought the story in its examination of the truth or falsehood of the hospitals’ radio ad was quite balanced. I thought likewise of story #3 about the lawmaker being reprimanded. They provided both interview quotes from the lawmaker himself and a colleague who was critical of him.

I have mixed feelings about the anti-global warming story. I appreciated that the story provided time for an opposing viewpoint – a local lawmaker who believes global warm is a big problem – and that they answered her criticism that the media gives the anti-warming theorists too much attention by having a reporter acknowledge that they were the only news outlet at the conference. Even though they relegated this story to a slot between the weather and sports – about 20 minutes into the newscast – I still question why they found it to be significant at all. I suspect that the main reason they aired the story is because they had good footage of women dressed up as “mother nature” handing out pamphlets.

I think weather has obvious merits for being broadcast, but sports – as big a sports fan as I am – really is newsworthy only insofar as both news and sports tend to be male-skewing in their audiences, so it makes sense to report the sports on the news. Really, though, I think the sports report is a vestige of a pre-cable, pre-ESPN world.

PROPOSED ASSIGNMENTS:

Watch 3-4 news stories with the sound off and write what you think they are about based solely on the onscreen text and images. Now watch them again and summarize what they were really about. Is there a discrepancy between what the images and words say? Do you think this is intentional? What do you think has a greater impact on the viewer and why?

Watch the first 10 minutes of the news and log each story, describing in concise bullet points what the main idea of each story is. Now go back and decide on whether the story is one, more or all of the following: significant, relevant, sensational, practical, or has community impact. Finally, put the stories in the order that you think is most appropriate. Justify this order in a well-argued paragraph.

Choose a news story of at least 60 seconds in length and identify the narrative. Rewrite it as a 1+ page short story.