News and the Tangled Web
As mentioned earlier I don't watch much news on television and it would be fun to just start railing on that again especially as it relates to the comments about how busy today's news crews are, so doing a little research on a story is too difficult... but I'll resist the temptation for now.
So how do I get my news? Well mainly via the web. I used to get the Journal Star but for a number of reasons largely having to do with service I gave them up at least in the paper form. Now I get most of my news via the web. Three main sources... CNN, PJ Star, and the Pantagraph with a little Google, and Yahoo news thrown in there as well. I'll hit a number of national newspaper sites as well for individual stories but those three compromise my regular news viewing (or would that be reading?). You may notice that I don't include any television station sites in the list. While the WEEK.com site holds a special place in my heart most of the stories there are just text versions of what was on the newscast. As mentioned in that previous post... I don't much care for today's local news product so why would I go there to read the stories but there in lies the rub!
Even if I LOVED the local television news content I still wouldn't likely go to a stations website for news. I can hear the local newsies now saying "Fine we don't want you anyway!" The point is that Television news content does not translate well into web content. On the other hand newspaper content does! No real surprise there but it does raise a good point about what people are getting for news and why the Jay Leno gag where he goes out on the street asking insanely easy questions which some (okay a lot) of people have a hard time answering is so funny! Now those who are really reading may remember that I said I go to CNN's site and may say,
"But wait... you said you don't go to television new sites because they just use versions of their newscasts."
That's the thing... CNNs site is a separate entity from the television side with news editors and writers who provide more detail then what is on air.
If a person is soley getting all their news from television god help them! It isn't anything against the television side it's just that news is broken up into bite size chunks which hit a topic and then blow past it. If the local newsies whine that they're busier then ever holds, that just means that there are a whole heck of a lot more VO's and VOSOTs out there and even less 1:30 packages. Translate that into a whole lot less in depth news!
I'll relate a story from a bunch of years ago just to prove that I am old and been away from the news game for a while. We were doing a story about the Mitsubishi sexual discrimination (or was that harassment... I can't remember) lawsuit. We were talking to Pat Benassi who happens to be one of my least favorite local attorneys but I will agree with her on this comment. She asked me how it was that with such a complex issue as the case was that we were going to be able to explain it in the 30 seconds to 1:30 we were going to have to tell it in? My response was that we just hoped people read the newspaper. That got a laugh out of her and myself. My reporter just looked at me like I was stupid, but what do reporters really know anyway?
So what is the moral of this story boys and girls? Society today needs to read more and watch less television. I'm not saying that television news isn't needed... Just that it should be a supplement to a broader base of news. I admit that when I was in high school and college I did very little reading of news. My broadcast journalism class at ISU however got me into the habit and I've never lost it. Thanks to Jay Groves for quizzing me every week on local news and making the Pantagraph a required text book. I don't think I would have started doing it without that pressure. I wonder how many college journalism professors require their students to read the paper today? I wonder how many local television news crews (photogs and reporters) read the paper. I'll say that I think for the most part producers and assignment editors do but they're an odd bunch anyway. Just kidding... I like assignment editors and producers for the most part.
posted by lycosboy @ 8:18 PM
6 Comments:
I like what I see in your blog so far.
As a print reporter in Peoria (and former editor of the Tazewell News) I agree with you about TV reporting.
Keep up the good work. I'll be keeping tabs on your posts.
While I agree that the world should read more, I do not agree that wishing it will make it so. The generation growing up now simply will not depend on the newspaper for information.
Subscriptions are down here and everywhere. The method of waiting until tomorrow morning to "read all about it" is outdated. The clock has been ticking on newspapers for a long time.
While you may not like to watch local news or appreciate the value of moving pictures and sound that television adds to the story, most others do. Which do you find more compelling and emotional -- reading about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina or watching it on television? No need to answer, we know what the answer is.
That is not to say one form of news delivery is better than another. I happen to read several newspapers every day. I also watch a lot of news on television. There is value in both. However, in reality, I am not the norm either. Most people now, by more than a two-to-one margin, get most of their information from the tube. The Internet is the other fast-growing resource.
To trash television news delivery may represent your personal feelings and opinion, but it does not represent of how the majority feels.
One comment on local reporting in general -- while some of the TV stations may not have the most experienced local reporters I have ever seen, as a daily reader of the PJS I can say the newspaper has nothing to crow about. I have seen numerous examples of shoddy and inaccurate reporting on the part of many of our beloved newspaper "journalists", those watchkeepers of Central Illinois society. In actuality, there is more local reporting going on at the TV stations than in the PJS which has become a receptical for wire copy from AP and Copley.
dewayne.. Thanks for the comments. I think I remember you if your login name is close to your real one. If I remember correctly you lived near a "lake" in Morton that seemed to be a magnet for fires and tornadoes.
Anonymous... Don't get me wrong. I love moving pictures and sound as much or more then I do reading a web page. My point is two fold. I'm not particularaly fond of the way television news is being covered these days so I tend not to watch it. The other is that it is scary to think that many people these days are getting all their news from television alone. This isn't a blast at the local media anymore then it is a blast at the national media. The point is that television news gives us nice neat chunks of easily digested news. We don't really get the entire story. People need to get the entire story. To badly butcher the famous quote, if we don't know history we are doomed to repeat it (or something like that).
Good reporters are like teachers...people who are willing to do a tough job for no appreciation and even less money.
Unfortunately, there don't seem to be very many good reporters -- especially on our local TV. I've been interviewed by a number of them and have seen them interview a lot of others. They're young and clueless. If I want an expert opinion on who the movers and shakers are in a community, I would want to go talk with one of the shooters -- not the reporters. The guys behind the camera watch and learn it all. The reporters are mostly worried about looking good.
BTW, like the blog. A lot.
Lycosboy,
You've got me.
DeWayne Bartels
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