Humping Bugs, Paris Hilton, and Other News That’s Fit to Print

Re: CP/vita.mn/Google AWWWWW SNAP!

Come on, Paul… So how do you justify you covering the coverage of Paris’ coverage?

We have a segment called “Good Question.”  It’s covered Why there’s a rift between the U.S. and Russia, and Why we sneeze, among other topics at http://www.wcco.com/goodquestion .

The 10pm news is a half-hour long.  We covered plenty of “more important things” last night.  Why not a little look into Paris Hilton?  (And I thought the interviews in front of Hilton was a funny bit.  It wasn’t mentioned, it was just in the background.)

There was no local angle to the U.S./Russia story either, but it was still a worthy piece.)

“There was no local angle to the U.S./Russia story either” ummm, huh?  trade relations, economic impact, world peace (our own national guard already over stretched), plus much more can all be directly tied to MN.  Just because we have a Hilton hotel in MN is not a good enough reason to call THAT a local angle.

Jason, love your stuff, but really?

Well… I guess my justification is: I do media criticism, so covering the coverage is what I’m supposed to be doing. But in rereading what I wrote and watching the ‘CCO footage again, maybe “wallow[ing] profitably in whatever gutter has everybody’s attention” (the LATimes quote) was a bit harsh for the WCCO piece! Still, the device of doing man-on-the-street interviews in front of a local Hilton seems a stretch to me. Even with a local hook, is a meta-media perspective on Paris Hilton worth taking up 3 minutes of a 30-minute local broadcast?

But check out that fact at the end of the segment: Nick Ut, who photographed Kim Phuc in that famous Vietnam shot, took the Paris-leaving-jail shot… on the same day as he took the famous “napalm girl” shot. See, you can learn something watching the news.

Thanks for the comment. Nice to see you ’round these parts.

Ag, You’re right Re-reading my comment, clearly you are right Ag. Sorry about the misstatement.  More accurately, sorry about the dumb statement.

And look, we can all debate whether Good Question is a valuable use of time in a 10pm newscast.  The reality is, we have this segment every night.  We take 3 minutes where we try to go a little deeper and answer a “good question.”  Some of the questions are silly, some are serious. 

You will always be able to pull some piece of a newscast out and say, “There are more important things going on!” 

Obviously. 

Do I like the “man-on-the-street” element of Good Question?  Ah– I could take it or leave it.  It makes the stories more fun to watch than just 2 minutes of a college professor.  So there’s that.

No problem And it really speaks to your integrity to be straight up with this. 

The main frustration many people have with this whole ‘celeb’ reporting is when we are occupying a country who never attacked us, which is depleting our national resources, when the climate is changing because of our addiction to oil, when there are real genocides occurring in the world, or even when our roads and cities are crumbling because politicians pander to greed and laziness, we have much more important issues to see in our local and national news.  Obviously those are my opinions based on those issues, but when those things are hardly ever covered, what else do we have to go on?

It just seems the MSM is oblivious to real problems and are much more interested in ‘entertaining’ us than informing us.  It is truly a disservice, and people wonder why we are looking elsewhere for news.

Changing Concept of News I think there are a lot of people who agree with you, Ag.  And a lot of people who want to be entertained, and don’t want to be depressed by “bad news.”

The challenge for BROADcasters, is how to craft a news program that appeals to all of those people.  I used to talk about the need for a “spoonful of sugar” in the newscast to help the medicine go down.  Now, most local newscasts don’t even bother with the medicine.  We do it a little, which makes me happy.  Newspapers and on-line have the advantage of being non-linear, so you can skip what you don’t care about.  TV newscasts are linear, so you’re stuck with what we choose.

I imagine someday you’ll have niche newscasts on our digital channels.  Maybe you get the local version of the serious big news of the state and world on one channel.  The ultra-local news on another.  Maybe a targeted tech/business type of program on another.

yep Also, there are ways to make things ‘entertaining’ and still relevant.  John Stewart and the Colbert Report have proven that.  No one can say they don’t talk substance, and they sure are fun to watch.

It is clear to me that there will be some major changes in how we obtain news, and what “BROADcasting” means.  Are the airways the property of big corporate giants? or the property of the people?

http://www.mydd.com/…

Things are changing, and it will at the very least be interesting to watch pan out.

spoonful of sugar Even worse than the spoonful of sugar is when it feels blatantly pr based to me.  An example right now on WCCO is the Morrison 6.  Telling me the story and updating me is one thing.  Having links to where to give them money feels inappropriate. 

Maybe it’s my old pr background, but I always judge my news on how much of it looks like the press release I may have written myself. 

Now, fainting goats…
  ;-)

Re: CP/vita.mn/Google AWWWWW SNAP!

Come on, Paul… So how do you justify you covering the coverage of Paris' coverage?

We have a segment called “Good Question.”  It's covered Why there's a rift between the U.S. and Russia, and Why we sneeze, among other topics at http://www.wcco.com/goodquestion .

The 10pm news is a half-hour long.  We covered plenty of “more important things” last night.  Why not a little look into Paris Hilton?  (And I thought the interviews in front of Hilton was a funny bit.  It wasn't mentioned, it was just in the background.)

There was no local angle to the U.S./Russia story either, but it was still a worthy piece.)

“There was no local angle to the U.S./Russia story either” ummm, huh?  trade relations, economic impact, world peace (our own national guard already over stretched), plus much more can all be directly tied to MN.  Just because we have a Hilton hotel in MN is not a good enough reason to call THAT a local angle.

Jason, love your stuff, but really?

Well… I guess my justification is: I do media criticism, so covering the coverage is what I'm supposed to be doing. But in rereading what I wrote and watching the 'CCO footage again, maybe “wallow[ing] profitably in whatever gutter has everybody's attention” (the LATimes quote) was a bit harsh for the WCCO piece! Still, the device of doing man-on-the-street interviews in front of a local Hilton seems a stretch to me. Even with a local hook, is a meta-media perspective on Paris Hilton worth taking up 3 minutes of a 30-minute local broadcast?

But check out that fact at the end of the segment: Nick Ut, who photographed Kim Phuc in that famous Vietnam shot, took the Paris-leaving-jail shot… on the same day as he took the famous “napalm girl” shot. See, you can learn something watching the news.

Thanks for the comment. Nice to see you 'round these parts.

Ag, You're right Re-reading my comment, clearly you are right Ag. Sorry about the misstatement.  More accurately, sorry about the dumb statement.

And look, we can all debate whether Good Question is a valuable use of time in a 10pm newscast.  The reality is, we have this segment every night.  We take 3 minutes where we try to go a little deeper and answer a “good question.”  Some of the questions are silly, some are serious. 

You will always be able to pull some piece of a newscast out and say, “There are more important things going on!” 

Obviously. 

Do I like the “man-on-the-street” element of Good Question?  Ah– I could take it or leave it.  It makes the stories more fun to watch than just 2 minutes of a college professor.  So there's that.

No problem And it really speaks to your integrity to be straight up with this. 

The main frustration many people have with this whole 'celeb' reporting is when we are occupying a country who never attacked us, which is depleting our national resources, when the climate is changing because of our addiction to oil, when there are real genocides occurring in the world, or even when our roads and cities are crumbling because politicians pander to greed and laziness, we have much more important issues to see in our local and national news.  Obviously those are my opinions based on those issues, but when those things are hardly ever covered, what else do we have to go on?

It just seems the MSM is oblivious to real problems and are much more interested in 'entertaining' us than informing us.  It is truly a disservice, and people wonder why we are looking elsewhere for news.

Changing Concept of News I think there are a lot of people who agree with you, Ag.  And a lot of people who want to be entertained, and don't want to be depressed by “bad news.”

The challenge for BROADcasters, is how to craft a news program that appeals to all of those people.  I used to talk about the need for a “spoonful of sugar” in the newscast to help the medicine go down.  Now, most local newscasts don't even bother with the medicine.  We do it a little, which makes me happy.  Newspapers and on-line have the advantage of being non-linear, so you can skip what you don't care about.  TV newscasts are linear, so you're stuck with what we choose.

I imagine someday you'll have niche newscasts on our digital channels.  Maybe you get the local version of the serious big news of the state and world on one channel.  The ultra-local news on another.  Maybe a targeted tech/business type of program on another.

yep Also, there are ways to make things 'entertaining' and still relevant.  John Stewart and the Colbert Report have proven that.  No one can say they don't talk substance, and they sure are fun to watch.

It is clear to me that there will be some major changes in how we obtain news, and what “BROADcasting” means.  Are the airways the property of big corporate giants? or the property of the people?

http://www.mydd.com/…

Things are changing, and it will at the very least be interesting to watch pan out.

spoonful of sugar Even worse than the spoonful of sugar is when it feels blatantly pr based to me.  An example right now on WCCO is the Morrison 6.  Telling me the story and updating me is one thing.  Having links to where to give them money feels inappropriate. 

Maybe it's my old pr background, but I always judge my news on how much of it looks like the press release I may have written myself. 

Now, fainting goats…
  ;-)

Wow, Paris Hilton is so hot