Wcco

A commenter points out this morning that the print edition of the Star Tribune has relegated Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy’s story about the Texas lawsuit against Friend-of-Norm Nasser Kazeminy to a bottom corner of the metro section’s front page.

Placement means a lot in terms of readership — not only in print but on the web. So we decided to see how the Twin Cities’ mainstream news outlets are playing the story on their home pages.

We wondered: After Michele Bachmann’s MSNBC meltdown the other day, would Elwyn Tinklenberg have trouble finding local TV ad time available for purchase this late in the game? The DFLer is suddenly flush with contributions in his 6th Congressional District campaign after Bachmann’s “anti-American” gaffe.

But three other more costly contests — for U.S. president, senate and house (3rd District) — are already consuming $29.7 million of Twin Cities TV. What’s left for El?

On WCCO-TV Sunday, State Rep. Erik Paulsen spoke for the first time on Republican claims that DFLer Ashwin Madia is less qualified for the state’s 3rd district U.S. House seat because he’s not a father, rents, and doesn’t fit the district’s “demographic.” Asked if he would condemn the line of attack, Paulsen dodged the question — without acknowledging his campaign’s role in rolling out the personal slams. More after the jump, including videos of WCCO’s interviews with all three candidates.

Today’s media round-up: The Secret Service warned mainstream media sources about alleged threats against them by RNC protesters (this independent media site didn’t get such tips). A look at how Twitter served as the “police scanner of the 21st century newsroom.” And more.

Republicans may have done crack oppo-research on Al Franken, but they couldn’t have also arranged for uncannily targeted third-party ad buys on local TV news … could they?

On WCCO-TV’s 10 p.m. news Wednesday, Amelia Santaniello teased there’d be a story on Al Franken’s tax woes after a commercial break. First ad up (watch it here) [...]

WCCO chief meteorologist Paul Douglas, just let go from the CBS TV station, apparently with little warning, sent this email to friends and coworkers:
I wanted to drop you a quick note, before you read about it or hear about it elsewhere. This week I was terminated from WCCO-TV, after 14 wonderful years at CBS. Times [...]

Popular meteorologist Paul Douglas is no longer with WCCO as its parent network CBS is downsizing at stations nationwide, according to Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Collins. Early this week, WCCO weekend anchor John Reger was let go along with “a handful of other staff members,” according to a report by WCCO’s Jason DeRusha on Wednesday. [...]

A drawback to soliciting “Good Questions” from viewers, as WCCO news does, is that some, well… aren’t. Or, as the station’s Jason DeRusha (pictured) puts it, some are “unbelievably idiotic,” like the two he highlights today. One viewer, Gary, asked:
Where does Obamas [sic] campaign money come from, most black people are not that rich or [...]

That’s right.

“Bush like Hitler, says first Muslim in Congress”: Returning to blogging, Noah Kunin points out this misleading headline by the Telegraph (UK), calling it a “masterful rebranding” of Ellison’s recent comments at an Atheists for Human Rights meeting.

The Telegraph story says Ellison provoked outrage by “apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and [...]