Viewing Log for Wednesday, November 8, 2006 4pm Channel 5 Eyewitness News KSTP
Opening: The program opened with a short statement about Rumsfeld resigning and Pawlenty remaining Governor of Minnesota. They then went immediately to a quick weather forecast (record highs today with possible snow by Friday)
– 30 seconds
Top Story/National News
Next, they went further in depth about Donald Rumsfeld resigning. They showed clips of President Bush at a press conference saying it was time for a change. They then showed clips of Robert Gates at a press conference reviewing the reasons why he accepted the position. They gave a brief history of Gates, how he’s served under seven different presidents, etc.
– 4 minutes
Local News Stories
Moved onto local election results. They have a correspondent at the state capital and showed clips of Hatch conceding the race for Governor. Over the clips they discussed the way the election was plagued with mud-slinging. Next they went to Pawlenty’s acceptance speech.
They then briefed other election results, highlighted that Klobuchar was the first woman elected to the US Senate from Minnesota. They also highlighted Keith Ellison’s win and the “yes” to the transportation amendment.
– 6 minutes
Back to National News
Quickly reviewed National election results. They show clips of John Tester from Montana talking about Democrats gaining control. They also briefly talked about Bush’s disappointment. They briefly showed Pelosi (new Speaker of the House and the first woman to hold the position), saying that the people spoke with their votes.
– 3 minutes
Before going to commercial, they quickly have teasers of what is up next (flooding and attacks in Iraq)
– 30 seconds
Commercials – 2 minutes 30 seconds
Return from Commercial – jump around several topics
Upon returning, they go over the latest attacks in Iraq (Calling for revenge against US after Israelis attack today, because America supports Israel)
- 1 minute
Car fire on France avenue slowed traffic today
- 10 seconds
Election reverses 8 years of Republican control. Showed clips of people voting and political analyst’s opinions.
– 1 minute
Quick story about Macy’s
– 15 seconds
Flooding in NW
– 30 seconds
Weather – very excited about the high temperatures today. Time lapse shot. Cold front over night with possible snow by Friday. 7 day planner, talked about problems for commuters.
- 7 minutes
Lost – tell viewers to get your fix now. Talk about splitting seasons. Why are more networks doing this? Go to radio hosts Lori and Julia. They don’t like it, and can barely follow the show. (Spliced picture to show Lori & Julia (FM 107) on one side and the studio on another.) They made a quick comment about go Brittany for divorcing K-Fed
- 2 min
Commercials – 2 minutes
Return with what’s on at 5:00 news – 30 seconds
Hunters know they’re a lot of deer. Buck wandered into parking garage in Wisconsin.
– 1 minute
The news ends with another recap about the wonderful weather today
– 30 seconds
Analysis
This news reminded me of a five-minute workout. I’m sure there was some benefit, but it was minimal. Basically, the news was highly random (for example I was not sure why they showed a clip John Tester from Montana). They jumped from topic to topic. For national news, they didn’t have correspondents but merely showed clips. When they did have an actual correspondent on site, it seemed like pointless attempt to broadcast some sort of inside story. For example, there was a correspondent at the state capital building. She did not talk to any candidates but merely showed the office where Mike Hatch was currently employed, then walked across the hall and pointed to another office and said this is where he had hoped to move if he had won the election.
Each news story was extremely short and it was hard to glean any information from them. They spent as much time showing a picture of a deer in a parking garage in Wisconsin as they did on recent attacks in Iraq. The most time was spent on the weather, and it was addressed three separate times. Almost as much time was spent on the new trend of television programs splitting seasons as it was on the National election results. In addition, the two radio hosts they cut to in order to discuss this trend did not offer an intelligent viewpoint but merely stated they did not care for it and could hardly follow the television show Lost (I’m surprised they would admit this on television). They seemed to want to gossip about celebrities if they had been given the time.
This is not a program that I would watch to get news. In my opinion, it is a small step above a celebrity news program. However, that may be the point as they are sandwiched in between the Greg Behrendt Show and Inside Edition. The program excluded a lot of material. I’m not sure if this was due to trying to cover too many topics in a short of amount of time or if it’s purpose was to somehow influence the audience. This appeared to be a warm-up to their perhaps more valuable news program at 5:00pm. My opinion is that this program fills a 4-4:30 void in an inexpensive way. Since there was no sports coverage, I'm guessing this program was aimed at women, not men.
Opening: The program opened with a short statement about Rumsfeld resigning and Pawlenty remaining Governor of Minnesota. They then went immediately to a quick weather forecast (record highs today with possible snow by Friday)
– 30 seconds
Top Story/National News
Next, they went further in depth about Donald Rumsfeld resigning. They showed clips of President Bush at a press conference saying it was time for a change. They then showed clips of Robert Gates at a press conference reviewing the reasons why he accepted the position. They gave a brief history of Gates, how he’s served under seven different presidents, etc.
– 4 minutes
Local News Stories
Moved onto local election results. They have a correspondent at the state capital and showed clips of Hatch conceding the race for Governor. Over the clips they discussed the way the election was plagued with mud-slinging. Next they went to Pawlenty’s acceptance speech.
They then briefed other election results, highlighted that Klobuchar was the first woman elected to the US Senate from Minnesota. They also highlighted Keith Ellison’s win and the “yes” to the transportation amendment.
– 6 minutes
Back to National News
Quickly reviewed National election results. They show clips of John Tester from Montana talking about Democrats gaining control. They also briefly talked about Bush’s disappointment. They briefly showed Pelosi (new Speaker of the House and the first woman to hold the position), saying that the people spoke with their votes.
– 3 minutes
Before going to commercial, they quickly have teasers of what is up next (flooding and attacks in Iraq)
– 30 seconds
Commercials – 2 minutes 30 seconds
Return from Commercial – jump around several topics
Upon returning, they go over the latest attacks in Iraq (Calling for revenge against US after Israelis attack today, because America supports Israel)
- 1 minute
Car fire on France avenue slowed traffic today
- 10 seconds
Election reverses 8 years of Republican control. Showed clips of people voting and political analyst’s opinions.
– 1 minute
Quick story about Macy’s
– 15 seconds
Flooding in NW
– 30 seconds
Weather – very excited about the high temperatures today. Time lapse shot. Cold front over night with possible snow by Friday. 7 day planner, talked about problems for commuters.
- 7 minutes
Lost – tell viewers to get your fix now. Talk about splitting seasons. Why are more networks doing this? Go to radio hosts Lori and Julia. They don’t like it, and can barely follow the show. (Spliced picture to show Lori & Julia (FM 107) on one side and the studio on another.) They made a quick comment about go Brittany for divorcing K-Fed
- 2 min
Commercials – 2 minutes
Return with what’s on at 5:00 news – 30 seconds
Hunters know they’re a lot of deer. Buck wandered into parking garage in Wisconsin.
– 1 minute
The news ends with another recap about the wonderful weather today
– 30 seconds
Analysis
This news reminded me of a five-minute workout. I’m sure there was some benefit, but it was minimal. Basically, the news was highly random (for example I was not sure why they showed a clip John Tester from Montana). They jumped from topic to topic. For national news, they didn’t have correspondents but merely showed clips. When they did have an actual correspondent on site, it seemed like pointless attempt to broadcast some sort of inside story. For example, there was a correspondent at the state capital building. She did not talk to any candidates but merely showed the office where Mike Hatch was currently employed, then walked across the hall and pointed to another office and said this is where he had hoped to move if he had won the election.
Each news story was extremely short and it was hard to glean any information from them. They spent as much time showing a picture of a deer in a parking garage in Wisconsin as they did on recent attacks in Iraq. The most time was spent on the weather, and it was addressed three separate times. Almost as much time was spent on the new trend of television programs splitting seasons as it was on the National election results. In addition, the two radio hosts they cut to in order to discuss this trend did not offer an intelligent viewpoint but merely stated they did not care for it and could hardly follow the television show Lost (I’m surprised they would admit this on television). They seemed to want to gossip about celebrities if they had been given the time.
This is not a program that I would watch to get news. In my opinion, it is a small step above a celebrity news program. However, that may be the point as they are sandwiched in between the Greg Behrendt Show and Inside Edition. The program excluded a lot of material. I’m not sure if this was due to trying to cover too many topics in a short of amount of time or if it’s purpose was to somehow influence the audience. This appeared to be a warm-up to their perhaps more valuable news program at 5:00pm. My opinion is that this program fills a 4-4:30 void in an inexpensive way. Since there was no sports coverage, I'm guessing this program was aimed at women, not men.
1 comment:
I gotta tell ya, I'd rather watch Oprah! It was torture to have to watch the news.
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