TV News: A Graphic Obsession

Recently, KARE (Channel 11) introduced a new graphics package on its newscasts.  This is the same one that's been rolling out on Gannett-owned broadcast TV stations across the country.  But the anchors were so giddy over it, you'd have thought a baby giraffe had been born at the local zoo.

The new graphics can be dissected this way:  The first line tells in Twitter-like fashion the story you're watching right now.  The second line is for what stories are coming up next.  The third line is a news ticker.  All of this takes up the lower third of the TV screen, which means that even on a supersized HDTV you're getting less picture than you paid for.  It also has barely enough room to list the names of the on-camera anchors and reporters, as well as the person being interviewed.  Unless you have strong eyesight.

News tickers are a recent development in local TV.  Cable networks such as CNN, ESPN and CNBC have been using them for years, and with much less fanfare.

WCCO (Channel 4) remains king of the needless graphics on Twin Cities TV.  Every chance they get, they bombard their viewers with slides of upcoming programs and publicity shots of its reporters and anchors in lieu of covering actual news.  They must be the most self-important TV station in Minnesota, and that's no coincidence.

You know why local TV is so graphics-happy, don't you?  It's because station owners and networks such as Gannett and CBS (which owns WCCO) like to save as much money as they possibly can while turning a profit.  They'd rather spend money on graphics designers and IT professionals to operate high-tech character generators (or whatever they're called these days) in neutral facilities, turning your local hometown news into a homogenization of the company's 'brand'.  Hey, it's a lot cheaper than keeping on-air and off-air staff who actually work at the station.  So the next time you hear about layoffs at your local TV station, that's where the money's going.

But we don't want to be too hard on KARE.  They finally added the NBC peacock to its logo, proving to one and all that--after 34 years--they aren't embarrassed to be an NBC affiliate.  Also, KARE finally got rid of its variation of the "We Know What Matters" news theme that they had been using for years in favor of Gannett's own music.  This is one case where homogenization is an improvement.

Of course, the best graphics in the world are no substitute for a well-produced newscast, solid reporting values and a knack for knowing the area you're covering.  Mess with that, and viewers will find someone else who knows what matters.

The Journey Continues

Barack Obama (Photo credit: jamesomalley)

President Barack Obama, in his second and final inauguration speech, talked a lot about the United States going through a "journey" of unresolved problems and what he thought were the possibilities of a brighter day for its citizens.

The President began his second term on a day that wasn't as historic as when he first took the oath of office four years ago, but was no less significant.  It happened to fall on a holiday commemorating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   For all the unfinished business there is concerning civil rights in this country, one wonders if Dr. King ever foresaw an African-American becoming President, let alone being elected to two terms.

On a couple of occasions during the speech, Obama made statements you never thought you'd hear from a President.  Any President.  Such as the need to do something about global climate change, and that gays and lesbians deserve full human rights.

Now that the war in Afghanistan is winding down and a lingering recession seems to be on the way out, President Obama wants to turn his attention to easing the divisions between himself and Congress.  For that, he faces an uphill battle.

First, there's the looming battle over guns, an issue that wasn't on anybody's radar screen until a month ago.  The President proposed legislation limiting the use of assault rifles and using background checks on all gun owners.  Even after a massacre such as the one in Newtown, Conn., this is going to be a hard sell to members of Congress beholden to the National Rifle Association.  Besides, gun sales have never been better.  Nothing like the perceived threat of government taking away your guns so that only police, the military and criminals can have them to get customers to buy your product.

Second, the ongoing debt crisis.  After the so-called "fiscal cliff" became nothing more than a speed bump, attention turned once again to raising the government debt ceiling by a few trillion dollars to stave off the wolves, as well as to keep the national credit rating tolerable.  Republicans in the House of Representatives, sensing the winds of change are not in their favor, have offered to temporarily raise the ceiling in exchange for some spending cuts.  And when that ends, there'll be another showdown.  Isn't there a way to settle the nation's financial problems without all this drama every few months?

Third, the cabinet appointments.  Pending congressional approval, Obama's new team will include Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, Jacob Lew as treasury secretary, and John Brennan as CIA director.  The problem is that it's not exactly diverse.  Let's see . . . The President wanted Susan Rice to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.  But Republicans have pilloried Rice for saying the wrong things about who was responsible for the September attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.  Rice withdrew her name without ever having been nominated in the first place.  Instead, the President names Massachusetts senator (and 2004 presidential candidate) John Kerry, who has a pretty good shot at getting confirmed.  And that's why, with the exception of holdover Attorney General Eric Holder, the new Obama cabinet lacks diversity.

There's no telling how much of Obama's agenda will get past a partisan Congress over the next four years.  But if recent history is any guide, there might be some kind of scandal or crisis in a second term that has the potential to tarnish the President's legacy before he leaves office.  Richard Nixon had Watergate.  Ronald Reagan had Iran-contra.  Bill Clinton had Monica Lewinsky.  And George W. Bush had Hurricane Katrina, two wars and an economic meltdown.

President Obama has four more years to complete the journey he began in 2009.  It'll be full of twists and turns, to be sure.  But in the end, we'd all better hope he--and we--find whatever it is he's looking for.

KSTP: Eyewitness to Mediocrity

Entrance to the KSTP studios on University Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the past few weeks, ABC had been blanketing their airwaves (and sister Disney network ESPN's) with the news that "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was finally going up against the big boys of late night TV--NBC's Jay Leno and CBS' David Letterman--at 11:35 in the East, 10:35 in the Midwest.

But when the day of the time switch (January 8) came, viewers in Minneapolis and St. Paul got local news at 10:35 instead.  KSTP (Channel 5), the local ABC station, decided to use this opportunity to expand its 10 p.m. "5 Eyewitness News" to one hour, pushing Kimmel's show to 11 p.m. and "Nightline" to midnight.   We don't want to call it the old "bait-and-switch", but that's what it sounds like to Kimmel's fans.

Apparently, KSTP is not as excited about Kimmel's potential as late night TV's next big star as ABC seems to be.  In the past, the station has put syndicated sitcom reruns and an 11 p.m. newscast before bringing on "JKL", putting the show in competition not with Jay and Dave, but Jimmy Fallon and Craig Ferguson and infomercials.  Putting Kimmel on at 11 now means that he'll be competing with all four late night network talkers.  Which is probably why Kimmel will never be mentioned in the same breath as Jay and Dave.

By adding an extra half hour to its 10 p.m. newscast, KSTP is following the lead of other Midwestern ABC affiliates such as WISN in Milwaukee and KSAT in San Antonio, who have also expanded their late newscasts.  The difference is, WISN and KSAT are the top-rated news stations in their markets.  KSTP is not.  Far from it.

KSTP, in its 65th year on the air as the first TV station in Minnesota, has had a stellar history,  It's been over two decades since they were the Twin Cities' favorite news station, with Ron Magers, Stan Turner and Cyndy Brucato anchoring.  Today, "5 Eyewitness News" is a constant carousel of anchors and reporters who don't stick around long enough to make a dent in the ratings.  Currently, Bill Lunn and Leah McLean are holding down the main anchor chairs, at least until the carousel starts up again.

What also hurts viewership, besides ABC's spotty prime time lineup that depends mainly on "Dancing With The Stars" and "Modern Family", is KSTP's alleged favoritism towards the Republican party.  It's no secret that owner Stanley S. Hubbard has donated money to GOP candidates and causes, and that leads to the perception--fair or not--that the news coverage tends to lean to the right.

If they could, KSTP would ditch ABC and run "5 Eyewitness News" 24/7.  As it is, their local news output clocks to six and a half hours a day (not counting what they produce for independent KSTC), which is second only to Fox station KMSP's eight.  The top two news stations, WCCO (CBS) and KARE (NBC),  airs four and a half and five hours of local news, respectively.  Maybe there's a lesson here?  That less is more?

There's nothing wrong with serving your viewers with the best local news coverage possible, so long as it goes beyond chasing fire trucks and ambulances.  There's also nothing wrong with giving your viewers time to get used to your on-air news personalities, so long as the ratings hold up.  And there's also nothing wrong with being upfront with your viewers about why you're delaying (or even pre-empting) a certain heavily-promoted network program, without incurring their wrath when you screw up.  In its 66th year in business, KSTP has yet to learn these lessons.

Current TV: A Thing of the Past

Why Conservatives Should Watch Al Jazeera (Photo credit: KAZVorpal)

Current TV (not to be confused with Minnesota Public Radio's alternative music station The Current) is being sold to Al Jazeera, an international news channel based in Qatar.

This sale--for which the price is undisclosed--accomplishes two things:  (A) It puts Current, a low-rated channel with progressive-leaning news and talk programs, out of its misery, and (B) it gives Al Jazeera a much-needed boost in getting its product into more American homes.

Al Jazeera plans to shut down Current, then turn it into Al Jazeera America, a news channel that will focus on international issues tailored for American viewers.

Until recently, Current was an MSNBC wannabe whose biggest star was Keith Olbermann, who brought his "Countdown" program from the latter network.  Olbermann left in a huff after disputes with his bosses, resulting in lawsuits on both sides.  Their programming consisted of talk shows hosted by Eliot Spitzer, Joy Behar and former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, as well as simulcasts of Bill Press' and Stephanie Miller's radio programs.

Current was founded in part by Al Gore, the former Vice President and a noted town crier (some would say village idiot) on climate change.  He's been labeled a hypocrite for selling out his network to an oil-rich government in the Middle East, for which he will remain on Al Jazeera's board of directors after the sale goes through.  Also, conservative commentator Glenn Beck reportedly claimed that he was turned down in his attempt to buy Current and make it part of his little empire.

Al Jazeera has a serious image problem, one that has caused cable and satellite distributors to think twice before adding the channel.  It's best known in this country as a mouthpiece for terrorists, giving airtime to anti-American rhetoric from such luminaries as Osama bin Laden.  Since then, Al Jazeera has been widely praised for its coverage of the Arab Spring demonstrations and for its objectivity in reporting international news.  But will it be enough for viewers, distributors and advertisers to give Al Jazeera a chance, when there's still so much anti-Muslim hatred out there over a decade after 9/11?  And how journalistically independent will it really be, with the royal family of Qatar calling all the shots?

Al Jazeera will have an uphill battle in any case.  Fox News Channel, no matter its conservative bias and questionable taste in news judgment, is far and away the top cable news channel.  MSNBC, which has become less of a protector of the NBC News brand than the place for progressive political talk shows, is a distant second.  CNN, under new management, is still trying to find itself.

To those who complain about the lack of substance in American journalism on TV, Al Jazeera America should pique your interest.  If you want to hear the latest on Lindsay Lohan or want your worldview confirmed, try someone else.  We're betting most of you will choose someone else, a fact that P.T. Barnum might have appreciated.

Congress Fiddles, America Burns

Official portrait of United States House Speaker (R-Ohio). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After two months of needless post-election drama, Congress belatedly rescued the country from falling off the "fiscal cliff" while hanging on to a tree branch.

As 2013 dawned and most Americans with cable TV were watching the bowl games, the House passed a bill previously approved by the Senate--over loud Republican objections--to temporarily stave off the wolves until the next fiscal crisis.

The deal goes like this:  The George W. Bush-era tax cuts remain in place for those making less than $400,000 a year.  Those who make more than that can expect to see a bigger tax bill.  Jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed have been extended to a year.  And no spending cuts on government programs for at least two months.

Before President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put their heads together to get the deal done as 2012 petered away, the fiscal crisis pretty much ruined everybody's holiday season.  Retail sales were down, as was Wall Street.  Businesses didn't know how to plan for next year.  As time was running out, people were pleading with their elected representatives to please do something.  Anything.

For House Republicans (some of whom actually voted for the bill), it was like being led into the Little Big Horn with Boehner leading the charge, channeling his inner General Custer.  The Tea Partiers and followers of Grover Norquist were so incensed by the actions of certain GOP turncoats that they've vowed retribution  at the ballot box in 2014.

We'd like to say goodbye and good riddance to the Congress that just ended.  But we can't.  The new Congress that was just sworn in includes many of the same cast of characters as the previous one.  Both parties--Democrats in the Senate, GOP in the House--retained their majorities.  Obama, Reid and Boehner have kept their respective jobs.

There will be more fiscal drama to come in the new year.  By the end of February, the new Congress will be asked to once again raise the debt ceiling that currently stands at $16.4 trillion, risking another downgrade in the U.S.' credit rating.

Recently, Lake Superior State University of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan came out with its annual survey of terms people do not want to hear again.  The top two phrases were "fiscal cliff" and "kick the can down the road".  Isn't that what just happened in Washington--and will keep on happening unless and until people come to their senses?