News Blog
I watched Kare 11 at 10:00 on Sunday. The chart I created will not transfer here, so on the left you'll find the time code and on the right is a short explanation of the events during that time. The original chart has the story time as well, but the formatting keeps failing, so I'm going with this.
Times Story and summary
10:00:00-10:02:09 Snow Warning—Anchors joked about the final snow storm and are dreading it
10:02:10-10:04:15 Dome and baseball opener with Torii Hunter returning and wondering if the no-roof baseball stadium is a good idea
10:04:16-10:04:45 First pitch by Citizen honored from 35 W bridge collapse and then Nick, 9 year old boy with an illness, will sing “Take me out to the ball game�
10:04:46-10:05:10 Drunk driver who killed Seeley in DWI trouble again
10:05:35-10:06:00 Family from Cottonwood bus accident driver accused of causing the crash spoke positively about their daughter
10:06:00-10:06:20 Moundsview apartment fire displaces residents
10:06:21-10:08:04 Whitehouse Financial oversight changes and how it impacts MN homeowners with foreclosures and how they hope it might positively impact future consumers. Some expect it to be “fought� in the House.
10:08:05-10:08:33 Gunmen still on the loose from Saturday’s shooting, names of those known to be invovled and how each of the victims are doing
10:08:34-10:09:08 Iraq curfew is ending. Some progress but still plenty of violence in the region.
10:09:08-10:09:38 Biggest single religious group isn’t Catholics anymore; Muslims are now 19% of religious groups
10:09:39-10:10:02 People representing the interests of Tibet protest hand off of Olympic torch. They are against Beijing earning the Games and plan to boycott and protest.
10:10:03-10:10:23 Light-Rail back on track after a first ever accident that tore down wires
10:10:24-10:10:44 What’s coming next: weather, cupcake, Wild, Extra “Going Green�
10:10:45-10:13:45 Commercials
10:13:46-10:14:01 Intro to extra
10:14:02-10:17:02 Going Green Extra section about eco friendly home and how it was built here in MN 10:17:30-10:17:57 Plug for the next “Extra� story on Tuesday.
10:17:57-10:22:08 Weather—snowstorm coming, so big story.
10:22:09-10:22:46 Biggest cupcake at the MOA: Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes. It maybe a Guinness record and the proceeds benefitted the fight against childhood hunger
10:22:47-10:23:00 Preview: Wild, Torii Hunter, NCAA tourney
10:23:01-10:26:25 Commercials
10:26:26-10:26:49 Scores
10:26:50-10:31:18 Sports: Wild, UND goes to frozen 4 by beating Wisconsin, Twins opener and Torii Hunter now playing for the Angels, NCAA BB, Wolves, Nascar
10:31:19-10:34:22 Commercials
10:34:23-10:34:43 MN Bound is up next
10:34:44-10:35:03 Weather recap and goodbyes
Tonight’s focus was all about two local stories: the coming weather and the arrival of Torii Hunter in the cities playing against the Twins as an Angels. The amount of time spent on local stories was much higher tonight than some other nights I’ve seen. One piece that kept appearing was the focus on the weather. A big storm is about to hit the region, so the weather was given very high priority because of its relevance and local interest. People usually tune in for a weather “teaser�, but tonight they were given a long dose of weather as the lead story and then the average weather coverage.
There were relatively few international and national stories. They were given 20-45 seconds per story (Iraq, Muslim religion popularity, and the Tibeten protests) as compared to the 30-2:00 that the local stories were given. There were no “bleeding� stories tonight other than a one day old murder, so there was not much death and gore in the news this evening. It was a refreshing change.
I found it interesting that a FORMER Twins player lead the story about the Twins home opener. Rather than focusing on the team and just mentioning that Torii Hunter was coming to town, they produced the story the other way. The Twins season opener was sandwiched in the Torii Hunter story. I believe this was motivated by his name having a large draw to the general metro audience as well as his personable nature. Other Twins were interviewed about their season, but the majority of the sound bites used were them addressing the absence and now presence (in red) of Torii Hunter.
Something that caught me off guard was the length of the stories. I had never timed the news before, so I didn’t know how long the average story usually is. As I look back at the log, I notice that stories are either 20-30 seconds or over one minute. A lot of “clips� of life can potentially fit into one news cast. This bothers me as well in some ways because they will choose the most convenient and powerful soundbite to match their need, throw it out there in their 20 seconds and then move on. There is little regard for the possible “hurt� or even “help� that can come from that 20 seconds. For example, was it necessary to tell us that the man who was convicted of a DWI that caused the accident which killed T-Wolves player M. Seeley was arrested for another DWI? What about the embarrassment caused to his family or to him? I think it’s awful that someone like that is allowed to “offend� again, but does anyone consider how that one little soundbite might reverberate through a community? They dig up emotion because it works, but they are not accountable for the emotion they stir.
“Quick and dirty� is how most of these stories were presented. The “Green� story was obviously in support of recognizing the idea of “care for the environment.� That is something that KARE-11 is big on, and they often tell stories which support the theory of Global warming (though it is ironic that their own chief evening meteorologist does not openly believe in the concept of Global Warming as it is widely understood). Overall, I got a “liberal� political feeling from tonight’s news cast, but there wasn’t much political talk (other than the housing situation which had a slight "blame the current administration" feeling and the green story which may or not may not be political in nature depending on who you ask).
We have some of the best news stations in the country here, and I would like to think they will strive to be balanced. Tonight was a ‘happy’ night on the news, but overall, news is not usually so upbeat.