Viewing Log and Analysis of 10:00 news broadcast
You'll have to skim and scroll through this long viewing log to get to my analysis at the end...
Log of 10:00pm KSTP (Channel 5, ABC) news on Friday March 28, 2008
Anchors: John Mason, Leah McLean
Weather: Dave Dahl
Sports: Anne Hutchinson
10:00-10:08 – Local News
News starts with promos of news stories ahead: Thieves cashing in on valuable metal; a gun chase during the morning commute (15 seconds)
Breaking News: Two people hurt, possibly killed in a car crash in South Minneapolis (30 seconds)
Top Local News Story: Tuberculosis in Burnsville High School (1 minute, 30 seconds)
• Reporter Steve Shaw on the scene
• Student from BHS interviewed while sitting in his car
• Quick description of TB followed by quote by nurse: “People can die of TB, but it’s not common�
• Nurse cautions about Burnsville overreacting
• Reporter ends with “Live in Burnsville, Steve Shaw, 5 Eyewitness News�
• Anchor gives some quick TB tips
Local News: Car crash in Eden Prairie (30 seconds)
• “2 critically hurt, possibly taken by helicopter to the hospital�
Extended Local News Story: Bank robbery leads deadly high-speed chase (1 minute, 15 seconds)
• “Robber threw money out of the car window�
• “Police rammed into the car to stop him�
• Police shot and killed the suspect
• Officer is quoted saying, “Police are trained to respond with deadly force if there’s a threat.�
Extended Local News Story: Precious metal robbery (1 minute, 30 seconds)
• “A metal theft like no other…a story you’ll only see on 5 Eyewitness News…Robbing graves.�
• Reporter interviews woman: “This cemetery is a solitary place; it’s so surprising.�
• Woman asks, “Whose mind works this way?�
• Officer states that “about 60 headstones were stolen.�
• Reporter ends with, “Reporting live for 5 Eyewitness News�
• Anchor says, “That story really makes you think�
Local News: Pit-bull under quarantine after attacking 70-year-old woman and her dog (45 seconds)
• Woman describes punching and rolling around with the pit-bull on the ground after the pit-bull attacked and locked onto her dog
Local News: 911 Hang-ups (45 seconds)
Anchors promote what’s on next with clips of each future segment (30 seconds)
• Raging car fires; Warm weather on the way; Next time you fly, pack lighter; When good turkeys go bad
Promotional advertisements for Channel 5 News (30 seconds)
• “When you see news, contact 5 Eyewitness News�
• “5 Eyewitness News has the most informative political coverage�
10:09-10:11 – Advertisements
• Toyota
• Syngenta (farm products)
• Becker Home Center (furniture)
• Pro-Norm Coleman political ad (discussing his efforts to get funding for 35W bridge)
• Carlson Toyota (local car dealership)
10:12-10:16 – More Local and National News
Breaking News: Car crash at 24th and Park Avenue in South Minneapolis; two people may have been killed (15 seconds)
Local News “Exclusive� Investigation: Airport car fires (1 minute, 15 seconds)
• Follow-up from last night’s news investigation about firefighters at airport watching cars burn in the parking lot for 33 minutes before intervening
• “Look what we found today – now there are fire extinguishers on the site�
• “Still no comment from the airport�
Local/National News Story: Contractor remains identified in Iraq (1 minute)
• Fresh pain for the mother of Johnson Rubin…�
• Reporter cites sources who say “there were several chances to save these men�
• “Families must decide what to do next�
• ‘No comment from the FBI�
Local Political News Story: Attorney General investigation (30 seconds)
• “Charges of AG pressuring lawyers to falsify timesheets…�
Local/National Business News: NWA/Delta talks back on (15 seconds)
Local Business News: NWA raising baggage fees (30 seconds)
• Woman at the airport quoted as saying, “The families will be the ones who pay�
National Political News: 2008 presidential campaign (45 seconds)
• Key political endorsement (Bob Casey) for Obama
• Senator Leahy calls on Clinton to quit race
• McCain launches TV ads
Local News: Minnesota brigade heading to Iraq in May (30 seconds)
Local News: Marine veteran injured in Iraq War presented with a new home (30 seconds)
Local News: Barge traffic soon to start on Mississippi River (30 seconds)
• “Signs of spring�
10:17-10:20 – Weather
• Wind pushing warmer air our way; Sat/Sun forecast; Radar; Temperatures (today, tomorrow); Radar forecast; Overnight/tomorrow/extended forecasts
• Laughter and chatter after the weather
• Promos for what’s next: Wild hockey, State HS boys basketball
10:21-10:23 – Advertisements
• Roundup weed killer
• Twin Cities Honda dealers
• Education Minnesota teachers’ union
• Batteries Plus
• Target
• Minnesota Twins
• Ashley Furniture Home Store
10:24-10:27 – Sports
* Wild beat Vancouver; Liriano opens Twins season in minors; Twins opening day roster; Boys HS basketball highlights; Promo for HS Sports Wrap; T’Wolves lose to Spurs
• Chatter and anchors show national women’s sports award for Anne Hutchinson
• “Up next: Attack of the birds�
10:28-10:30 – Advertisements
• Promo: “5 Eyewitness News is presented by Qwest�
• Qwest
• Warner’s Stellian (appliances)
• Honda
• Minnesota state lottery
• U of M’s children hospital
• Schneiderman’s Furniture
• TAXact.com
• Nissan
• Warner’s Stellian (second ad)
10:31-10:32 – Local Funny News
• “A group of aggressive turkeys have taken over a White Bear Lake apartment complex�
• Anchor says, “The turkeys are in heat. (laughter) I’ll take their word for it.�
• Man at complex quoted as saying, “I’d rather eat a turkey than kill one.�
• Chatter and laughter at the end of the segment
• Dave Dahl: “Open up the oven.�
.
My analysis of this news broadcast
I think this was a typical 10:00 network news broadcast. The maxim, “If it bleeds, it leads� was definitely in use for this broadcast. Almost all the news before the first commercial break was about crime and/or death. Car accidents, deadly car chases, thieves stealing gravestones, tuberculosis in a high school, a pit-bull attacking an old woman (actually the woman attacked the pit-bull after the pit-bull attacked her dog). All of these opening stories were meant to hold onto the viewers. Like our textbook states, most viewers change news broadcasts in the first five or ten minutes of the broadcast.
The advertisement time selection also shows how Channel 5 tries to keep their viewers. Commercials don’t start until nine minutes into the broadcast. Then they follow weather eight minutes after that, and they follow sports just four minutes after that. Once the viewer is locked into the news broadcast for the first nine minutes, Channel 5 correctly assumes that most viewers won’t change the channel after the ads get more frequent later in the broadcast.
The pace of the news stories is also very fast at the beginning of the news broadcast. The stories never go past one minute and 30 seconds, and many stories are only 30 seconds long. Breadth is valued much more than depth on the 10:00 network news. The weather segment is slower-paced, but everything else moves very quickly. Like a student study in our textbook shows, it is very difficult to remember most of what you see, let alone understand any of the context of the issues.
The lack of national news was very apparent. Only 45 seconds were used during the segment to report on national political news. This flatly contradicts Channel 5’s promotional claim during the broadcast to have “the most informative political coverage.� The few stories that related to the Iraq War focused mainly on family reactions to events. Channel 5 seemed to be trying to “pull at the heartstrings� of its viewers when they weren’t focusing on “blood and guts.�
Our textbook stated how network news broadcasts will focus on “Breaking News� more than in-depth analysis. This couldn’t be more apparent in this news broadcast. Twice the news anchors flashed to the scene of a car crash in south Minneapolis under the banner of “Breaking News.� I question how important a common scene such as this is on a news broadcast. Couldn’t the station be more responsible and use this time to analyze an issue more fully? Likely this analysis would come at the expense of ratings.
I listen to National Public Radio to get most of my news. For their afternoon All Things Considered hour-long broadcasts, they start with 5 minutes of news headlines that take place every half hour. Then, NPR averages about 5 minutes per news story with in-depth analysis and multiple perspectives. Some stories get close to ten minutes long. NPR covers more national and international news stories and also covers issues that don’t translate easy to immediate visuals (global warming, AIDS, international elections). I don’t think it’s a coincidence that NPR is publicly-funded and has no commercials, and that NPR is able to provide this in-depth national/international/local news coverage.
One last little thing I noticed about the Channel 5 news broadcast. Car companies and furniture/appliance stores made up the majority of the commercials. I think this points to a demographic of middle-age viewers who likely own homes. This older “more domestic� viewership contrasts with advertisements on online news sites and Comedy Central’s Daily Show. Younger viewers are turning to the Internet and “fake� news broadcasts more often than the 10:00 news. And since most companies want to appeal to a younger audience (I think the theory is to lock in those customers for the long haul, although long-term brand loyalty is becoming more rare), I think more of the advertising dollars are going away from the 10:00 network news. Also, our textbook was right on another thing. The advertisements for local political candidates (Norm Coleman) outweighed the news coverage of local candidates…in this case, 30 seconds to none.