Chapter 9
I wanted to watch my local (Mankato) channel, but it was delayed—probably some sporting event (the road to The Final Four…). So, out of curiosity, I tuned into a channel I never watch, FOX 9 News at 9. Not realizing it was an hour program, and knowing that I couldn’t bear to watch it for that long (once I found out it was)…I decided to view another program an hour later.
I watched a 10pm KARE 11 news program.
10:00-10:03 (news/weather) Coverage of the flooding in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Shots of sandbaggers, national guards, Amy Klobuchar speaks on the situation. Volunteers and city officials (white males) interviewed.
10:03 (weather) Introduction to spring snow storm on the way
10:04 (local news) Local metro-area coverage. Shooting and house fire.
10:05 (national news) Shooting in North Carolina nursing home. Nursing home representative (white female) speaks about the shooter/shootings.
10:06 (local news) NWA getting ready to transition to Delta. Local National Machinist Union wants to ensure fair labor practices. Union reps interviewed (white males).
10:07 (feature) Bank foreclosures and TC realty
Commercial Break
10:11 (consumer) Real estate foreclosures and short sales. Real estate agents and homeowners (white males) speak to the reporter about what’s happening in the TC area.
10:16 (entertainment? what was this?) Skier in Norway out-skis an avalanche
10:17 Weather outlook
10:20 (sports) National Broomball competition coverage. Two competitors interviewed (white male & white female)
10:22 Laughing, small talk
Commercial Break
10:26 Sports. Chatting, laughing among anchors and sports personality. Final Four, MN Wild hockey coverage.
10:28 “Perkins Poll” Reminder to have viewers login in to tell what sports stories they are most sick of hearing about.
10:29 More sports. Timberwolves, Twins, Tiger Woods, NASCAR.
Commercial Break
10:34 (sports/entertainment) “Before We Go” Final story on the Twins mascot
As I watched this newscast I thought about how few women and people of color were depicted as “experts,” and depicted as existing, period. (perhaps other than in the sports coverage). I realize that we are in MN, and that we’re not the most diverse state in the union, but I feel that at this time news programs can make an effort to be more inclusive of diverse communities in their broadcasts.
The first part of the broadcast focused on local news including the flooding in Fargo/Moorhead. Amy Klobuchar, a volunteer, and a city official spoke. I assume that we are supposed to view these individuals as knowledgeable and important people. In so doing, it is intended that viewers will feel well-informed, and that the situation is being handled most efficiently. We see video footage of “sand baggers” (White males and females), but no local females are interviewed
During the reports on the shooting and house fire viewers see footage of the crime scenes/house ablaze. There is no mention of who the victims are in the shooting, only that they’re not in serious condition. The shootings took place in a mobile home park. I wonder if there was any connection between socioeconomic status and limited coverage. Not that it should matter, but where the people involved White, Black, Latino, Asian, and American Indian. I wondered about this because typically when I view shooting scenes on the news, the people shown are black. When nobody is shown is there a reason? Does the news choose not to portray certain people in a negative light?
In the coverage of NWA transitioning into Delta, a group shot of the local National Machinist Union is shown as the voice-over informs viewers about what the union wants to see happen. There are mostly men, and one person of color (that I recognized as being of color) shown. The experts interviewed are White.
The real estate story included a one-on-one interview and much footage of houses seeming to be on a foreclosed list. Experts/interviewees in this story (realtor and homeowner) are White males. The footage isn’t very interesting, but personalizes the story by seeing (presumed) homes that are under foreclosure/short sale. This story was significant, relevant, and practical (Beach, 90) according to Beach’s list of news criteria.
The broomball and skiing story seem to appeal to sports fans, or lovers of winter outdoor sporting events. Good footage and commentary on broomball becoming a winter “O” sport. One female and one male were interviewed. Both were White. This story was sensational (Beach, 90).
The Perkins Poll was an interesting little plug attempting to get viewers to go to KARE 11 online. I’m not sure why “the sports story that you’re the most tired of” is news. Perhaps it falls into the personal interest category and it is a way to show the viewer that KARE 11 cares. I didn’t find that it fit into any of the criteria for “news” listed in Beach.
I wasn’t particularly interested in many of the stories aside from the flooding in Fargo/Moorhead, the housing crisis, and the weather. However, as stated in Beach (90), many viewers probably found relevance in some aspect of the coverage.
During the final sports section of the broadcast (a whole eight minutes—over a quarter of the broadcast), there seemed to be much lighthearted banter and chatting amongst the anchors and the sportscaster. This gives one the impression that sports is a time for fun, camaraderie, and nothing too serious. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about? Maybe, maybe not. Here, for the first time in the broadcast (yes, not even President Obama was mentioned) we have a person of color—Tiger Woods.
My final thoughts include:
- What about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? What is the continuing impact they have on our state and our country?
- What about the state of education in our state? And nation?
- Anything positive going on in communities of color—other than in the sports world (we are shown how White communities bond together in times of natural disaster)?
- This broadcast seemed to present very “soft” news. Is this because it was a Sunday? If so, why should that matter? Are the viewers different on weekends as opposed to week days?
- There certainly seemed to be a lot of “happy talk” (Beach, 94) which is good because it’s nice to be happy, but…I’m looking for news and information, not necessarily for someone to pretend that they know me in this “happy” fake way. I’m not trying to bond with the newscasters, just because they seem nice. I’m presume that they consider that keeping happy viewers means keeping viewers.
There was an experiment done in Chicago and a news station had a broadcast of only 'hard' news for about 9 months. The station lost several rating points over the months. Do you think the problem is the newscast or the people watching it?
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Good question. Kind of a "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on people of color and the time that is given on the news is very little, or usually in shooting/theft stories.
ReplyDeleteOf course as educators we are always interested in the state of education, and I as well always wonder why nobody else seems interested. A lot of people have kids, so I feel that they should be interested in what is going on the the world of education. The news I watched had a story about school buses, and I was thinking....really? This is as close as it gets to education?