The Week the Bureaus were tested; Something Turns 1!

The Newsy Week: When the Wichita TV stations cover probably 1/2 to 2/3 of the geographic area of Kansas, weeks like this one are bound to happen. Even though many of the viewers are in Wichita, when news happens in the rural areas it can be a challenge to cover it in a way just as strong as a story in the stations' own backyard. This week 2 stories posed the problem of having them covered and with who. Watching most of the coverage you will notice that you saw younger talent (even younger and greener then the recent hires of reporters by TV stations in Wichita) on the air. Overall they did a decent job. It would be real tempting when you have a robbery gone bad and turned into a murder or a wreck killing 4 high school students to bring in an experienced reporter from the main office, but the 3 stations stuck with their people stationed out there for the most part. KSN and KAKE even had a live presence for at least the Ulysses tragedy and am not sure about Osborne County. Over at KWCH, Kansas got to know the Adam Marshal phone graphic real well. For the most part I thought the reporters at the stations did a nice job, since they probably are pretty new to TV news. This is probably their first or one of their first TV jobs. Don't get me wrong they all appeared a little green when they appeared on camera. KSN's Josh Haskel had some real nice personal angles, but he needs to take a breath and relax when he appears in front of the camera, but overall a decent job. KAKE's Elyse Molstad would be comparable. She needs to rely less on her notes and eventually look at the camera, but her live appearances this week were probably some of her first in her career. These bureau reporters are much better than when some current Wichita based reporters first appeared on camera. I will say the side bar stories KAKE does using Wichita based reporters and there is such a temptation to do them on big stories out of the area, were lame and merely a chance to make filler video if KAKE wants to make one of the scary promos about how great their team coverage is when people die and the families are suffering. I am shocked, correct me if I'm wrong, I have yet to see any such promos for any of this week's stories.

There was of course the murder in Osborne County and the death of an infant in Wichita at a home daycare. All the stations provided similar coverage and nothing too different or out of the ordinary.

Based on the comments to this blog, the most interesting story it would appear from behind the camera, is the coverage of a Wichita Police officer being shot at. The last post started receiving comments Thursday evening about the stations being asked by police not to release the name of an officer shot. For those not familiar, an officer was shot and the bullet hit his radio microphone he wore clipped to his chest. He survived and for the most part not seriously injured. From the post's comments and what I saw, KSN ran the name and the photo of the officer first. Apparently the name was not released by the Police department, but obtained by the reporter through sources. I still am not sure if the mic or if he was wearing a bullet proof vest and if that saved him. Regardless, an officer should be very thankful he survived. KAKE soon followed with releasing the name. Both also had the information on their websites. Now from here, its a little more sketchy as to what happened and I would love to know more. Apparently the Police Department contacted the local stations and pleaded with them to stop broadcasting the name. KWCH and the Eagle (I think) never ran or published the name. One reader even claims KWCH made it a point to say on TV they weren't broadcasting the name in abiding by the Police Department's wishes, or was it they didn't have another source for it besides KSN and KAKE? Either reason to me would be ethical. KAKE soon pulled the name from the web site and it was never heard on the air again. Meanwhile KSN continued to run the name, although I couldn't find the story online today when I went searching for it. A recent comment claims the police department is mad at KSN and wonders if relations are as bad as a few year's ago when former anchor Bob Donley called the Chief a piece of male anatomy during a press conference. I tend to side with KAKE in this matter for just pulling the name, once they were requested to do so. The idea of Police telling media what to do is not a popular one for media, but it depends on what the Police's reasoning is. I never really heard with this example. If they bring up safety of the officer it would be a legit concern, but still one to weigh with caution. What's the moral of the story? The Eagle NEEDS to have a weekly column on the media happenings. This story really brings to mind many interesting moral and industry questions that can be debated long and hard in many journalism classes around the area. And no, I still think those not involved in the media would find a recap of these events interesting and actually provide a snapshot of the many decisions being made daily in newsrooms. -Hal

Wichita TV News Turns 1!: Time flew by so quick I didn't even think about it until it had gone by. On March 22, 2007, a little blog started called Wichita TV News. Since then Hal has been called every name in the book and alleged to be about every current and former TV person in the market. I never thought that was going to happen. I can see Wichita doesn't read me as much as they once did and that doesn't concern me. I am amazed though at the wide Geographic area the hits on this site are coming from. Sure every now and then we get a hit from a foreign country, but especially in recent months the hits in the US are pretty evenly spread out from East to West. Thanks again. -Hal

Pew Study of Media and Other Random Thoughts

This has already gotten a lot of attention on other media sites and it is officially released on Monday. The study, by the Pew Research Center along with Project for Excellence in Journalism, covers the various platforms in media: Print, Broadcast and internet. It also divides it up between views on National and local media. Editors, producers and reporters were surveyed on a variety of issues facing the industry. I haven't gotten through the whole thing yet, but it is interesting that both National and local journalists say the worsening economic situation facing journalism is the most important issue the industry faces. 52 percent say it is the most important problem, up from 35 percent the last time the study was done in 2004. Advertising wise it does point that local television is still having success because many advertisers are still unsure of internet advertising.

Decent story on KAKE about an overnight bust on minors drinking. Yeah the stories are done often, but some good video of officers working the operation, plus interviews with some of the teens involved. Not a bad story considering there wasn't any hard hitting news, until a fatal car crash earlier in the evening. KSN must really have been hurting for news, since they had very little on the fatal crash, but as several readers of this blog pointed out ripped a story from the front page of the Eagle. The Eagle story detailed a belief that a good wheat crop might lead to an increase of tornadoes or hail in a season. Yes, stations lift stories from the paper often, but this was such a unique story not heard about before the Eagle published it, so it came off bad, especially for those who read the Sunday's paper (Many must not according to the Pew study). It didn't help that "some" or "another" reporter, Aja Vickers did the story. I have never heard so many vague terms in a story referring to the authors of the study. Plus the expert used in KSN's story was junior weather guesser Andrew Kozak who had to be put in a tough spot to speak about a theory he probably had to read about from the Eagle. Instead of crediting "some" and "others," Aja might have been better to just source the Eagle or just say read Sunday's Eagle. It probably would have saved viewers a couple of minutes in their nights. Don't get me wrong. It is an interesting topic, but not done correctly by KSN last night. -Hal.

Coverage notes: Winston Brooks Heads to New Mexico

The announcement that Wichita Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks is headed to New Mexico led all the newscasts tonight. It appeared that the press conference came late into the evening so the stations had little time to react and put things together. Let me say to start, I think all the stations were pretty even and told the story in a similar fashion. KAKE probably went the safest route and to some might have be the most successful. Little editing or post production was needed on a live interview with a school board member and often times live interviews like that can come off as more urgent. I will be honest I didn't watch the whole interview so I don't know how it came off. Meanwhile KWCH, with Megan Strader and KSN, with Jason Kravarik, all had what was needed to tell the story. KWCH had an additional nugget having sound from an affiliate in New Mexico with Winston Brooks. Winston was already wearing a shirt from his new school district. Overall I would say everyone was even on the coverage, especially given the timeline to complete it.
Outside of the Brooks story, KWCH probably had the story of the night with an interview with the survivors of the Schoenwald family. Three members of the family died in a vehicle collision last month in Colorado. The family members were interviewed first in an article in this morning's Eagle, but this was the first time I saw them interviewed on TV. I thought Kim Wilhelm did a nice respectable job on the story. -Hal

Update: I stand corrected. A couple of readers corrected me and said the Eagle did not have interviews with the Schoenwald family in their Sunday article.

NC Grandma Heeds Weather Warnings, but Locks Herself in Closet

I know this isn't a Wichita story, but it makes me think for some reason it could happen here. A lady hears weather warnings and gets in a closet. Problem is it locks from the outside and she cannot get out. Take a watch from WXII in Greensboro, NC. -Hal
http://www.wxii12.com/news/15524138/detail.html?taf=gws

The Human/Bear Foot Mystery and Pringle's Fan Club

The last post sure brought a crazy collection of comments. Anon 17 brought up the story of a discovery of what witnesses say looked like a human foot in a South Hutchinson Alco parking lot. At least two stations on Wednesday broadcasted the story of a human/animal severed foot being found in South Hutchinson. On Thursday it was discovered some guy had the bear's foot and was tired of it being around. He must have thought there was no better place for it than an Alco parking lot in South Hutch. At least he called police and let them know what he did, otherwise today we would have had newscasts lead with the story. Oh. Ooops, we did have a newscast lead with the story! KAKE, at 5, had Cayle Thompson get to the bottom of the foot mystery.
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/16340786.html

I understand stations may have been desperate for a different lead other than Boeing, but a bear foot discarded in a parking lot? I think Anon 17 wrote it best: I think it would have been better to end the newscast as somewhat of a lighter or humorous story. I totally agree. It has merits to be a story with a reporter. I am sure it will be the subject of many water cooler conversations on Friday, no doubt about it. How many days does an Alco parking lot become the temporary home to a foot, thought to be human, but then discovered to be a bear's? Not often, so a fun, tongue-in-cheek and humorous story talking to residents would have been the way to go. Making it the lead was a little crazy.

Pringle's Fan Club: KAKE morning weather meteorologist Ben Pringle should have a fan club. He may only be on vacation, but a reader said they heard Mike Iuen say on Yesterday's Noon show, "I almost stumbled and said Ben Pringle, who is no longer with us." I received quite a few comments after the post. His picture is still on the web site. One comment says he is on vacation. Who knows, but for a former main weather guy, now morning guy, he sure has a solid following. Maybe someone needs to establish the Ben Pringle fan club or a blog in his honor.

Over 20,000 Visits: Thanks to all who have visited this little forum. This past week Wichita TV News reached a milestone of over 20,000 visits. That number is even higher, because I didn't add the counting application until I had been doing the blog awhile. Also, "Hi to the Philippines." Whoever it was, probably will never come back to the blog, but we had some International visitors this week. Also Hi to what looks like Cape Town, South Africa. -Hal

Coverage Notes: The Tanker Announcement

The long anticipated announcement on who would be awarded the large USAF Tanker deal, provided Wichita TV stations with a story they had days to plan for and yet it seemed for 2 of them, they were not as prepared. All week long stations did stories previewing the decision. All saying the announcement could come at anytime. So when the decision was finally made that Boeing would not get the contract, KAKE was the first to hit the air as long time reporter Chris Frank broke the news around 3:30, citing Sen. Pat Robert's office as the source. I believe Chris is the aviation reporter and I was happy for him that he was able to get it first. I think they are the only station with an aviation beat reporter, (for lack of a better term) so to me it seems deserving he would be the first to break it. I will say since they have a 4PM newscast they were able to run the press conference of the announcement live and had decent breaking news coverage. Although KAKE did well early on with this story Yesterday afternoon, the rest of their coverage at 6 and 10 was not as good. By 10PM, it was as if the announcement was an afterthought. For a station who broke the news, their story and coverage was the worse of the 3 stations at 10PM. If anything, they should of had a taped segment with Chris Frank, even giving his own thoughts after having covered aviation for so long in this town.

Meanwhile KWCH was the second station to break the news with Roger Cornish on the air a couple of minutes after KAKE. By 6PM it was evident, KWCH had the best overall plan for the decision. Obviously the decision to not award the contract to Boeing came as a surprise, but it was clear KWCH had a plan in place probably for several weeks, no matter who got it. And when the announcement came it paid off. One could always argue does quantity necessarily mean quality. No not always, but in this case especially at 6PM, KWCH's coverage was best. (KWCHers, please don't let this inflate your egos anymore than they already are.) For a 2 hour old decision they had 3-4 stories on the decision. The others all had multiple reporters, but KWCH's presentation did not seem rushed or thrown together. Roger Cornish had a story talking to an aviation historian. Although nothing award winning, it was a nice piece to put an historical perspective on a big story and probably was taped ahead of time and was ready to go no matter what the decision was. Also at 6 they had a decent story on local parts suppliers and the effect on them. The parts supplier story was done by all the stations before the announcement and in later newscasts, but on Friday combined with their other stories, I thought KWCH did the best presenting them especially at 6PM.

KSN was the last to break in or, maybe ironically, crawl the information on screen that Boeing was not selected. I question what KSN had planned ahead of time. Despite them doing stories throughout the week, it seemed they were caught surprised that a decision was made and little planning was made for such a decision until 3:30 when the decision was made public. All their stories at 6 had the basics you would expect and that was about it. It was a slow crawl for them to finally get up to speed. By 10PM they improved, as often is the case with KSN, and had more execution, which gave them better coverage of the day's big story over KAKE for one newscast. -Hal