A critical look at the Wichita TV news

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Sweeps Has Began

Lets get off of the topic that seemed to develop from the comments of who has the better Sunday sports show, to the first day of Sweeps. All three stations had what seemed to be special stories for the day. KAKE hoards the "Skinny on Diets," KWCH tabulates the cost of murder and in one of the better promos KSN explored the dismissal of an employee at Exploration Place. Before I get to the stories, I liked how on KWCH and KAKE's websites you could watch and read previews of their stories. Although it was a nice promo on TV, KSN had no mention on the web site. All three need to stop acting like they care about the internet and ACTUALLY DO something INNOVATIVE online to compliment these stories.
KAKE's piece clearly was one which would draw viewers, but did nothing else. Rachel Phillips' story was a complete waste of time and that was clear by watching the promos. KWCH's was good and provided some interesting info on the multimillion dollar cost of a murder than multiplied by city and state numbers. If the personal and emotional loss isn't enough, the piece puts it in a different perspective in monetary value. Reporter Michael Schwanke got cutesy with an on camera appearance with coins in a jar. I thought the piece of the night was by KSN's Josh Wittsman on a lady who claims harassment from Exploration Place which led to her job being eliminated at one point. A lot of documents and an in-depth feel made this the piece of the night. I would think when the ratings period is over, this will probably be one of KSN's better ones. -Hal

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was wondering why Whitsman's story was so biased until the end when they said, oh yeah, her daughter works for KSN.


That should have been disclosed up front. I can't help but think that's why the story was so sympathetic to this woman and her side of the story. Remember there are at least 2 sides to everything.

Then there's the cheesy music but the worst part is the re-inactment shot in black and white from what must be the KSN newsroom. What a joke. That's not where the supposed events too place so why include it there. A note to you would be journalists: re-inactments are rarely appropriate and if you do them should label them as such which KSN did not.

Anonymous said...

KAKE looks like it is going to VJ's...aka one-man bands in Wichita. They posted one such position on Thursday. I would not be surprised if they start doing more of this to save money which as many people have said on here is not the plentiful over there.

Anonymous said...

Those hardly seemed like re-enactments. With today's edit equipment you can blur and color so much that it is clear to the viewer when something is b-roll. And it's spelled "enactment," not "inactment," anonymous 1. Note to would-be journalists: learn how to spell before you become a reporter. You do make a good point about the music, though.

Anonymous said...

Every time there's a posting on here about VJ's taking over the market, I die a little more inside.

Anonymous said...

Hal -- Correct me if I'm wrong, but the title of this blog should be "Sweeps Has Begun". 'Has' makes it a past participle, so of the choices begin, began, begun, it should be the latter. Sorry to be a stickler for details, the slip is just glaringly obvious to those of us who still uphold the rules of the English Language.

Anonymous said...

What happened to KWCH's policy of two independent sources?

From their website:
Family members say a woman accused of killing her stepdaughter tried to commit suicide Wednesday. Katie Robertson is charged with first degree murder for the
death of 2-year-old Daytona Robertson in February.

Katie Robertson was scheduled for a bond hearing on Wednesday.

Daytona's father confirms to Eyewitness News Katie tried
to kill herself. He says Katie was pregnant and doctors
at a Wichita hospital were forced to deliver her baby boy
prematurely.


So what's it going to be KWCH? I don't see how family members can be considered as independent sources. Sloppy, very sloppy.

Little tough to mind your troops from way on top of your high horse.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous #1- You're a joke. Why do you come on here just to trash a great story like KSN had last night. The story was anything but one sided. Josh presented the story, not to mention ALL the documents in question AND ihterviewed the director of
EP.The Human Rights Commission has already found that EP is responsible for what happened to this woman.

It was a great way to kick off sweeps and I challenge any reporter/photgrapher to produce a piece of that quality. It looked like a top 20 market piece- very impressive Mr. Whitsman.

Also when all you have is exteriors of expooration place and two shots to fill a four min piece, you have to CREATE video, become CREATIVE- a word i can bet rarely gets thrown around in the other two newsrooms.

Anonymous said...

Geez......jealous much #1? The grainy and black and white effect SHOULD tell you its a reinactment immediately. No need to label it. Great story KSN. Quality work. Might as well give them ANOTHER Murrow this year.

Anonymous said...

KAKE has a long history of VJ's...Larry Hatteberg, Chris Frank, Alan Shope, etc. A staff of videojournalists is better than a staff of photographers who can't write their way out of a paper bag.

If you haven't been reading the trades or following the major markets, it's the direction our business is moving.

Take it a step further, ever hear of youtube, younewstv or iwitness? Regular people are shooting video and sending it to tv stations for air. Some stations are even supplying their sales staff & other personnel with cameras in case they witness something video worthy. NOW everyone is a photograper.

Bottom line, get the most talented, multi-skilled people you can find. Anchors who never get off the desk, sports guys who won't pick up an effin' camera and weather guys who quit learning are relics.

One more thing, all stations make plenty of money. It's the banks & stockholders who demand more.

Anonymous said...

By the way, did you hear KSN won a Murrow award.

No winners at KAKE or KWCH. No surprise, either.

So, KWCH lover, put that in your homer pipe and smoke it.

Anonymous said...

You know...I don't get you people. None of you actually seem interested in discussing the issues revolving around news today. All it ends up as is you complaining about and insulting the stations. Tell me, how is that productive? Do you people have nothing better to do with your time than throw insults at each other?

And Hal, shame on you for letting it degrade to this. All the bickering is getting ridiculous. Very reminiscent of an elementary school playground, don't you think?

How third grade of you all. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.

(And before you start accusing me of being bitter, I’m not. I’m a soon to be graduating student looking at a market other than Wichita because you all feel the need to act like children.)

Anonymous said...

Here we go again with the tired "East vs. West vs. Downtown" bickering. Quick, Hal, start another post.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mr-soon-to-be-graduate good look finding a market where people don't act like children cause children are all this business is made up of!

Anonymous said...

please rose..... news is competitive. That is what makes it great. We've already talked about current events all day in the newsroom with our co-workers. Give everyone a break.

Anonymous said...

Rose.. this blog isn't unlike what drives the web these days-- quick takes and bursts of opinion for sport. I'm guessing that 9 out of 10 of the commenters on here go about their business on a daily basis with respect to even their competitors. Yes, there's too much bickering, but anonymity has a way of turning things into a video game. By and large, though, the competition provides a healthy spark.

Anonymous said...

If this was supposed to be a thread on Sweeps, let me say the clear loser is KAKE.

Say what you want about what KWCH and KSN did but a least they went LOCAL. The KAKE Diet thing was right out of the national consultant's playbook and is NOTHING you can't catch on network or cable TV around the clock.

If local TV is going to be regurgitated national TV, local Tv will die. Plain and simple. It will have no purpose.

Gimme Investigations, gimme fluff, gimme car wrecks....but KEEP IT LOCAL!

Anonymous said...

Josh needs to relax on air and not appear so stiff. He is a whole different guy IN person