A critical look at the Wichita TV news

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Local Bail Out Coverage

Obviously the story on Monday was Congress voting down the bail out plan and the resulting fall out on Wall Street. KAKE and KSN lead with that at 10. I still think it was the lead story, however it seemed as if KWCH pulled a page out of the normal KAKE playbook by leading with a live "breaking news" report of a hit and run pedestrian accident. It certainly had the feel of KAKE, I certainly hope this isn't a direction they are moving toward with a new news director. They are #1 the others are battling for #2 or #3, (however you view it) so KWCH should play it conservative as they have for many years and let KAKE and KSN fight it out between themselves.

Thanks to the reader for the info on the apparent change in Kansas Now 22 with KSN taking it over from KAKE. According to a reader the changeover will happen at the beginning of '09 and the reader says KSN plans to not only do weather but also broadcast sporting events on the station. Quite a change for KSN considering they cut sports from the station completely over 5 years ago, only to bring it back a couple of years later, and now adding sports productions. Also lets hope that automated production system they use to do their newscasts isn't used to do live games. That would be a disaster. -Hal

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Breaking news is breaking news. That's why they covered it. It's not like they led with a story about a wedding.

Anonymous said...

KSN couldn't do a FOX newscast right for the 2 years they had it nor utilize their partnership with KFDI to its fullest potential, so good luck with the cable channel with your paltry staff numbers and old-school mentality management.

KSN's motto: one step forward and two steps back.

Anonymous said...

No one is going to take advice from Hal. We still don't know what his "expertise" is in this business, if he even has any.

BTW: KWCH led every show with the economic crisis since sometime late last week...the same cannot be said for KSN and KAKE.

Anonymous said...

The fact KWCh led with the crises every show is not necessarily a good thing.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, the bail out rejection shocked the world and sent Wall Street into its greatest crash in 21 years. KWCH blew it with that decision big time.

Anonymous said...

Considering it's the biggest story in the world right now with local implications it shows good news judgement. Leading with a wedding does not.

KWCH led with it at noon, at 5 and at 6 Monday. By 10pm there was breaking local news which they touched on and then hit the bailout.

The fact is local breaking news that impacts your city tops a national story that's about 8 hours old. The fact is KAKE and KSN missed the pedestrian hit and your attacks are simply a way to cover it up.

But hey, let's lead with a wedding right.

Anonymous said...

You all need to get lives! Nobody pays attention to this "inside the station" crap about who led with what. Viewers don't watch all three stations at the same time. Bby 10 p.m. fewer are even watching local news at all. There is so much more out there that's a better use of our time.

Re: the bail out . . . viewers want the latest and they want to hear from trusted advisors about what to do with their money now. KWCH can get awfully boring. I'm looking forward to what the new guy at KSN does.

Anonymous said...

The coverage of the "Bail Out" story shows how pre-conceived notions about story selection/importance impact run downs.

I'm a believer that Sports is at the bottom of the totem pole in viewer interest. BUT--when KU 0r K-State play in a Bowl game or a Championship game..its the ONLY story.

Same with Money/DC Politics. Ordinarily a local car wreck or rain storm would blow it out of the water. BUT when local people are pulling their money OUT OF MONEY MARKETS, a literal run on the bank--with a vote in DC that plunged the market with its worst point loss EVER...there IS NOT OTHER STORY--PERIOD!!

SHAME ON KWCH for insisting "they covered this last week" or "covered it at 5 and 6". We live in an Internet world where people sample TV less frequently.

When they go to bed after the 10 PM show they are ONLY THINKING ABOUT ONE THING: Is my money SAFE??
I like KWCH--but this was a disasterous choice and showed a complete disconnect with their audience at the most important time in many of their lives.