A critical look at the Wichita TV news

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Time For A New Post and Random Thoughts

It is most certainly time for a new post. Things are getting a tad nasty in the comments section of the last post. I do want to briefly touch on some of the later comments from the last post on a suspicious death or homicide, whatever you want to call it in Pratt. Apparently KSN reporter Justin Kraemer called it a homicide from the beginning. Other stations kept referring to it as a "suspicious death" and many of you wrote to this blog expressing your opinions one way or another. I believe now all the stations are referring to it as a homicide. What do I think of this? It is proof that it is definitely time for a new post. I know many of you don't think I have a heart, but after all it is a Holiday period so lets steer towards some new topics.

Bill Snyder Back to K-State - This is one of those stories that when it is officially announced, you are almost tired of the story since "sources" broke the story on Sunday. All the TV stations had similar offerings. I was curious to watch the announcement (I don't know why) and I first turned online, but I decided I should give the ole TV a try. KSN was the only one to break into regular programming for the announcement on TV. The others offered it online and had crawls across the screen. Overall though, the coverage during the day was consistent among the three stations and pretty decent.

KWCH New Sports Hire - KWCH employees and fans get ready, I am about to say good things about your station. (Despite your thoughts, I am positive about your station, more than you think.) New weekend sports anchor Jenn Bates is a great hire for KWCH. She comes across as knowledgeable and confident. Female sports reporters/anchors can be tough to come by and I bet she doesn't stay around for long. I think she is very good: male or female.

KWCH Nice Thing to Write #2 - They made a change on their Saturday morning show. Kim Hynes was taken off the anchor desk and replaced by Kara Sewell. It's a difference of night and day. I had been critical before about that show, now it has a whole new feel. Weather guy Rodney appears more relaxed and natural on the set. I haven't seen enough of Kara's stories to see how she is as a reporter, but she does a nice job anchoring, switching from the happy talk of weather, to the latest shooting overnight or fluffy feel good story in a professional manner. Plus her delivery is not forced and you are not reminded that she is reading from a teleprompter. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think she's quite ready for Cindy's job, but I think it is another good hire for KWCH.

Former KWCH News Director to KPTS - This post is becoming all about KWCH. (Sorry to some of you). I received an e-mail several weeks ago and I never read it until this morning, when I received a few more comments about this. KPTS has hired former KWCH news director Michele Gors as the station's new President and Chief Executive Officer. She began her position last Monday. -Hal

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that Jenn is a great hire, and she is destined for a top 20 market in the next few years. The addition of sewell is another good move for that previously-boring show--but my GOD--that weathergirl anya is HORRIBLE!
two out of three ain't bad--meat loaf 1977

Anonymous said...

I thought it was interesting on the Snyder hire that he (nicely) called out the media for breaking the story before he had a chance to even inform some of his friends. Hmmm this was never reported on though... I wonder why?

I was soooo hoping that we would find out he was going to be Offensive Coordinator to Gary Pattersons head coaching position, just to show how wrong it is to announce only speculation.

Great job Bill! I wish more people would do that.

Anonymous said...

1) Pratt police didn't call it a homicide until Monday. Until then it was a "suspicious death." KSN jumped the gun, put words in their mouth, made shit up, whatever you want to call it, they f'd up even if it ended up being a homicide.

2) Who the F cares if he didn't have a chance to tell his friends. Our job is not to wait for someone to get all their ducks in a row before reporting NEWS, otherwise it's a press release. When you have enough sources and feel comfortable with the story, you go with it. PERIOD.

3) It wasn't speculation at that point. 4:58 really doesn't know the first thing about reporting.

Anonymous said...

But, you obviously don't know anything about respect.

Piss off enough people, and your
sources eventually will dry up.

Trust is the key - violate that trust and suddenly you're on the outside.

I'm not talking about being someone's lapdog either. But burn a source, and they'll burn you back.

But no, go off half cocked.

It suits you.

Anonymous said...

Bill Snyder being named head Coach (again) at K State is bad news for local media. For those of you old enough to remember Snyder's first go around, he operated in much the same method as the Pentagon (i.e., he told you nothing/gave no access). Just as the Pentagon guards national security matters, Snyder protects his athletically gifted and academically challenged "student"/athletes. Good news for kids who can't get into anything better than a JuCo who run a 4.3/40. Bad news for local media and true student/athletes in Manhattan who dream of playing for the Wildcats.
More wins for K State. But at what cost?

Anonymous said...

Nice try Hal... but your clones have managed to louse up your blog in just 4 posts. Number 5 is interesting, however.

Anonymous said...

Off topic, but relevent to news:

I was looking at the Eagle website Sunday and noticed their front page story "Police Use Taser on Man During Disturbance."

Wow. Just... wow. Must have been a really slow news day, considering that police use their tasers just about every day.

Anonymous said...

http://www.worldnow.com/global/Story.asp?s=9170884

Anonymous said...

Way to get onto a story that came out 2 months ago.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the posts about giving Snyder some respect.

12 AM must have no idea about Snyders past workings with the media.

Guys if you want to have good working relations with someone, you don't hack them off this early on.

4:58 & 3:36 were right on with their posts.

Anonymous said...

What??

The Media is supposed to WITHHOLD the Snyder story because "he didn't tell some of his friends"??

WTF!!!! This is not broadcasting the name of a deceased individual before notification of next of kin....or sensitive Pentagon information....

ITS THE NAME OF A DAMN FOOTBALL COACH.

Where do some of you come from? Really!!!

Anonymous said...

Our job is not to become friends with people we cover. Our job is not to let them dictate how we do our job. Our job is to tell the story. When you have a name you go with it. If it's a coaching getting a job OR if it's the name of a victim. Our job is not to wait until family is notified. Our job is to tell the story. If you believe in waiting until all the ducks are in a row then you are nothing more than a PR hack.

Anonymous said...

How duplicitous, and how hypocritical.

Did you forget that some of you criticized one station for "jumping the gun" on what would turn out to be a homicide in Pratt?

Where do you come from?

Anonymous said...

Sorry folks, despite your comments, the public does not care who gets the info on first. They want 100% factual information when it happens.

When this was announced the night before, there was NO university confirmation that he was being named. That is called making the news not reporting it.

The report of Snyders hiring came from inside sources close to the situation. We all know that a few weeks earlier gopowercat.com reported that Gary Patterson would be named the next coach because of sources "close to the situation", and it turned out to be false. So explain to me how going with a story before something has actually happened is good journalism.

We should have learned from the 2000 election what making the news can do to us. But apparently in this market we have not.

Anonymous said...

Disagree completely. Running the story on Snyder first was the ONLY call IF the information was 100% solid. I agree that jumping the gun with less-than-certain info is dead wrong. But if your sources are solid and they say Snyder is the man--you run with the information IMMEDIATELY.

Again, this is not next-of-kin in a homicide or war secrets---its A FOOTBALL COACH. C'mon!!

Anonymous said...

For most people, it doesn't really matter who breaks the story. They care about who does the best job & who gives them the most important and useful information.

Anonymous said...

I really like Ayna. She adds charisma to a boring weather team. Of all the recent hires, she has the most potential of going big time.