nc211 Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 Last night we were watching TV on one of the prime channels. During two of the commercial breaks, the local news broadcast did their 10 second update. I decided to write this email below and sent it to them. These folks seem to do this almost everytime I watch that channel, and simply had enough. If you find your local channel(s) do the same, and it makes you sick as well, please feel free to cut n' paste this letter, or send one yourself. I doubt it'll do anything, but it was worth a shot, I guess. "I just wanted give you guys a little feedback from a viewer. On several occasions while watching primetime shows, when you guys do your 10 second news updates during the commercials, it makes me turn the channel and avoid ####. Imagine watching some Sunday night movie with your family, and all of the sudden the local news lady comes on with the overly-juiced sound levels and screams something like "10 year old boy beaten to death and found in a ditch. More on the story at 11:00". Or "baby drowns at the hands of the mother. More on the story at 11:00". It just RUINS the mood, and makes me flip the channel to something else "thank God for cable". I understand you guys have to report the news, and you do a good job of it. But, I have to be honest here, it seems to me that you're just "selling" for ratings with the most horrible story of the day. We all know what time and what channel the local news is on, you don't have to "shock" us to watch. We'll watch, when we want to watch. But what kind of person gets excited to hear the details of how someone was murdered? Don't you guys have something else you can pitch during family viewing hours to attract viewers? The world's hard enough as is and I honestly feel like the first news broadcast that offers "good news", if not even silly news, will attract the attention of viewers, and spark their curiousity to watch. Instead of "13 year old girl shot to death by child rapist and tossed onto I40, more at 11:00." That's just sick, and will be avoided by this viewer. You can report it, but do you have to advertise with it? Especially with such tone and excitement that it sounds like "you don't want to miss this!" I find you guys to be the worst of the local channels with this stuff. Regards, ####"
smooth1 Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 You know nc211, Your right on the money!! The only ones who say " Give the people what they want!" are the ones who make money off of doing it.
jcrome04 Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 I've never understood why they try so hard to pitch with the worst stories. I don't watch much local news. There are 4 Seattle stations I believe... ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX...
SW03ES Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 Unfortunately, they do that because it works. People absolutely do tune in to watch after seeing those news breaks and people are more drawn to bad news than good news.
smooth1 Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 Yeah, i understand the reality of it, but more people are drawn to drugs and those are sttill illegal.
Alexander the o.k. Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 News stopped being News about 20 years ago. It is now a SHOW, with some news tidbits thrown in so that it can still be called 'news'. Notice also that there are no longer any reporters. That's 'cause a reporter used to report the news as it happened. They are now 'journalists'. As in " I think I'll write something in my journal today". Or my diary. Same thing. It's now whatever spin the 'journalist' and editor want to put on it. If you've ever been close to a 'story' reported on the 'news', you know that what is broadcast bears little resemblance to what actually happened. It's a show. Yeah, I flip too. Thank God for remotes.
nc211 Posted July 7, 2008 Author Posted July 7, 2008 I received a reply from the Creative Director over the weekend. She said they appreciated my letter, including the directness of it. She said it will be shared with the folks who write those 10 second updates, especially during family friendly viewing hours. I've noticed during the past two evenings the updates were more about local news, like costs of road repairs to the interstate, and that sort of stuff. Even though they started the news with the horrible of horrible stuff, they didn't seem to blare it during primetime viewing. So maybe someone actually read and gave thought to my email. But, I bet it's back to the normal junk within a week or two, if not sooner. Unfortunately, they do that because it works. People absolutely do tune in to watch after seeing those news breaks and people are more drawn to bad news than good news. I know, and it's just sad. I miss Cheers, Cosby, Family Ties, Newhart, Wings, etc.... Instead, now it all seems like CSI, Law & Order, Etc.. I mean, they've actually tied murder into math, with the show Numb3rs. All that stink a few years ago about Howard Stern on the radio, and now we've got sh*t, a-hole, G/D and subject matter meant for HBO, on CBS from 8-11. I guess I shouldn't be suprised that people find those types of news briefs interesting, considering what they're watching in general at the time. I'm finding my protective instincts coming to the surface more these days as I settle into fatherhood. I get this overwhelming sense to say "hey, that ain't right man, knock it off". Guess I'll have to read the instruction manual for the TV and figure out this V-Chip thing.
RX in NC Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 I manage to catch the local news at least once an evening most of the time. I've preferred WRAL in Raleigh to WTVD in Durham for decades for a number of reasons - I think they do a better job with real "news" versus crap that should air on "Inside Edition" and similar fluff programs which I can't stand and won't waste my time with. But even WRAL has become more sensational and less real news over the past couple of years. I've e-mailed anchor Debra Morgan several times and voiced my opinion and she's always immediately responded with a surprising degree of empathy and seems to have a few issues herself with some of the stories they now have to cover. I've also e-mailed reporter Scott Mason and asked him to take his rhyming sappy story style and move out-of-state so Triangle-area viewers are no longer exposed to the garbage he comes up with.... But WTVD remains far more sensational in their approach and coverage than WRAL has ever been, and I watch WTVD news only as a last resort. They also go through anchors and reporters like water so it's hard to see much consistency there.... Back when local TV stations did their own nightly editorials in the early 1970s, the primary editorialist at WRAL in Raleigh was none other than the just-departed Mr. Jesse Helms (prior to his U.S. Senate days, of course). I was in college at N.C. State at the time and we used to gather in various dorm rooms for the nightly local news just to howl at some of the outlandish things that Helms would say during his on-air editorials. No one could get away with that stuff today, but it certainly made great fodder for those of us in college during those very liberal times. The WRAL studios are right across Western Boulevard from the N.C. State campus and there were many nights when we egged Jesse's car as he was leaving after the conclusion of the newscast. I'll never forget being called "communist facists" and having Jesse shoot us the finger from behind his steering wheel on several occasions where we had just plastered his car with at least two dozen eggs. Kind of brings a tear to my eye now - man, those were the days....
lu1de Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 I really don't wanna know about the bad news either. That's why I quit reading and watching the news altogether about 6 months ago. I don't read newspapers or watch the news programs on TV. I don't know much about what's going on in the world or in my country but to me its OK :) About a couple of times a month I visit usatoday.com and people.com and that's it. When I get really bored then I might read some of the news online. But I do read a section of an online newspaper daily. It doesn't have bad news because it is more consumer oriented. The translation of the name of it would be consumer24.com yeah, I don't have much of a clue of what's going on, but at least I don't have to feel bad about every bad news I read :D (I hope this all makes sense...) oh and btw I spend my days in forums and I read engadget and gizmodo :D
Alexander the o.k. Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 Welcome lu1de! Glad to hear from you. Well, with news like this in your country, I certainly don't blame you for your stance: "Estonia Taxes Farmers for Cow Farts 05/13/08 · 12:59 pm By Peter Robbins Farmers in Estonia received their first "Cow !Removed!" tax demand on Monday. Following the issues of global warming, Estonia cited that a single cow produces 350 L of methane gas and 1500 L of carbon dioxide a day from flatulence and burping. http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.ph...w-farts?blog=94 Ah, will the madness never end? AGW is only THE biggest money grubbing scam in human history. Kind of a synopsis of our world today. Yup. Turn it off. Be happy. Life is short. Nothing will actually change even if you DO watch it.
lu1de Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 "Estonia Taxes Farmers for Cow Farts05/13/08 · 12:59 pm By Peter Robbins Farmers in Estonia received their first "Cow !Removed!" tax demand on Monday. Following the issues of global warming, Estonia cited that a single cow produces 350 L of methane gas and 1500 L of carbon dioxide a day from flatulence and burping. http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.ph...w-farts?blog=94 haha, that's so funny that you found that (but they ended this BS and the farmers who already paid for this got their money back, I think.) But yeah, it's so stupid.
bartkat Posted July 10, 2008 Posted July 10, 2008 Minnow said TV is a vast wasteland. That is as it should be, just entertainment, at least on the channels that claim to be for entertainment.
eatingupblacktop Posted July 10, 2008 Posted July 10, 2008 The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone. We'll tell you anything you want to hear, we lie like hell. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here, you're beginning to believe that the tube is reality and your own lives are unreal. You do. Why, whatever the tube tells you: you dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even think like the tube. This is mass madness, you maniacs. In God's name, you people are the real thing, WE are the illusion. You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: - Howard Beale in Network. Pretty much relates to things today doesn't it?
Alexander the o.k. Posted July 11, 2008 Posted July 11, 2008 Excellent! Sums up my feelings exactly! F the boob tube. Especially the 'news'. The talking heads and bubble headed bleached blondes are certainly NOT reality. It's a SHOW. They will do, and have done, anything for ratings. Ratings= money. Figure it out. Stick to real news. You can find it if you look hard enough. The media conglomerates bank on the laziness of the american public..... and are richly rewarded. How many think tmz is news? Way more than you and I would think, I'll wager! Here, we watch about 5-6 hours per month. That's right. Per month. And I'm ashamed to admit it. No cable. No dish. And proud of it.
nc211 Posted July 18, 2008 Author Posted July 18, 2008 This is PERFECT for this thread! Click the link below and enjoy! http://www.jibjab.com/originals/what_we_call_the_news
eatingupblacktop Posted July 20, 2008 Posted July 20, 2008 This is PERFECT for this thread! Click the link below and enjoy!http://www.jibjab.com/originals/what_we_call_the_news Lmao! NC, you crack me up! I owe you a beer! I could watch this stuff instead of the "network news" anytime! Keep it coming!
bartkat Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 This is PERFECT for this thread! Click the link below and enjoy!http://www.jibjab.com/originals/what_we_call_the_news :lol:
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