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Published weekly...or so--usually on Friday.
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A tale of Two Stories
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
The end of the May rating sweep signals the end of original network episodes for the next 3-4 months as well as the end of four straight weeks of special reports / investigations from the intrepid 9 & 10 O'Clock news teams.
In those four weeks, only two special reports really caught my eye and made me watch when I hadn't planned. Before I saw the reports, I had expected one to be weak and one to be interesting-oddly, I came away from each report with the opposite reaction.
First up was a light-hearted WFLD report called "GUY-necology". According to the radio and TV promos I heard, we were going to see how guys did when given a test on gynecology terms & procedures. The promos were pretty funny, especially the guy who thought PMS was "Post Menstrual Something". I made an assumption that us male viewers would get a short on-air test with humorous wrong answers edited in.
Instead, we got an ad for a book.
The segment ran for maybe 2-2 ½ minutes and didn't include any soundbites we hadn't already heard in the promos. Instead of a fun little test, we were pitched a new book about educating guys about women's health issues or something like that. I didn't pay much attention because after I noticed it was an ad began a profanity laced tirade direct toward the WFLD promotion department.
They hooked me.
I wasn't amused.
It will be a while before I believe another WFLD promo again.
Making an educated guess, I'd say WFLD got the pre-produced package from either Fox News or the book publisher (was it news Corp-owned Harper-Collins?) with instructions to insert a couple man-on-the-street interviews.
Yeah, it looked like a video press release, produced by someone looking to sell something or promote an agenda. The usual place we see these anti-news packages are within the "Health" segments of newscasts. Chicago news has one truly qualified health reporter - Channel 2's Dr. Breen. Other stations tend to rely on wire reports and video press releases delivered by their health reporter (you don't REALLY think Sylvia Perez is out on the street pounding the health beat for channel 7, do you?).
Anyway, I thought GUY-necology would be interesting, but it sucked.
The report I expected to blow chunks but ended up kicking ass was Renee Ferguson's report "Lead Foot Lawmakers" which aired on Wednesday night on channel 5. The 5 minute Unit 5 report was thoroughly researched, and beautifully executed-an example of just how good reporting can get.
Renee's report was obviously painstakingly researched and compiled. It included two lawmakers giving awkward answers to questions about their speeding, a check of tickets given to all Illinois lawmakers, highway monitoring by Unit 5 with a radar gun (Oh, and you knew those speeding cars were lawmakers due to the 3-digit license plates!!!!).
Busted! Renee named names and confirmed what everyone suspects-if you're politically connected, it's very hard to get a traffic ticket.
Excellent job!
Investigate This!
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
The excellent May/June issue of the Columbia Journalism Review focuses on Investigative Journalism. One section, aptly titled "Where TV Has Teeth: Television does fewer probes than in the past, but the best of them are choice," included a mention of "Strip Searched at O'Hare" a story by Renee Ferguson and the Channel 5 I-team. About Chicago TV viewers, Renee says that they have high interest in the I-team's efforts even though most watch television merely to be entertained.
While it is true that entertainment programs have higher ratings than news programs, certain bad decisions have helped repel viewers from TV news. Channel 5's Jerry Springer debacle was the latest such incident and Channel 2's disastrous decision to do an in-your-face WSVN (Miami)-style newscast several years ago doomed the station to the cellar where it still struggles to attract an audience. That single irresponsible decision wiped out decades of credibility and respect. Oddly, Channel 2 believes they can build a better news team by filling their lead anchor positions with people from Kansas City. The usual route is to find a journalist from a top-10 market who's good enough for the number 3 market...not recruiting people from market number 30!!! Net result = Carol Marin's weak newscast last year did better in the ratings than what Channel 2 is slapping on the air today. Sad.
But I digress, Renee characterized her role by stating "It's as if you went to the dentist's office to have your teeth cleaned and I come by and want to give you a root canal." I have to strongly disagree with this characterization. Considering the response stations get from excellent investigative reports I'd say that her reports are more like going to the dentists office, getting a clean bill of health and finding out the visit is free!
Think of it: there's a reason that dateline is on 3 times a week, 60 Minutes twice and PrimeTime / 20/20 are on twice (for now)-that reason is because TV viewers love compelling television, and good investigative reporting is very compelling. We need to gear up those I-teams and have reports 1-2 times weekly! Uncovering corrupt politicians is compelling...exposing criminal business is compelling...finding the truth in a web of deception is compelling.
When will our local news stations realize this and run with it?
Old News
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Walking near the Sun-Times building today I noticed that they still have a giant banner ad under their sign. The ad says that Sears on State opens May 23rd. Nice.
Published weekly...or so--usually on Friday.
If you'd like to contribute, e-mail your article to the editor
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