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Working For Who?
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
I've been trying to watch Channel 2's late newscast over the past two weeks.
I say "try" because it's been a laborious effort, yet I figure if I don't watch their newscast then the terrorists will have surely won.
Okay, that's not the real reason.
The real reason I'm trying to watch their news is that I got wind that CBS 2 was working for me. I like to check in on my employees every once in a while to make sure they're not goofing off or something.
So far, I'm not too impressed.
The first thing that needs to be addressed is the talent issue. Chicagoans in general are slow to embrace change except on their own terms. The city's neighborhoods continue to be a diverse group of fractionalized, segregated communities with little tolerance for new ideas. It can take many years for the city to accept a personality who comes to town and is given a high-profile job. Heck, every time & see Brant Miller, I think of him as the afternoon guy on 94.7 and host of the "Rock on Chicago" music video show. I cannot take him seriously as a weather guy. That having been said, I heard an interesting opinion on the Buzz & Wendy radio show on WCKG last week. Buzz mentioned that he couldn't get used to Channel 2's news because everyone seems to be from out of town-except Mike Adamle.
I have to agree.
Despite the fact that Tracy Townsend is very easy on the eyes, it's going to be a while before I can get used to her and not think of her as an interloper from Kansas City. Of course, time is not the only thing that can give a journalist viewer acceptance. NBC's Ashleigh Banfield was just "The blonde chick with stupid glasses" until she bonded with the audience on 9-11. I just don't see much of a bonding opportunity for the cast of Channel 2 outsiders.
Now let's talk content. On Thursday, the late news opened with the ongoing airport security story, coverage of the war in Afghanistan and then a report about Jim Ryan's newest cancer followed by 3 minutes about the Harry Potter movie.
Say what?
You lead the show with six minutes of news then go to a live shot of Vince Gerasole to introduce his package on Harry Potter?
This is working for me?
You're fired!
Speaking of "Working for You", I'm amused at the lengths they will go to have at least one story on every newscast to prove they are working for me. On Thursday, they helped a woman who failed to sign her Illinois State Income tax form and was assessed a fine. They made a phone call and got it all cleared up. The only thing I got out of this 60 second "story" was that a doofus refused to follow instructions on her taxes, refused to heed the warnings of "make sure you've signed the form" that appear on the envelope and most of all, refused to take any kind of responsibility for her mental lapse. I didn't get the warm-and-fuzzy that I'm supposed to get. Gee, thank you Channel 2 for helping out a moron who can't follow instructions. It reminded me of a funny argument I heard in the post office. A snobbish yuppie woman wanted to pay for postage with her credit card. She deftly whipped out her credit card and drivers license but was dumbfounded to find out that her card couldn't be accepted. Apparently she got some notion that rather than signing the back of her credit card (in the space marked "authorized signature"), she should take a thick black market and write "Check ID" in that signature spot. She apparently did that on all of her credit cards to protect against fraud. This made little sense as she removed the possibility of comparing signatures. The person at the counter was adamant that they only accept cards that have been signed (as is stated on every credit cardmember agreement). She ended up paying for cash, but walked out of there convinced that she was right and everyone else was wrong. I got a chuckle watching that and felt better about my place in the world. Channel 2's got to watch out that they don't turn into "Richard Simmons Dream Maker". Remember that show? It was one hour a day of Simmons giving things to people. TV audiences hated the show---why? Imagine being with the family on Christmas and everyone opens a lot of presents, but you got none and have to sit and watch as they have all the fun. But you got none. Now imagine that every day. At some point, the satisfaction of seeing people receive gifts becomes boring. Now imagine Channel 2 rewarding people every night with $300 refunds from the government.
But not you.
Only people who are incompetent.
Hmmm...how low can those ratings go?
Quick Nits
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
In Last Tuesday's Sun-Times, the paper reported that its owner, Hollinger International Inc posted an operating loss in the 3rd quarter this year (http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-holl13.html). It could be that finance is way over my head, but when the story mentioned "Revenues fell to $896 million from 41.6 billion, reflecting the absence of the Canadian properties" I started to wonder what kind of profit Hollinger got from those Canadian properties. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong number, but generally, media properties are valued at 12 times cash flow. If that number is cash flow, then Hollinger must have received $489.6 Billion from the sale of those properties. I have two questions: Why did you sell them and where the hell did the money go? Certainly not back into the remaining newspapers in order to improve them. Hey Hollinger, ever hear of a bank? Don't they have those in Canada? Ever hear of saving for a rainy day? Hello? It's raining!
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On Thursday morning 11/8, as I was fleeing Bill Zwecker's segment on WFLD, I stumbled onto a curious segment on WGN's Morning Zoo. Mike Barz was breaking down the "keys of the game" for that Sunday's Bears-Packers game. Dressed in a lab coat, goofy glasses and holding the title "The Prognosticator", Barz proceeded to point out a few things about the game that had been written on a chalkboard. At first, I thought that it was going to be a biting satire of Brad Palmer's "The Professor" segments on Channel 7's #1 newscast. However, the lack of humor within the segment made me conclude that someone decided to just rip off Brad Palmer's idea. Well, the segment wasn't totally without humor. Sharp-eyed viewers might have noticed that Mike Barz had misspelled Brett Favre's name on the chalkboard as "Farve". This is where I remind everyone that Mike Barz came to WGN from a station in Wisconsin. Green Bay, Wisconsin. Nice. I don't know if they've done "The Prognosticator" again, but if it does become a recurring thing, I'd like to remind everyone how indignant the WGN morning crew was a few years ago when Channel 5's morning show started a doing a non-stop "weather crawl", copying Channel 9's idea. I guess in the news business it's okay to copy an idea-unless it's yours.
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The Poynter Institute is putting out a book that collects the front pages of many newspapers covering the 9/11 attack (http://poynter.org/pub/911.htm). I think it's an interesting historical record. You can see Poynter's collection online at: http://www.poynter.org/Terrorism/gallery/Extra1.htm
I think the Sun-Times front pages were the best in reporting the attack and connecting with the readership with their "Terror!" Extra edition headline (http://www.poynter.org/Terrorism/gallery/images/ChicagoSunTimesX1.jpg) while the Tribune solidly reported "US Under Attack" (http://www.poynter.org/Terrorism/gallery/images/ChicagoTribuneX.jpg) as did the Daily Southtown with "Attack on America (http://www.poynter.org/Terrorism/gallery/images/DailySouthtownX.jpg).
The Sun-Times Wednesday 9/12 edition sent chills down my spine and affected me so completely that it took me the entire day to finish reading the paper. Amazingly, the front page was just one word, "Outrage", with two stunning pictures (http://www.poynter.org/Terrorism/gallery/W15/ChicagoSunTimesW.jpg).
I think the front page that best described what happened and connected with its audience was the 9/12 edition of the San Francisco Examiner (hey, I like that name!). They chose one word for the headline that evoked anger, sadness, outrage and disbelief: "Bastards!" (http://www.poynter.org/Terrorism/gallery/images/SanFranciscoExaminerW.jpg).
Bravo.
The Examiner offers reprints of that edition on their web site.
Bravo.
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