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The Greatest Feature I'll Never See
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
When it comes to election coverage, I'm waiting for some media outlet to be the first in going above and beyond everyone else in coverage. I'm waiting for a specific feature that I fear I'll never see.
Like just about everyone, I am not so well versed in politics to know about every candidate on the ballot. Yes, it is easy to know enough about the major candidates in the news, but what about those pesky judges...or the board members...or the commissioners? On Election Day, I usually rip the endorsement pages from the Sun-Times and Tribune to help me get an idea who to vote for. That information is nice and helpful, but could be done in a more useful & complete manner. The Tribune has a nice place for election info on their web site, but I'll have to print out a book in order to be complete. I wonder why some Chicago news organization doesn't produce a complete election primer a day or two before the polls open.
I see the primer including a short bio, positions on relevant issues and notes on the candidate that would include a summary of all mentions in the news for the past few years. For the major candidates, this is a snap...the challenge is to find info on the minor candidates and less-publicized offices. It's nice that the Trib and Sun-Times give their endorsements on candidates for Judge, etc. but I'd also like to know more about why they liked one person over the other. Okay, the newspapers have their own opinion and maybe don't want to talk about the candidates they don't support. Fine. That's where the TV news shows could prove their even-handedness. Why not produce a half-hour election special focusing on the non-top tier candidates?
A couple years ago, I was toying with the idea of discontinuing this web site and starting up a web site that would track stories about Illinois politicians. My idea was that whenever a politician was mentioned in a newspaper or TV news story, I'd paraphrase the story and note the politician's involvement. This would create a nice database that would be based on official news accounts that could be further researched if one wanted. In the aftermath of the license for bribes scandal, my tolerance of politicians ran out and I just wanted to strike back in my own inimitable way. Unfortunately, the amount of time needed to invest into that site and the absence of compensation made it easy for me to shelve the project. Too bad the Better Government Association doesn't do anything like that...it would seem a natural outgrowth. Oh, well.
Short Bursts
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
An odd scene took place during the WGN & WFLD Morning Newscast on Feb 27th. Both shows had previews of the Grammy Awards and featured music critics from the two newspapers. WGN had Jim DeRogatis from the Sun-Times. WFLD had the Tribune's Greg Kot. Weird.
Is Bill Zwecker aspiring to be a movie "quote whore"? Early commercials for the animated film "The Ice Age" had nothing but glowing Zwecker quotes all over it. I have no idea what to think of this.
I'm wondering: At what point will WFLD start pre-taping the studio portion of their Sunday night newscast? The show is glutted with pre-taped packages by Fox affiliates across the country making it feel like an hour of fill. Sunday night is the most-watched night of television, and leading out of a fairly sizable X-Files audience, WFLD's got Byron Harlan introducing out-of-market packages for an hour. What a waste. Sounds like a job for Shepard Smith.
John Drury's retired. I have no idea how to feel about this. Seems like a nice guy, but I always thought Joel Daly overshadowed him on Channel 7.
Proving that even the best newscasts are not immune to crappy news writing, last week during the 4:00 newscast Joel Daly read a story about how the "Watch out for Falling Ice" signs were popping up outside Chicago high-rises. That's it. "Hey everyone! The signs are back!" So what? How about addressing the legal ramifications of those signs instead? As I walked down Wacker Drive that morning, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of legal responsibility those signs relieve the buildings of? I mean, just because the signs are out, do the buildings have immunity when a 20lb chunk of ice crushes someone's skull? Should the signs actually read, "Walk at your own risk?" or maybe "Danger: sidewalk may be a death trap." These are the things that went through my head as I walked to work hoping a chunk of frozen water wouldn't suddenly go through my head.
Warner Saunders is a good newsguy, but I know I'm not the only person who thinks channel 5 should think about "Wally Pipp" in light of the tremendous job that Mark Suppelsa's done in his place.
(NOTE: Wally Pipp played first base for the New York Yankees until a headache kept him out of one game and a guy named Lou Gehrig replaced him for the next 2,130 games in a row)
Next issue I'll talk a bit about the February rating period and all the special news stories we saw during the sweep.
Letter
By NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
I'm a journalist here in Chicago and I read your site from time to time. It really reads like an extended web version of Feder's columns.
You talk about "news babes" and their credibility. Just because someone is attractive doesn't mean that it contributed to their success. Remember that all of the "cute" and "minority" journalists had to go through the same training (SCHOOL), same as all the others that you don't criticize.
So what if Robin Meade was Miss Ohio. She went to school, paid her dues and worked her way up to get where she is. Tracy Townsend did the same thing.
I'm also sick of hearing about the "cutesy twins" on Fox News in the Morning. David is a seasoned journalist and Tamron went through the ranks like all broadcast journalists have. In this business, your work/resume gets you to that next step.
And the diversity issue, I'm an African American and I applaud all media outlets that make sure they are doing their part in diversifying newsrooms. I still don't see enough minorities reporting the news. What would be the big problem is Byron Harlan sat next to Robin Robinson every night instead of Walter? Would you stop watching? How about Cheryl Burton and Diann Burns anchoring every night as well as Jim Rose on sports. Would you only tune in because of Jerry Taft?
Bob Sirott is a Letterman wannabe. He is not funny. Marianne didn't shine sitting next to him. She was much better on the noon newscast. I love Fox News in the Morning now.
And another thing with all the complaints about news "transplants". Most of the long-time anchors aren't from Chicago in the first place. They started at smaller markets and worked their way up. That's how it always goes. Yes they are Chicagoans now, but not in the beginning.
Since most people want to be so judgmental of who's delivering the news, take their place for a day and let's see how well you do.
CORRECTION
In the February 11th issue of the CME, I complimented Channel 32 for leading their newscast with information entirely culled from the Chicago Sun-Times and having the dignity to source it as such. The name of the reporter who covered the story had eluded me, and I had guessed that it might have been Craig Wall. I have subsequently discovered that it wasn't. Sorry, Craig. It vexes me that I can't remember who did the story because I'm such a fan of reporters over anchors. Argggh!
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Take a look at the previous issue: Friday, February 15
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