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ARE ANCHORS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A TV NEWS SHOW? NOPE.
I've been trying for months to write something about Diann Burns moving to Channel 2. It's tough because much like Burns' personality, my thoughts on her are uncomplicated and have no depth.
Channel 2's news department has been in the shitter for years--management's fault, to be sure. Hiring News Director Carol Fowler from Channel 9 was a step in the right direction. She was in charge at Channel 9 as they newscast got more and more boring. Boring is better than crappy; hence, she'll easily upgrade the Channel 2 news. Plus, the old people who watch CBS like boring, so it all fits. Antonio Mora was a good hire. Good, not great. That's not his fault though. He's a solid newsman, very well read and by all accounts a really nice guy. He just didn't generate the immediate heat for Channel 2 that they expected. He is slowly gaining acceptance, though, and now he gets to become the #2 guy behind Diann Burns. Congrats Tony! Funny, but I remember reading & hearing about how Diann Burns was so freaking popular as the alleged number one anchor in Chicago that when she went to Channel 2, her legion of fans would follow, making Channel 2 a ratings juggernaut and leaving Channel 7 in the dust. Not! Diann Burns wasn't Chicago's top anchor, but rather she was an anchor on Chicago's top-rated news. Now she's an anchor on Chicago's lowest-rated news. It's obvious that only a huge personality, dare I say "demi-god-like" will make an immediate impact on a beleaguered newscast. The last time that happened was when Walter Jacobson jumped to Channel 32 and gave them an instant profile boost. Aside from Walter, are there any other "demi-god-like" personalities in Chicago? Carol Marin? Nope, her show didn't have a legion of fans. Ron Magers? He didn't bring over a bunch of Channel 5 viewers when he went to Channel 7. Joel Daly? Maybe 10-20 years ago, but his lower profile at Channel 7 has eroded his power rating. Warner Saunders? Um...no. Robin Robinson? Puh-leeeeze! Actually, there is one news guy who I think would immediately bring a legion of fans with him. He's not doing news anymore, though. I'm thinking Bill Kurtis. If Bill were to get back into anchoring in Chicago, I would bet the numbers would pop immediately. Imagine if Bill teamed with Walter Jacobson again. THAT late news show would be must-see TV. That having been said, it's now proven that Diann Burns isn't the draw some people thought she was. Perhaps it's because she has no personality. I don't mean that as a personal attack, but rather as a comment about her on-air persona. I seriously have no idea who Diann Burns is. All I see is the warm smile & semi-vacant stare. She's quite attractive, that's for sure, but she appears to be one-dimensional on the air. For all the happy talk that she's done over the years, I know nothing of her personal life, her beliefs, her sense of humor (if she has one), or her pet peeves. Her anchor desk banter always seemed semi-scripted to me, which is ironic as all anchor banter is semi-scripted, but is supposed to seem off-the-cuff. Does she have a passion for anything? I don't know. If Allison Rosati is affected by a story, she can have a wide emotional range during the banter time. Diann Burns emotional range seems small, so much so that I think she sometimes just looks like a pretty cardboard cutout. Despite everything I've just said, I have no problem with Diann Burns. I just never thought she was the top female anchor in Chicago. Heck, I never even thought she was best at Channel 7--I'm a Sylvia Perez fan to be honest. I think Diann would help herself by showing more passion to Chicago news viewers. She can do this on the air, or in interviews, or promotional appearances. She could take up a cause-maybe a women's issue, or an African-American community issue. Something that will make her stand out. How about an interview with Chicago Magazine? Or Howard Stern? Admit it...we all want to know her favorite position! Okay, maybe just the guys want to know. Okay, maybe just me. There I go dragging my column down again. How low can I go?...hey look...channel 2's ratings! I guess I can go pretty freaking low. Anyway, Diann was allegedly paid $2,000,000 a year at Channel 7. It's a good assumption that Channel 2 is paying her more than that, though I have to wonder why. I mean really--they WERE bidding against themselves. I can see them paying her in the Antonio Mora range, but not much more than that. The true salary figure hasn't been leaked yet, but it will be interesting once it gets out. If Channel 2 is giving her excessively more than $2 million, then management will appear to have little business sense. A close baseball analogy is Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod used to be on a winning team, the Seattle Mariners, but when his contract was up and he became a free agent, he decided to go for the money. He talked with a few teams, but most thought he was asking for way more money than his services were worth. One team owner didn't think so--Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers. Hicks knew he was the last team talking to A-Rod, yet he decided to offer A-Rod almost double the money he was asking for in the first place. A-Rod jumped at the cash, and now he is the best player on a crappy team. He's happy though, because what matters in baseball is money, not winning. Channel 2's General Manager is Joe Ahern. Like Tom Hicks with A-Rod, Ahern was bidding against no one for Diann Burns. Bidding against no one, inquiring minds have to wonder what he eventually gave her. That kind of info can cement a reputation or make you a laughingstock. We'll see. It looks like Carol Fowler is cleaning things up there and lifting the Channel 2 news unit into respectability. She's hired a lot of people away from Channel 9, which is funny to me. Oh, sure, she is grabbing people she's already worked with, so that makes sense. It's funny because usually in a talent raid, you grab people from the best news stations, not usually the #3 or #4 news. Maybe the folks at Channel 7 and Channel 5 are content to stay with winning teams? Could be. Actually, the best hire for Channel 2 in my opinion was Joanie Lum. She's fabulous. On a side note, I have a small issue with Robert Feder's reporting of the hiring on October 1: "WBBM-Channel 2 filled a conspicuous vacancy for an Asian-American reporter Tuesday by hiring a respected and well-liked veteran from WGN-Channel 9." I don't understand why he had to frame it in the context of Channel 2 hiring an Asian-American reporter. Screw that label. She's a good reporter and framing the hiring in racial terms trivializes her talent in my opinion. Yeah, Channel 2 was without an Asian-American on-air but I think if it is to be mentioned it should be mentioned as an aside or footnote. I'd hate to think Carol Fowler only hired her because she's Asian-American. In Thursday's Sun-Times, Feder reports Channel 5 hired Darren Kramer to be Weekend News Anchor. Perhaps his lead should have been: "WMAQ-Channel 5 filled a conspicuous vacancy for a Caucasian anchor-reporter by hiring a respected veteran from Hartford." But I digress. So far, Channel 2's ratings look to be up slightly, only a couple tenths of a point from last year at this time, but it's way too early to tell for sure and the Cubs in the playoffs skewed things a bit. The jury is still out on Diann Burns and Channel 2, and will be for a while. I think Jim Kirk wrote the best piece on Diann so far. Oh, and one final thought about competitors luring away alleged popular anchors from Channel 7. History says that being at Channel 7 is what made them popular. I remember Joan Esposito being quite popular at Channel 7, yet not as popular at Channel 5. I also remember when Mary Ann Childers was huge on Channel 7...not at Channel 2. |
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CAN'T WE JUST TRY TO STAY ON THE SAME PAGE?
October 17th headline in the Sun-Times: "Davis calls on young black men to shape up"."(Congressman Danny) Davis, who has raised concerns about the disproportionate numbers of black men in prison and lack of resources for ex-offenders, said the initiative will focus not only on what government should do but will also call young black men and their parents on the carpet to take responsibility." October 17th headline for Mary Mitchell's column in the Sun-Times: "Police find plenty of takers in drug sting". "Within an hour after Chicago police officers took over a drug spot in the Austin neighborhood on Thursday -- part of a massive crackdown dubbed Operation Double Play -- Nelson became one of the hundreds of people snared in what police described as the largest reverse drug sting in the country. In smaller operations, going on since July, police have arrested 1,871 people for trying to buy illegal drugs. Of that number, 1,256 were black, 361 were white, 293 Hispanic and 4 Asian." October 19th headline for Mary Mitchell's column in the Sun-Times: "White suburban druggies hurt black neighborhoods". "Some white people have a lot of nerve. Hardly a day goes by without a newscast that shows the dangers that exist in drug-infested neighborhoods, but on Thursday afternoon, I watched nearly a dozen white people drive or walk to the back of an abandoned industrial site, lured by the shouts of "blow," and "rock." (...Skipping down...) "In previous stings, police arrested a total of 1,871 people. Of that number, 1,256 were black, 361 white, 293 Hispanic, and 4 were Asian. But don't let those numbers fool you. Because police are targeting drug spots on the West Side, obviously more African-American drug users are being snared. If police had set up stings in Pilsen, Little Village or at any of the North Side drug spots, I suspect even more white drug users would have been caught. Although some people make excuses about why blacks are selling drugs on the corners in the first place, they're missing the point. Most white people won't set foot in a predominantly black neighborhood. They don't shop there. They don't invest their money in setting up businesses there. They don't even drive through there." (...the kicker...) "Maybe it's time to racially profile some white people for a change." I'm all for finding scapegoats, but wow! Pretty strong stuff. Whitey is at fault. The logic boggles the mind. Um...it seems to me that there are some white people shopping in the black neighborhoods--it just so happens that the commodity is drugs. "So why should black neighborhoods be the dumping ground for the dregs of white society?" The black neighborhoods shouldn't be a dumping ground of white society, black society or green society for that matter--ANY society. Yet, even the white drug users wouldn't be there if there were no drug trade there. Considering many suburbanites who have never lived in the city also never want to go into the city to shop, I'm not quite getting her gist. Actually, I'm not quite getting the gist of her whole October 19th rant. The October 17th column was fabulous, but two days later, she falls into her usual pattern, forcing a racial issue into places where none exists. The story should not be about how 1,256 were black, 361 white, 293 Hispanic, and 4 were Asian. The story should be about 1,871 drug-addicted people who risk everything to support their habit. Jailing the dealers is proper, but arresting the 1,871 users will do nothing to break their habits. They are sick people who need help. "All of the suspects were given the option of being under a year's supervision, community service or drug school. White suspects caught in these areas should be required to spend a year volunteering with an anti-violence group." Sure Mary. We SHOULD give out different punishments based on race. Good Idea. I can't possibly see a problem with that. Oh, and Mary--this is where you follow up and tell us what the REAL result of the sting is. Are they all back on the streets looking for their next high? Can some be saved? All? Forget about the racial shit for a moment and realize that all 1,871 are sick human beings. How can we help them? ALL of them. |
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MUSINGS
The Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union have tentatively agreed to a five-year contract. Oops, most of the teachers don't like the deal and they ended up rejecting the agreement that their union heads accepted. The whole thing is a sticky mess that could get messier. A couple weeks ago, Phil Ponce had a panel discussion that included Teachers Union President Deborah Lynch as well as one of the teachers against the agreement. Both sides seemed to have good point, but due to time constraints, neither backed up their opinions with research. I've been hoping that someone in the news media would take a look at the contract proposal and compare it to previous contracts as well as inflation, cost of living figures and even contracts in other similar-sized school systems. While statistics can be used to distort things, a full analysis of the situation by the media would go a long way to making everyone understand the merits and drawbacks to the tentative agreement. Well, the news media HAS BEEN preoccupied with more important, relevant issues--the Cubs, the Governator and Kobe Bryant.
Does anyone else who watched the Florida Marlins in the playoffs think it was insensitive of the Fox announcers to say "Mike Lowell has one ball on him" when he's up to bat? I mean, come on, at least wait until he takes a pitch. I think Claire Leka, who reports from the New York Stock Exchange during Channel 32's noon newscast, looks like she could be Patricia Heaton's (Everybody Loves Raymond) equally cute sister. Alderman Bernie Stone adamantly thinks that sprinklers would not have helped in the County Building fire. Let's just lay it out on the table--Bernie Stone has no fucking clue. He keeps talking about how plastic pipes would give off noxious fumes in the heat. Hey, dipshit...the water inside those pipes would have extinguished the fire before it spread in the first place and before it would engulf the sprinkler system. Besides, what makes you think the smoke and fumes weren't noxious already? For months I've been trying to write something eloquent about my feelings for the "Planet Paige" column by The Sun-Times' Paige Wiser. The best I can come up with so far is: "Reading her column is like having a 30 pound bag of elephant dung forced down my throat one pound at a time while simultaneously receiving ten thousand paper cuts." Yeah, that about captures it. Is it fair that US soldiers are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet "TV Personality" Mo Rocca continues to live? No, it is not. |
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LETTERS TO THE CME
"You seem ambivalent about the Sun-Times medallion promotion. Newspaper promotion is OK but shouldn't articles supporting promotion be labeled as such as advertising is? I think so.
What worries me is the impact of unlabeled promotion on the staff. Usually the news slot is limited. When idealistic staffers inspired by the positive role print news media play in a democratic society see space sacrificed to promotion as newsworthy stories wind up in the overset, their morale and productivity plummets and they may decide to leave the biz. I also have a comment about your occasional diatribes against Jay Mariotti. An assistant managing editor of a metro newspaper once told me he selected columns that would get readers' blood flowing. This seems to be so of today's Op-Ed pages and certainly is so for your reaction to Mariotti. When some readers strongly like and others strongly dislike his columns, he may be achieving the conventional purpose of a columnist." (J.F.) The CME sez: Perhaps I am so jaded to this kind of stuff that some people interpret it as ambivalence. I think that the Sun-Times assigning reporters to write about their money-making promotion is scummy. Dirty. Unethical. Fraudulent. Above all, it is sad and hypocritical. This is the same paper that criticized the Cubs for using the 7th Inning Stretch to promote other Tribune businesses. All of the articles about the medallions written by staff reporters should be clearly labeled as "advertisements" and don't think that it's not damaging credibility. You're right about the staff effects. Some of those medallion articles ran without bylines-I can only hope it was because a self-respecting staffer being ordered to write a fluffy promotion piece demanded that it run sans byline. As for morale at the ST, just wait and see what happens after Hollinger liquidates the paper's number one asset. If you seriously think that Hollinger will take the money it gets from Donald Trump and sink 100% of it into the Sun-Times, then I suggest you drop the crack pipe and turn off MTV because you've lost touch with reality. Once the ST staffers watch their overlords take the money and run, morale will sink to bedrock. As far as Mariotti goes, I understand the whole "stir up the pot" reasoning. My gripe with Mariotti--and the gripe of most Mariotti-haters--is that his opinion changes on a daily basis. Columnists are hired to write their opinions, but if John Kass were to write on a Tuesday about how Mayor Daley is mishandling the CTA, then on Wednesday about how Daley is the best mayor Chicago's ever had, then on Friday about Daley's ties with no-bid contract winners; Kass would have zero credibility. Just like Mariotti. Yes, opinions change, but the frequency Mariotti's opinions change prove one of two things: He's really got no opinion or he's got Bi-Polar disorder. The fact that Jay's opinion constantly flip-flops is even gleefully celebrated on the ESPN show on which he appears. You can't watch the show for two days without one of the other sportswriters mentioning a classic Mariotti flip-flop. Jay sure does write a lot of opinions--the problem is--none of them are his. |
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OUT OF THE BOX
In Thursday's Sun-Times, Phil Rosenthal reviewed a show called "Laugh Track" about The Second City that was on A&E Sunday.
"'Laugh Track' wouldn't have to overreach to make such a strong case for why Second City training matters if it did a better job of showing it beyond the same boilerplate list of famous alumni always invoked whenever Second City's indisputable status as a cradle of comedy over the past half-century comes up." Based on what I can see, Rosenthal slightly exposed something I'll call "The Second City deception". In 2001, I went through the 5-level Second City Writing Program. During the first level of classes, Martin De Maat, the artistic director for the Second City Training Center died unexpectedly. Martin had a certain vision for Second City, and as explained to me, it was a pure vision about the art. By the time I finished the last level of the writing program seven months later, it was apparent that the forces for "art" lost the battle against the forces of "commerce". I'm sketchy on all the back office goings-on, but Second City today seems to be more interested in pulling in revenue from more and more classes than they are with training people the right way and finding new talent. That's just my perception based on what I saw and what I continue to hear. Rosenthal says in his review that, "While none of the neophytes shown taking classes and performing at night while working 9-to-5 jobs to pay their bills is characterized as headed for surefire fame, no one is sent off crushed and defeated, either." Which supports the idea that hey, as long as the tuition check clears, you TOO can be on stage at Second City! He then says, "It's also not entirely clear what they're learning and how they're learning what narrator Grosz calls "the Second City formula," though their sketches do seem to improve over time. "The audience is a great teacher," notes one class member." Funny, but one would expect Second City teachers to be better teachers than the audience. That's telling. |
