KCTV 5: Pathetic. Over-Zealous. Inciteful.

KCTV 5 News in Kansas City is a terrible news operation. Recently, they stirred up a lot of controversy with an investigation they did into how local police departments handle requests for complaint forms against officers. What ended up was a story about "Police Station Intimidation" when the Independence Police Department arguably handled the situation poorly. At this point, I should note that I'm a City employee, however I feel that my experience in media production and analysis overrides any bias I might have from my employment.

If you watch the videos at KCTV's Web site, you will see that the IPD sergeant could have kept a cooler head about the situation. Things could have been handled better.

That said, the premise of the story in the first place is misguided and another example of what news media around the country are beginning to call "journalism." I'm not against "investigative" reports. Oftentimes, they are appropriate and needed. A problem presents itself and someone needs to bring it to light. There was no problem in the Kansas City area. No incident raised red flags that caused a legitimate news station to go digging for more information and even the truth. KCTV, in this case and many before it, went digging for controversy. Their sole purpose was to get viewers to watch -- thereby getting more ratings -- and get viewers riled up into thinking that things are worse off than they really are. That's not journalism.

Granted, they DID expose a flaw in the IPD's policy. Since the story first ran, the IPD Chief has made changes, and that's a good thing. But the controversial part -- where the undercover guy got injured -- wouldn't have happened if they hadn't pressed and pressed so hard for a story. The flaw in the IPD's policy would have still been exposed if the gentleman had just walked out and didn't keep pressing. Cops don't like it when you keep pressing...in ANY situation. He wouldn't have been injured or arrested, and the IPD's policy would've probably still been changed.

But that's not KCTV's style. Time after time they have walked a fine line between reporting the news and CREATING the news, and that's not right. When they do report the news, none of it is good. Oh sure, I know that's most news organizations anymore, but KCTV seems to take special care in reporting only the crime-ridden, controversy-laden stories that are out there.

Several months ago, I joined my boss in hearing a presentation from a well-known, well-respected federal agency spokesperson about handling the media. He is fair with the media. He is highly regarded by spokespeople region-wide. In his PowerPoint, he had a slide of what to watch out for. The bullet points dealt with leading questions, insinuations, etc. One bullet point -- I kid you not -- was "Any reporter from channel 5." That about sums it up.

Pet Peeve #1: Don't Tell Me How to React

There's a trend in TV news that really bugs me. I kind of think it's insulting:

"What's the number one addiction in the U.S.? The results will shock you."
I'm thinking they won't.

"You won't believe what this teenager did to save his pet cat."
I probably will.

"This footage is very disturbing."
Not as much as the twisted murder on CSI tonight.

Tell me the facts and let me decide for myself. Sure, warn me if I need to shield my kid's eyes, but otherwise don't assume that your pre-conceived notion of the unusual, bizarre, or unbelievable is the same as mine.

That'll get your attention!

VW has an ad out right now for their Jetta. Without giving away the "plot" of the whole thing, it has these two guys talking about how one says "like" every other word...then a surprise.

Wow. What an effective advertisement. For a while we ran a PSA on City 7 with a message similar to this one. It also grabbed your attention and made you take notice.

Keep an eye out for this VW ad...and then hug your children.

A Golden Anniversary.

The VCR turned 50 this week, with the original machine being released by Ampex on April 14, 1956 at a trade show. If you'd like to read more about it, check out this article from TVTechnology.com.

Since that day, we've seen technology progress to video cassettes like Betamax and VHS, and progress on to DVDs and hard-disk based recorders. Soon we'll see HD-DVD and Blu-ray disks. Today, the flagships of video recording are the Sony SRW-5500 HDCAM SR recorder with a list price of ONLY $98,000 USD or the Panasonic AJ-HD3700B D-5 HD recorder for $99,000 USD list. A two-hour tape for the Panasonic deck is nearly $300.

Here's your fun fact for the day: The Sony model mentioned above is a descendent of the Betamax tape. When the Betamax "lost" to VHS for the consumer market, it moved into the professional market. Business was okay with spending more for better quality. The Betamax tape became Betacam, then Betacam SP, Betacam SX, and eventually progressed onto HDCAM SR.

So 50 years after the birth of the video tape machine, we have high-definition video recorders, DVD players, and even a few VHS decks sitting around...and so many people STILL don't know how to keep the clock from blinking 12:00. :-)

Don't Feed the Terrorists

Zacharias Moussaoui continues to shock America by saying he wished 9/11 could happen every day, that he's willing to kill Americans "any time, anywhere," and numerous other objectionable statements.

Why are the news media playing into this guy's hands? I understand that this trial is important, but reporting what he says does nothing but irritate Americans and give him exactly what he wants. I say ignore the guy. The news media should collectively agree to release only verdicts and other related information, but boycott whatever comes out of that guy's mouth. He's not worth giving him the publicity.

Hell, I've spent too much time talking about him already.

Failing Grade for 'Teachers'

I won't sugarcoat this: NBC's new sit-com Teachers is bad. Really bad. Really, really bad. Imagine watching a re-run of Saved By The Bell, adapting it into a show for adults, and updating it for 2006. THAT is Teachers. And it's, well, bad.

Honestly, I'm surprised. I'd expect that the executive producers, who worked on NBC's hits Scrubs and Will and Grace, would have come up with a MUCH better show. I think this show wants to be better. It could have had so much potential, but somewhere along the line someone just flat out screwed it up.

The cast is made up of a bunch of pretty decent actors -- read: not "good" actors -- delivering campy and generally unfunny lines, all the while attempting to get across very watery messages by the end of the half hour. It's a formula that worked...12 years ago. It won't fly now. Teachers doesn't apply itself and needs improvement or else it'll be gone before you can say "Mister Belding."

So Much for Suspense on '24'

Kiefer Sutherland has signed on to star in three more seasons of FOX's hit '24.' Good to know. Now I don't have to worry every time his character is about to be killed for the next couple of years. "No worries! He's still under contract! Where's the popcorn, honey?"

Why would Fox Television really announce this? You're killing your storylines, people! If a viewer is watching knowing full well that this guy has no chance of dying, wouldn't it seem that you've killed off (pun intended) some of your plot possibilities?

I'll write something positive here soon. I promise. ;-)

A Happy Little Video Game. :-)

For those of you who are familiar with PBS, you know about the late Bob Ross and his show The Joy of Painting. Apparently the people in charge of his properties are developing a video game for PCs and the Nintendo platforms.

This concept is fascinating to me. Instead of teaching kids how to ACTUALLY paint, we're going to have a game so that they can VIRTUALLY paint. I suppose if it's a stepping stone to getting them away from the machine so that they can try it in real life, good. If it's just a way to meet kids where they are and leave it at that, we've missed a key point:

You can't hang a digital painting on the wall for everyone to see in perpetuity. Even if you could, it will always need batteries or some kind of power source. Let's hope that those who play and enjoy THIS video game will eventally want to step away from the controller and grab a paint brush.

The Sound of Silence

I have to laugh at Cingular's latest TV ad. It's the one where the teenager under the umbrella talks about her dropped calls. How convenient that the audio goes out (intentionally) in the middle of the ad.

Having worked at a couple of TV stations, I bet that, the first couple of times this ad played, Master Control Operators everywhere flipped out!:

"What the f*ck?! What happened to our audio?!"

(Chuckle)

FOX's 'Unan1mous' Doesn't Get My Vote.

For once I set up the DVR to record a show without knowing anything about it. The very little bit I saw on FOX's preview for Unan1mous (sic) piqued my interest. Turns out it's another reality show. The premise this time: nine people have to decide unanimously who of the group deserves a whopping cash prize. In this case, the starting number was $1.5 million.

Of course drama ensues when one gal just wants to leave, all the while knowing that doing so will cut the prize in half. Another guy is faking testicular cancer to get everyone else sympathetic for him. The rest of the group has decided they want to leave as well, so they've tried to form a pact that ALL of them will vote for this sweet chubby country guy. But what ensues? In the second episode, the sweet chubby country guy got all but one of the votes he needs. Hmm, that wasn't influenced by the producers or anything, was it? I guess it would look kind of bad if their pathetic little reality show wrapped in the second episode. Oh, but wait, there's more drama! Now the cash prize is slowly dwindling until a unanimous vote is finally held. Grab the popcorn!

My biggest problem with this show is that it's a solution in need of a problem. On Survivor, at least it (kind of) tests people's ability to "survive" for a period and eventually win. With The Biggest Loser, at least they're trying to get fat people healthier. This show has no original problem. These people aren't ever going to be placed in any situation similar to this EVER. Sure, it's well produced, but it kind of has this creepy Big-Brother-Meets-Dr.-Evil's-Lair vibe to it. Oddly enough, the host even kind of reminds me of Seth Green.

Expect this program to be short lived...but the producers will stretch it out for as long as they can. FOX Wednesdays, 9:30/8:30 CDT.

Introduction

Welcome to "The Media Situation Report 360!" I've been wanting to do a blog for a while that deals with analysis of the media and entertainment industries. When I was back in college going for my Broadcasting degree, one of my professors drove home the need to constantly have a critical eye of media because we will be the ones creating it. He emphasized that we need to know what's good and what's bad about it.

So I created this weblog as a way to share my thoughts on how the media creates entertainment, handles news items, or just tries to get their message across. This isn't going to be a report on what celebrity is doing what, but more of a place to talk about the media that are covering those celebrities. If there's a news item that was handled exceptionally well (or poorly!), then I'm going to talk about that too. Every now and then I'll talk about a really good or bad TV program or movie. This isn't a personal blog about my life, but you can find that on the side bar of this page. I have a lot to say about a lot of things, so I welcome you to subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog, sit back, and enjoy the reading.

Smiles, Michael