Capital Times - Dave Zweifel: It's sad what passes for news these days

[bigtalkradiofan]

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/zweifel/index.php?ntid=99545&ntpid=2

Dave Zweifel: It's sad what passes for news these days

By Dave Zweifel, Sept. 20, 2006
The Capital Times: Opinion
Published: September 20, 2006
Dave Zweifel is the editor of The Capital Times.

To prove a point, an Internet blog called Think Progress looked closely at the network newscasts the evening of Aug. 17th. That happened to be the day that U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the Bush administration had blatantly violated the U.S. Constitution with its secret NSA domestic communications surveillance program.

It also happened to be the same day the announcement was made that Thailand had in its custody a man who claims to have murdered JonBenet Ramsey.

According to the blog, here's the score:

• NBC - 7 minutes, 39 seconds on the JonBenet story, 27 seconds on the judge's decision.

• CBS - 3 minutes, 23 seconds on the JonBenet story, 25 seconds on the decision.

• ABC - 4 minutes, 3 seconds on JonBenet, 2 minutes on the decision.

[Click link above for the complete newspaper article.]

 

[fred flintstone]

This is NOT about radio

This article refers to network TV evening newscasts - not radio news.

 

[Radio_Realist]

This article refers to network TV evening newscasts - not radio news.

On the talk radio station that I listen to, neither the District Court decision nor the Jon Benet Ramsey pseduo-killer's story got more than a few seconds. The big story was a major traffic tie-up. Then again, you can't cram much news into 3 minutes an hour.

 

[bigtalkradiofan]

Re: This is NOT about radio

This article refers to network TV evening newscasts - not radio news.

Managing Board Editor & Fred Flintstone,

Obviously, the same concept applies to radio news.

It wasn't like radio news ignored the Jon Benet Ramsey case, the radio news coverage was quite similar to the TV news coverage.

Clearly, the article refers to TV news - but it has the same implications for radio news.

 

[JeeperOne]

Re: This is NOT about radio

Hi everyone:

This article refers to network TV evening newscasts - not radio news.

Managing Board Editor & Fred Flintstone,

Obviously, the same concept applies to radio news.

It wasn't like radio news ignored the Jon Benet Ramsey case, the radio news coverage was quite similar to the TV news coverage.

Yeah what he said. Being in Denver, I ought to know. A prime example was on the day of the news conference announcing the capture of the person thought to be Jon Benet's Killer, CBS O&O KXKL-FM 105.1 (An oldies station) had Reporter Raj Chohan from sister station KCNC 4 (Raj has apparently been making a career on the story) on their morning drive show (I know this because my clock radio was tuned to the station as it normally is on any given day). They also said they'd carry the news conference when it occured by picking up KCNC's coverage.

Does that sound like radio stations ignored the Jon Benet Ramsey developments? I don't think so.

Clearly, the article refers to TV news - but it has the same implications for radio news.

Agreed.

Cheers