Election coverage pre-empting TV series

[Ccook55]

Atlanta: WSB (ABC), WAGA (Fox), WXIA (NBC) and WGCL (CBS) will be running regular programming with crawlers telling the results here.

 

[LKellerIII]

The problem isn't election coverage itself, it is the non-stop blabbering about "if this" and "if that" which does not give anyone except political junkies anything of value. All I need to know are the results and then a summary of the affect upon my local area, my state and the nation at large. That could be accomplished easily within the span of one hour the morning/afternoon/evening of election day +1. I do not need 8-10 solid hours of talking heads saying pretty much nothing.

One more thing.....for the past month (or more) we have been subjected to non-stop political ads the vast majority of which are negative. According to the various advertisers we have nobody but crooks, pedophiles, mental incompetents, and shysters running for public office. Nothing irritates me as much as having to watch a string of 5-6 political ads back to back which repeat endlessly, do not provide any useful information and are financed by dark money. It has virtually turned me off to our political system entirely.

I agree about the silly non-stop coverage - especially early in the evening when the results (1 percent of precincts reporting) usually mean nothing.

As for negative political ads - to quote...somebody, can't remember...maybe Karl Rove - "Why do we run negative ads? Because they work."

And packaging a politician these days is pretty much the same as packaging any product. Iowa is about to elect a new US Senator that became famous because she ran ads telling people that she grew up castrating pigs on a farm. In one weird slogan she let people know that it meant she knew how to cut government spending...and that she was a regular old farm girl. Talk about brilliant. I hope the person who thought that up got a bonus

 

[landtuna]

Iowa is about to elect a new US Senator that became famous because she ran ads telling people that she grew up castrating pigs on a farm.

That's strange.....so did Berta on "Two and A Half Men". Brings tears to my eyes.

 

[Avid Listener]

Obviously the poor stupid unwashed masses don't get all their info from Faux News Channel, like you.

For the record, and not that it matters, but I don't watch any television news.

 

[MarcB]

WFSB Channel 3 the CBS affiliate in Connecticut aired Coverage on their 3.3 Eyewitness News Now Channel. WTNH Channel 8 the ABC affiliate in Connecticut aired Coverage on sister station WCTX Channel 59 blowing out whatever MY Network TV airs Tuesdays at 9PM. (They probably aired it at 11PM).

 

[LKellerIII]

For the record, and not that it matters, but I don't watch any television news.

I've become the same way, more or less. I'll watch if some big disaster strikes, but otherwise, I'm happy with NPR and the internet. And the internet is perfect for election results, because you can click on the vote percentages for a candidate, or a ballot proposition, and look at for as long, or a short a time as you want, without a reporter or pundit putting his/her spin on it.

 

[vchimpanzee]

If you're on this board, you have Internet access. If you have Internet access, you can read the newspaper's website online. Home delivery editions of newspapers typically go to press around 3am, so it should be able to tell you who won.

I spend enough time online. I don't want to add to that.

Besides, when my subscription cost went way up, I was told it wass because I could see the web site, which I can't do (for more than a few articles per month) if I don't have a subscription. I told them I didn't want that added cost. Of course, the next year they just went way way up again and I protested and got my subscription cost back down. The simple fact is I have too much stuff to remember to do online and I don't want to add to that. But when I see The Charlotte Observer at the library, I know to look at it for that which is missing from mine. Yes, that too is a waste of time.

Actually, even though there was no winner in the Hagan-Tillis race when I went to bed (because I had taped the 10:00 news just to see the weather because the CW affiliate is the only one I can depend on to show us the low and the high for the day), my Observer had a gigantic headline saying Tillis had won and the Republicans won the Senate. Maybe the winner was declared just a few minutes later. It's clear they didn't have the early deadline for my paper that they usually do.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The good thing about all this; on Wednesday morning all these political ads go away and we can rest for awhile (though you know the newschannels are onto 2016 mode as of that moment).

And for those of us with TiVo they're not going away anytime soon. Even though I can skip over them, I don't think it works like Hopper. I can see what is on screen and that's a lot of what was bad about them.

Amazingly, Kay Hagan had a positive ad at 7:15 last night. WHY? A person watching "Jeopardy" is going to realize "Oh, no, I forgot to vote!" and hopefully have enough time to get to the polling place? Polls in NC closed at 7:30, I think.

Meanwhile, before "Jeopardy" was even over, Gov. Haley of S.C. had been declared the winner, along with the two Senate candidates. I didn't think you could have two Senate races in the same state in the same year. I didn't even know Haley was running for re-election this year. But the polls must have closed earlier than in N.C. because you can't have winners being declared before people even vote.

 

[LKellerIII]

I spend enough time online. I don't want to add to that.

Besides, when my subscription cost went way up, I was told it wass because I could see the web site, which I can't do (for more than a few articles per month) if I don't have a subscription. I told them I didn't want that added cost. Of course, the next year they just went way way up again and I protested and got my subscription cost back down. The simple fact is I have too much stuff to remember to do online and I don't want to add to that. But when I see The Charlotte Observer at the library, I know to look at it for that which is missing from mine. Yes, that too is a waste of time.

It's not necessary to pay for news websites. There are hundreds that are free, that make their money selling advertising. Most of the sites trying to charge for subsciptions are connected to the old-line newspapers, that offer either internet access free with a (paper) subscription, or vice versa. In the SF Bay Area, the Chronicle now has a pay website, but 90 percent of their content is on their free website. I can't think of any reason to subscribe.

I haven't bothered with an actual newspaper subscription in about a decade now. I am sorry that their business model has crashed, and would feel sorry if (when?) major newspapers go out of business - like the New York Times. But the SF Chronicle was never a great paper, and it's now a pitiful ghost of its old self. I feel no obligation to help delay its inevitable extinction.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It's not necessary to pay for news websites. There are hundreds that are free, that make their money selling advertising.

Right. But I get what I need at the library, with the news on paper. It'll be a couple of days before I see it, but I will see it.

Interestingly, Hillary may be President before I finally get around to reading today's paper (meaning the early edition I brought inside this morning). There's no hurry with the ones I get home delivered and I'm way behind.

 

[landtuna]

Besides, when my subscription cost went way up, I was told it wass because I could see the web site, which I can't do (for more than a few articles per month) if I don't have a subscription. I told them I didn't want that added cost. Of course, the next year they just went way way up again and I protested and got my subscription cost back down.

Here are two ways to access the goodies.

Ignore the newspaper. They are deadline driven and must stop their research to print the paper. Use instead any local full-featured TV station web site. Most of them run comprehensive web sites that pretty much duplicate anything the newspaper would print - except they are not limited by deadline and can continue reporting real time until the election is decided. For instance, last night my local Fox affiliate had their election web site up early in the day and after the local polls closed began posting election results real time. They had every race in the state along with every proposition. They had another page addressing elections of interest outside my state. You get all the numbers without the blah, blah, blah.

If you must use the newspaper then fire up Firefox browser, go to File and click on New Private Window. You will get a second browser page that looks almost identical to the first but it won't keep results of your browsing (such as cookies). Since most subscription-based sites offer a limited number of free accesses and keep cookies to tell when that access has been used this private browser does not record cookies and you can access the cookie tracking websites any number of times.

Personally, I have found newspapers useful only for in-depth reporting. If you only want the scores and don't need the whole background the TV sites are the way to go. For weather information specific to the national as a whole or right down to my local neighborhood I use Weather Underground (www.wunderground.com). It is a free site and can be customized for your locale.

 

[landtuna]

But the SF Chronicle was never a great paper, and it's now a pitiful ghost of its old self. I feel no obligation to help delay its inevitable extinction.

That made me sad. When I was in high school I used to deliver the Chronicle and because we shared a shack with the other two papers of the day I got to take home copies of the Examiner and the News-Leader. Spent almost every evening reading them for one reason or another.

What I loved most about the Chronicle was the columns. Stanton Delaplane and Herb Caen in particular. I still have some of Herb Caen's columns from the time I was in Vietnam (something about a national convention being in town and the gravy for the marina restaurants being stored in Coit Tower).

I guess most newspapers today are but a shadow of their former selves. The husband of my former boss was a reporter for our local newspaper and they didn't pay him squat so I guess that tells a story.

 

[Ravens]

Complaining about election coverage pre-empting "Selfie"?

Please never vote.

 

[gregg75]

I would have thought ABC, CBS and NBC would have started election coverage before 10PM, because a lot happened before then. I was switching between CNN and MSNBC most of the evening, even after the networks appeared.

Then, I saw the lousy ratings all 3 got. I guess that's why they started 10PM.

 

[Avid Listener]

I would have thought ABC, CBS and NBC would have started election coverage before 10PM, because a lot happened before then. I was switching between CNN and MSNBC most of the evening, even after the networks appeared.

Then, I saw the lousy ratings all 3 got. I guess that's why they started 10PM.

There has been an increasing level of public complaints about the media reporting election results before the polls close. You might remember that in the ultra-controversial Presidential election of 2000, networks declared a winner in the state of Florida before the polls had closed in the panhandle region, which was in the Central time zone. There were claims that enough voters in the panhandle decided not to go to the polls, since the extremely close race was already decided. No one can ever know for sure, but that could have changed the outcome of the election.

There are also allegations that since most voters are really, really stupid, especially the ones on the left coast, reporting results for elections in the Eastern time zone might fool California voters into thinking the election is over, so they'll stay home. That only makes any sense if the left coast voters are really, really stupid. I didn't think that was true until I saw the kind of candidates that got elected out there. The icing on the cake was when someone actually complained about missing "Selfie" because of election reporting. That proved to me that I shouldn't over-estimate the intelligence of the American electorate.

I also watched a naturalized American citizen attempt to vote by using her Costco membership card as photo ID. She (and her husband) couldn't speak a word of English, but they did eventually produce naturalization ID as proof of identity. Their children went with them to translate the ballot for them.

 

[LKellerIII]

That made me sad. When I was in high school I used to deliver the Chronicle and because we shared a shack with the other two papers of the day I got to take home copies of the Examiner and the News-Leader. Spent almost every evening reading them for one reason or another.

What I loved most about the Chronicle was the columns. Stanton Delaplane and Herb Caen in particular. I still have some of Herb Caen's columns from the time I was in Vietnam (something about a national convention being in town and the gravy for the marina restaurants being stored in Coit Tower).

I guess most newspapers today are but a shadow of their former selves. The husband of my former boss was a reporter for our local newspaper and they didn't pay him squat so I guess that tells a story.

Yes, sadly those people have passed on. I have some nostalgia for those columnists - partially because my father grew up with Herb Caen in Sacramento - apparently Caen's father ran the pool hall that my dad and his friends hung out it. Herb was a few years younger - and helped out in the place. My father wrote Caen a few times, and he always replied thoughtfully.

In the 80's, The Examiner under Will Hearst became a very good newspaper, but it was hobbled by being the afternoon paper. So in the 90s, the Hearst Corp bought the Chronicle, and after that it was all downhill - not particularly their fault - just the advent of the internet.

The biggest story coming out of the Chronicle Corporation disbanding - talked about often on this website - was the sale of KRON 4 TV for over $750 million to Young Broadcasting, who destroyed the station, and ended up in bankruptcy because of it.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Here are two ways to access the goodies.

Ignore the newspaper. They are deadline driven and must stop their research to print the paper. Use instead any local full-featured TV station web site. Most of them run comprehensive web sites that pretty much duplicate anything the newspaper would print - except they are not limited by deadline and can continue reporting real time until the election is decided. For instance, last night my local Fox affiliate had their election web site up early in the day and after the local polls closed began posting election results real time. They had every race in the state along with every proposition. They had another page addressing elections of interest outside my state. You get all the numbers without the blah, blah, blah.

If you must use the newspaper then fire up Firefox browser, go to File and click on New Private Window. You will get a second browser page that looks almost identical to the first but it won't keep results of your browsing (such as cookies). Since most subscription-based sites offer a limited number of free accesses and keep cookies to tell when that access has been used this private browser does not record cookies and you can access the cookie tracking websites any number of times.

Personally, I have found newspapers useful only for in-depth reporting. If you only want the scores and don't need the whole background the TV sites are the way to go. For weather information specific to the national as a whole or right down to my local neighborhood I use Weather Underground (www.wunderground.com). It is a free site and can be customized for your locale.

I read the election results at the library this morning in the actual paper and now I can throw out that part of my actual paper. I need a base for my christmas tree and those pages would be ideal.

I know another secret which newspaper web sites wouldn't want you to know. Some don't allow this. My Internet at home is slow so when I first start on a day when the college library near my house is closed, I can read some short articles before the page has even turned gray. When I wanted to keep the text and print it out as part of a long email I send myself, to remove the white spaces and waste the least paper, I would copy and paste. I could do this in many cases before the page turned gray. In fact, I could even do it after the page turned gray. And it wored even when most of the page was covered by the box telling you to sign in.

But this works only for McClatchy papers. I don't know what happens with Warren Buffett papers but when I copy and paste the text I get the ntoice I need to sign in to read the rest, which only appears to those of us who copy and paste along with a bunch of other nonsense that has to be removed before printing.

Getting back on topic, as I watched the election results during "Selfie", Kay Hagan had a comfortable lead. So imagine my surprise when she lost. Thom Tillis wasn't even declared the winner until 11:30 so I don't know how my paper got the actual result. So much for early results being useful.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The icing on the cake was when someone actually complained about missing "Selfie" because of election reporting. That proved to me that I shouldn't over-estimate the intelligence of the American electorate.

But I didn't miss it. And it was pretty good. The poor girl has to learn how to cope without social media on her boss' ranch.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Complaining about election coverage pre-empting "Selfie"?

Please never vote.

I did, and I believe I made my choices intelligently. Well, except for some of the judges. I forgot what criteria I had used to select some of them.