Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: news

Altered Egos

Well! What a shock at ten o’clock! Familiar news music, entirely new graphics on KOTV Channel 6. Change is difficult for everyone, and there will be critics – but here is a list of what is great about their new approach.

They kept the music. Not that it’s special, necessarily…but maintaining that familiarity keeps a continuity with the past and eases the burden on viewers who are disinclined to having their product tinkered with.

Sacred cows have been brought down.

No more of that foolish “Asking questions – so you’ll know more” label. I’m not sure they were even the right questions.

Tradition. News has always been this way. Why? Who says the old way is the best way? Since the 50’s it has always been an anchor at the desk, who introduces a reporter out somewhere with a microphone, who introduces the subject of the news item, who says a sentence or two. The reporter is shown again with the microphone clutched to the chest for the close, followed by the pompous identification and newscast-slugline.

The new format tosses aside much of the old tradition. Graphics introduce some of the stories with an anchor voiceover. Straight to the news video. No opening standup. The best part? Multiple clips from the news subject to emphasize points. The package-style has been altered. For the better. Tera Vreeland voiced a package without a single on-camera appearance. (Ironically, she is one of the few who professionally delivers news without affectation. Meanwhile, Chris Wright was seen with his standard pompous closer.)

The weather and sports had minor changes. They could have been shaken up for the better, but any start is something.

Television news has been mired in routine for decades (and radio even longer). The sameness has been disguised by new and powerful graphic capabilities. Sort of like opening a can of chocolate frosting and spreading a thick layer over an old moldy layer cake. Who wants a bite of that? They’re baking it up new at KOTV and even if the recipe needs a dash of this or that – it’s certainly a fresh visual treat.

No News is Good News?

This bulletin just in to the local newsdesk. CBS is planning to air a program called Survivor: Nicaragua. It isn’t a new show. It isn’t a new idea. A new setting and cast maybe.

Why does it merit coverage on the local news program?

The average newscast has about seventeen minutes to report everything that happens, once the commercials, sports, weather, and happy talk are subtracted. Last night we got a forty-five second promotion for the next night’s primetime offering instead of news. (I’m sorry, but being old school, I don’t count Survivor: Nicaragua‘s debut as news.)

I’m also crusty enough that I don’t consider what other people are thinking about the news as news either. (This blog – OBVIOUSLY – isn’t news. Just an opinion.) Another news item was knocked off the broadcast so we could all hear Soonermom’s thoughts about singing the national anthem at OU games. Important stuff. And it isn’t enough to hear only her feelings on the subject. We’ve got to wait while the anchor reads the deeply held beliefs on the subject from three or four other viewers who ran to the computer and submitted through the internet. Letters to the editor, modern style.

After every second or third news item, the anchor explains that you can get the rest of the story on the internet. Why bother turning on the television? There isn’t enough time on the newscast to include the news, because time must be allowed for showing the anchorpeople riding in parades or judging chili-cookoffs. And extra time has to go to that perennial top story, in which the Department of Transportation spokesman stands out in the windy construction zone explaining once again that the expressways are under construction.

News flash… We know that already. Not new. Not news.

Whew! I feel ten pounds lighter after airing that rant. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Broadcast news that is truly entertaining: