I don't know if this is unique to the Bay Area or more than a regional
phenomenon, but KPIX, the local CBS affiliate has an absolutely dreadful
11:00 newscast. The glammed-up host (I refuse to call her an anchor),
hasn't been at the station that long, but still has the broadcast named
after her ("The Late News with Sara Donchey") and is dressed as though
she's going to a lower-grade nightclub. (When a female subs for her, the
dress code is the same, but when it's a male, they're in the standard
business suit and tie.)
The show is usually extremely light on actual "news," preferring to
concentrate on stories like (and this is no exaggeration) 10 minutes on a
reporter who climbed the superstructure of a ship wearing a 3-D camera that
viewers could connect to online, a long feature on a cricket game (where
literally dozens of people were in the stands) and a series of long feature
on a baseball team in Oakland full of players who aren't skilled enough to
make it in organized ball (and whose games the station coincidentally shows
on Friday nights). The sports guys are equally bad, either shouting through
their truncated segments, acting as homers for the local teams, or doing
long puff-pieces for them. (They devoted the whole half-hour to Willie
Mays's death, but I gave them a pass on that, even though they really
didn't give any insight or context about his life and career. It was a lot
of repeated clips and interviews with locals saying "Willie was awesome.")
"If it's so awful, why do you watch?," I hear you ask. The reason is that
the two weather guys are really good and informative. They are hampered by
working on a 3D virtual model of the Bay Area that really doesn't add value
but they tell me what to expect the following day.
I've been awfully tempted to criticize Ms. Donchey in broader fora, but am
actually hampered by her grandmother being a friend of mine.
I don't want to get all "in my day" about it, but when I was growing up in
LA, I could watch any of the local late newscasts -- well, maybe not KABC
-- and come out with a reasonable sense of what had happened in the world
that day. After watching this show, the best I can do with KPIX is to see a
story about people drinking at a local brewpub.
Are there similar "newscasts," or are we just lucky here?
--Dave Sikula
On Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 9:33:07 AM UTC-7 Kevin M. wrote:
> De-emphasizing content in favor of catchy visual elements
>
>
> https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/cbs-news-24-7-streaming-whip-around-debut-1236048681/
>
> I was going to school up in Washington in the 1990s when they debuted the
> “out of the box” format. For the uninitiated, out of the box was when
> anchors stood instead of sat, because standing gives viewers a greater
> sense of urgency/immediacy. After about six months there was a legitimate
> breaking news story, and the standing anchors looked dazed and confused as
> they walked aimlessly/directionless through the newsroom, so instead of
> urgency viewers felt lost and disoriented.
>
> Ultimately journalism is about informative storytelling. I don’t know that
> a wall of jumbled images from around the world will lead to better stories
> being told.
>
> Kevin M. (RPCV)
>
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