Analyzing the Local News

Kare 11 News on Friday, November 5, 2010 at 6:00 PM

Breakdown of Stories and Time of Coverage: Stories are listed as they appeared on the program

60 seconds: governor ballot race recount--description of how the recount is done, how many tables are there, who sits where, how long it will take, etc.

35 seconds: Ramsey robbery: employee of US Bank was ambushed at her home and was forced to drive to her work and help the robbers rob the bank. This is the third time the robbers have done this. There is a $100,000 reward from US Bank if the perpetrators are found

40 seconds: girls being molested and invited into stranger’s cars. Young girl was asked if she wanted any money at a Kowalski’s market from an older man--fifth time such an event has happened in past few months- Warning to girls: do not go out in public alone!

25 seconds: pastor charged for sexual assault

20 seconds: quick recap of Mankato homicide case

65 seconds: Blue Cross Blue Shield employees got the day off from work as they were cleaning out the dead leaves from lakes--description of how dead leaves cause algae, etc.

40 seconds: Tinuccis buffet offering a discounted buffet in honor of Randy Moss--if you bring his jersey you get to eat for free--response his criticism of the restaurant in post news conference

1 minute discussion of what it still to come

3 minutes of commercials

30 seconds: deer hunting--starts this weekend and should be successful as most of corn crop has been cut

3 minutes: Grow with Kare: description of how to find seeds and plant them yourself--putting them in a pot or in your own backyard--but don’t take them from the Arboretum like on TV, only they can do that!

1 minute discussion of what is still to come

3 minutes of commercials

3 minutes: weather--full description of what expected temperatures are for right now, description of past years at this time, what weather to expect, daylight savings time, explanation of air movements and how it will affect forecast--beautiful weather this weekend to get out and enjoy (although sun will go down very early but it is a compromise)

5 minutes of Sports--Vikings/Childress--job in jeopardy, high school football and what games will be on the Kare11 affiliates, Gopher hockey/interview with injured hockey player--question of perseverance and working though the pain

1 minute of still to come and what will be coming this weekend

4 minutes of commercials

45 seconds: executive chef talking about healthy eating habits when he visits elementary school

1 minute of banter and salutations

Breakdown of Time Devoted to Content Areas

5 minutes of local news--all in beginning of program

5 minutes of consumer feature stories: planting seeds, eating healthy, cleaning leaves, etc. banter

3 minutes of weather

5 minutes of sports

10 minutes of commercials

3 minutes of previews of what is still to come

Taking a Hard Look at the News: My Analysis of the Kare 11 News

Before analyzing the news program that I watched, I think that it is important to look at who the program is intended for. In order to understand how the news fulfills its role it is essential that we understand what exactly its role is. What is the purpose of the news? Who is its audience?

Very broadly, the main function of the news is to inform. Journalism as a whole is meant to be a mediator between the public sphere and the private. As citizens of a democracy, we are supposed to be involved and knowledgeable about the government. It is our job to vote for representatives and legislation that we believe will benefit our country as a whole. However, as everyday citizens we do not have access to the public sphere. We must rely on a third party for information. We must rely on the media.

The local news is the most accessible and immediate form of the media. The local news also has the function of building a sense of camaraderie among its citizens, as it is able to bring a community together each and every day and focus their discussion on issues that are pertinent to the community. Because television news is easily accessible, it becomes the most immediate news outlet. Audiences who are disengaged or uninterested in the media are most likely to stumble across the television program. Thus, the local news has to work to create interest. They have to keep that wandering citizen on the channel. The local news becomes the outlet for instilling a public interest into the private. They become the media that works to create a sense of citizenship into the community. Once their audience has that sense of citizenry, they can then seek out their own news as well.

As I was watching the news, however, I noticed how the functions of the program often adversely affected one another in their execution. For instance, I noticed the news program’s attempts at creating interest. They spent a great deal of time discussing what was to come and presenting it in an exciting matter and tone. They also worked very hard to insert jokes and banter within the news, in order to create a more casual and fun appeal. Instead of bombarding the viewers with hard news programs that require interest and knowledge to understand, the news program spent a great deal of time discussing soft news. They looked at things like how dead leaves cause algae, eating healthily, or good deals at local buffets. Soft news is much more immediate to the viewers, as it is clearly evident how this information relates to the viewers. Viewers know that a good deal at a local buffet means that they can eat there cheaply. But what does information about a ballot race mean to them? Why does that information matter? This information is not as readily received and can lose the interest of the viewers.

Keeping the interest of the viewers is a controversial and multi-dimensional concept. On the one hand, it is important for the program to keep interest in their viewers in order to get them to listen to what they have to say. The program has to make its viewers tune in if they are to inform them. On the other hand, the program is also a commercial entity. They want to attract viewers not necessarily to keep them interested so that they can inform them about the public issues, they also want them to tune in so that they can make money and continue airing their program. The commercial aspects of journalism make their social function much more murky and complicated.

As a citizen who is not as informed as I should be, I was very disappointed in the program. It is highly likely that if a citizen was to go to only one place for news, they would go to their local news program. Yet, if they were to go to only this program, they would leave knowing very little about the news. While only a few minutes of the program was even dedicated to issues of the public sphere, the issues that were discussed were only glanced over. The program simply introduced the subject, showed some pictures, and the moved on. For a viewer like myself who does not have any background information, I was not given enough to even know what the issue was. I was left bewildered instead of educated. I couldn’t even gather enough information to jot down what the story was about, let alone make an informed decision about how I feel about the issue or what should be done.

It could be argued that the news program is meant to provide an overview of the important issues so that citizens can know what the issues are and seek out their own information. However, there are two problems with this argument. First off, I do not believe that the program even granted enough time to the issues for viewers to know enough to even begin to establish how they feel or where to seek more information. They do not know enough to know what they want to know. Secondly, I do not believe that most viewers who watch the news will go to other sources for information. Watching the news is a ritual activity. It is something that is done while getting ready in the morning or cooking dinner. It is the perfect opportunity to catch people who may not otherwise engage with journalism. Yet by skimming over the issues, they are missing out on this opportunity.

I believe that the local news program needs to be the source of background information. The program spends a great deal of time toward creating a connection with its viewers. They have the same anchors who joke around with each other and introduce their families. The news works to build trust and a sense of community. Because of this, they are the perfect outlet for the role of teacher. If citizens are going to trust their local news program, then they are more likely to listen to them. If the program went into depth with the issues, giving the viewers background information, they might build more interest in their viewers as citizens would begin to understand why they should even care. I’m not saying that there is not a place for soft news. It is the soft news that attracts. However, it is the hard news that should be the point of attraction.

Taking a Critical Look at the News: A Matching Activity

When teaching my students how to look at the news critically, I would want them to understand two things. First I would want them to be able to understand what function the news serves. I would want them to be able to compare the functions of the local television news and other forms of news such as CNN, radio programs, newspapers, internet articles, etc. For every piece of news that they analyze, I would ask them to list as many functions or purposes that media outlet performs or should live up to, according to a democratic setting or society. This would be done before the actual viewing. I would then have the students write these functions down on the left hand side of their paper.

As they watch the news, they would write down the storylines and the techniques that they notice the news focusing on. For instance, if the news went over how to carve a pumpkin, they would simply write this idea down. If they noticed that the news used a lot of pictures or interviews, this could be recorded as an observation as well.

Finally after they are done watching the program, I will ask them to draw lines matching the left side with the right side. All of the items on the right do not have to be connected to something, nor do the items on the left have to have a match. However, students should think critically about how the two sides might match or perhaps contradict each other.

After the students have matched the sides, they should write a short reflective piece analyzing how and why they decided to match different ideas. Here, they could also add different functions that they saw the news serving that were not listed. They should look at why these were not listed and why they seemed to be priorities of the program. This should lead to a group discussion about the economic function and influence of journalism.