Week 9 Reading the Local News

Fox 9 News at 9 Thursday April 31

9:00 H1N1 Virus
9:06 Uof M “Threat of Violence” A typed note was found in a West Bank building warning of a 6pm shooting. Cop quoted saying, “sounds like a good way to get out of a test.”
9:09 Chrysler files for bankruptcy. Obama speaks on the issue.
9:09 DOW Jones down
9:10 Chrysler – Fiat cars. Economical little things are coming to America.
9:10 Secretary of Defense and Hillary Clinton shown asking for increased military funding.
9:11 Someone has cut down “the honking tree”
9:12 Coming up on Fox 9 at 10!

Commercial Break:
Papa Murphy’s
ALDI Grocery Store
Herberger’s
9:15 Somali Pirates. Captain Richard Phillips, who was rescued by NAVY Seals, speaks on the issue – so does John Kerry. Solution seems to be to allow armed forces on board ship.
9:17 Health: 2+ hours/day screen time for young people leads to decreased mental health.
Health: 1/10 people are eating more since the economic downturn.
9:18 Foreclosure bill fails.
9:19 Block clubs help combat crime in South Minneapolis
9:24 Coming Up!

Commercial Break:
American Family
Better Homes and Gardens
Southwest Airlines
Seasonal Concepts
Applebee’s

9:25 During a parade in Netherlands, a car hits a monument
Building collapse in New York
Engine cuts out on a plane with 777 passengers.
9:26 Up next!

Commercial Break:
Capitol 1
Kohl’s
Taco John’s
Education MN
Slumberland
Rainbow

9:30 MN mission stays in Mexico despite H1N1 virus
9:32 Email SPAM that leads to computer viruses
9:33 Weather: tornado in TX. Cool!
Heavy rain and storms in South and Southeast
Wind “use extra strength hair spray
Temp
Forecast: “mild up” warmer wetter
Meteorologist walk for animals
9:39 New FBI office in Brooklyn Center
Macalaster College holding a “Poetry-a-thon” 15 minute shifts of The Aeneid in English and Latin

Commercial Break
Arby’s
Seiben, Gross, Von Holtum, Carey
Toyota
Pawn America
Qwest
Iowa

9:45 Unemployment claims drop but number of people on assistance higher than ever
Challenging for students to get jobs right now – Resume+References+Persistance
9:47 Intoxilizer Software
British Army exits Iraq
9:48 Woman says her father is the Zodiac killer
9:50 Rail system needs repair
9:51 Obama blows horn at wounded soldier bike ride
Giant tortoise on the loose in Harlem
9:52 Up Next! Barbie Gone Wild!

Commercial Break
Farmer’s Insurance
Empire Carpet
Education MN
American Express
9:57 Tattoo Barbie – has Barbie gone too far?
9:59 Up next! On Fox 9 News at 10!


Reflection:

Visual Sensationalization
My experience watching Fox news reminds me of why I don't pay for cable and never watch TV. The first thing I noticed about watching the news was the little Fox 9 thing in the lower left of the screen which has a "top" that spins around with the time then the temperature, then the time again. The constant screen movement was ah-noying. During the in-between time when they introduce the anchors with blue graphic objects and shiny, red, moving backgrounds, I felt like they were trying to make a nothing constantly into a something... which I would continue to feel throughout the hour.

How much can we cover without really covering anything?
I would like to point out that the longest segment of the news was weather, which lasted a whole six minutes. There was more time spent hyping the upcoming Barbie story than there was time spent on actually presenting it.

Worthy content? There was some, but the news left me wanting more. I had not heard of this Somalian pirate thing before today, but it sounded to me like the issue may have large implications for military law and international waters policies.... potentially a really big deal. But from the news, I only got two minutes of information which, without further thought, conveyed only "There's some pirates. Yes pirates. Here's John Kerry and Hillary Clinton again." Giving a full explanation and background piece on this subject would have been worth the time.

Unworthy content? A car in a parade in the Netherlands hits a monument. Really? A giant tortoise in on the loose in Harlem. Really? Is this news? And the finale piece was about whether it was appropriate for Barbie to get fake tattoos of flowers and butterflies. Doesn't this just perpetuate a stereotype that tattoos mark "bad" people? Why should this be controversial? One report asked a teen, "What if they came out with peircing Barbie?" Yeah, what if. Then there would be a piercing Barbie, that's what... big deal. And while I love poetry... The Aeneid-a-thon?

Presentation
Besides being visually over-stimulating and verbaly over-dramatic, there were a few moments where I wondered if the presentation of reports wasn't rather white-suburban. For example, during the piece about block clubs that are helping cut down on crime, there were a few moments where the reporter narrated words like "increased crimes rates" or "South Minneapolis has been known in its past for neighborhood distrurbances." With these key phrases, the camera would cut to a film clip shot from the ground showing very hip-hop style black men walking away from the camera. Creating a paranoia about black culture? What do you think? This piece was a whole four minutes, the second longest segment of the news, but frankly I couldn't report to you a THING about what the actual block clubs are DOING to reduce crimes rates.

Commercials
Oh-so suburban middle class. Education. Applebee's. Slumberland. The grocery store.

Summary
Fox 9 tries to make a big deal out of stuff that isn't and doesn't provide enough information on key issues for an audience to form an educated opinion. At the best, it presents a bunch of stuff in a rapid-fire manner that may spark further research later on.