[Speed Gibson,
Sunday April 15, 2007 at 1:27pm]
Tax Cut Rally - TV Coverage
If and to what extent local TV newsrooms choose to cover events like Saturday's tax rally and the adjoining Sierra Club event is their business. But it's disconcerting to see how poor the coverage was. After all, how hard is it to get this story right? If you're taking the trouble to send cameras, why not take just a little more time to at least get the basic facts right.
Channel 4 only covered the rallies at 6 pm, nothing at 5 or 10 pm. Total time at 6 pm was 38 seconds, 8 seconds of general lead in, 13 seconds for the tax rally, 17 seconds for the Sierra Club event. The focus was on the potential conflict between the groups. No coverage of what was said at either event was provided. A clearly false statement by a Sierra Club organizer, that they were unaware of the tax rally, was aired, though they noted that the tax rally had booked it first in January. Attendance was said to be hundreds, with no breakout or suggestion that one was massive larger than the other.
Channel 5 had nothing at 5 PM either, and I couldn't record the 6 PM edition. But at 10 PM, there were 10 seconds of combined lead in, 49 seconds of the tax rally, then 23 seconds for the Sierra Club. The "combined" crowd was given as 5,000. The video was far and away the best, and KSTP clearly won best coverage in my book, even if they, too, missed the size mismatch.
Channel 9 at 9 PM split the coverage. Oddly, the small Sierra Club event coverage ran first, and got more time, 51 seconds to just 43 seconds for the tax rally. The video didn't give any size perspective, though they at least used the word "thousands" regarding the attendance. I suspect the Sierra Club will be happiest with KMSP's coverage.
Channel 11 at 10 PM snuck by with a quick 18 seconds for the tax rally, 10 for the Sierra club. It was one of those "reporter live in the newsroom" segments, with video in a background inset. They at least showed a few words from Rep. John Kline. A lot of coverage given that they said that "dozens" attended the rally. I kid you not, they said "dozens."
My point is not one of vanity, but of illustration. Here is an event that many of us bloggers attended, for the whole two hours, seeing the thousands, seeing the much smaller rally from the excellent vantage of the Capitol steps. We heard all the speeches, we saw the many public figures, like U.S. Reps. Kline and Bachmann, and several GOP legislators including Rep. Marty Seifert.
Later on TV, we see a general mischaracterization, not largely of bias really, for I suspect the Sierra Club isn't happy with their sparse coverage either. Perhaps it's just a manpower question, especially given it's a weekend. But limited manpower and a little bias can induce laziness, and that's the real problem here. So little additional effort was required to get this story - both stories - right.
It directly calls into question the accuracy and reliability of the rest of these broadcasts, where we have no direct experience to the contrary.
Channel 4 only covered the rallies at 6 pm, nothing at 5 or 10 pm. Total time at 6 pm was 38 seconds, 8 seconds of general lead in, 13 seconds for the tax rally, 17 seconds for the Sierra Club event. The focus was on the potential conflict between the groups. No coverage of what was said at either event was provided. A clearly false statement by a Sierra Club organizer, that they were unaware of the tax rally, was aired, though they noted that the tax rally had booked it first in January. Attendance was said to be hundreds, with no breakout or suggestion that one was massive larger than the other.
Channel 5 had nothing at 5 PM either, and I couldn't record the 6 PM edition. But at 10 PM, there were 10 seconds of combined lead in, 49 seconds of the tax rally, then 23 seconds for the Sierra Club. The "combined" crowd was given as 5,000. The video was far and away the best, and KSTP clearly won best coverage in my book, even if they, too, missed the size mismatch.
Channel 9 at 9 PM split the coverage. Oddly, the small Sierra Club event coverage ran first, and got more time, 51 seconds to just 43 seconds for the tax rally. The video didn't give any size perspective, though they at least used the word "thousands" regarding the attendance. I suspect the Sierra Club will be happiest with KMSP's coverage.
Channel 11 at 10 PM snuck by with a quick 18 seconds for the tax rally, 10 for the Sierra club. It was one of those "reporter live in the newsroom" segments, with video in a background inset. They at least showed a few words from Rep. John Kline. A lot of coverage given that they said that "dozens" attended the rally. I kid you not, they said "dozens."
My point is not one of vanity, but of illustration. Here is an event that many of us bloggers attended, for the whole two hours, seeing the thousands, seeing the much smaller rally from the excellent vantage of the Capitol steps. We heard all the speeches, we saw the many public figures, like U.S. Reps. Kline and Bachmann, and several GOP legislators including Rep. Marty Seifert.
Later on TV, we see a general mischaracterization, not largely of bias really, for I suspect the Sierra Club isn't happy with their sparse coverage either. Perhaps it's just a manpower question, especially given it's a weekend. But limited manpower and a little bias can induce laziness, and that's the real problem here. So little additional effort was required to get this story - both stories - right.
It directly calls into question the accuracy and reliability of the rest of these broadcasts, where we have no direct experience to the contrary.