Opinions On Eveything

So in the midst of the Terrell Owens story the other day the topic of the way news covers events etc etc came up. A poster basically thinks all news just tries to get people in a frenzy and as such has a huge mistrust and disdain for the news business in general. I can't disagree that the news media does this for some stories but i've always loved following the news and coverage of interesting events......


I remember as a little tyke i'd stay up and watch the local news. Well, it wasn't totally local. It seemed that I gravitated towards Buffalo's WGRZ. I grew up watching Rich Kellman doing the news, Ed Kilgore on sports and Barry Lillis doing the weather. At that time WGRZ was pretty good at covering the news and had a professional sheen to it despite being in the rust belt that is Western New York. I also watched WKBW and enjoyed the fine anchoring job of Irv Weinstein.

The CBS affiliate had THE best local anchor team and one of the most stable news teams i've ever seen. Carol Jasen and Bob Koop were the lead anchors for WIVB-TV from 1982 to 1992. They made a hell of a great team. Those in local news today should try to find tape of those two working together because they were professional yet warm and engaging personalities. Jacquie Walker and Rich Newberg joined in 1983 according to the info I have here and they were mainstays at WIVB for a LOONG time. In fact, Walker and Newberg amazingly still work for the station. Walker anchors the 5, 6 and 11 newscast while Newberg is the senior correspondent. It seems to me this station is one of the most loyal and tradition minded affiliates in the US. (but this is from very limited exposure)

Among other long timers:

Don Postles, (since '93)

Mylous Hairston, (joined in '90 as an anchor and has worked himself up to anchor of the weekend newscasts)

Don Paul (meteorologist, joined in 1984 and defected to WGRZ from '88-'91, has been with WIVB ever since)

Mike Cejka (meteorologist, joined in '83! and is currently the morning and lunchtime weather man)


So as you can see I grew up with a very experienced and well worked set of broadcasters. The Buffalo news scene has gone to the crapper since the late 1990s IMO tho. This can be attributed to a lot of things such as Buffalo being one of most depressed cities and general areas in the US these days. Still, there are some fine people working today so it's not like it's a total bust.

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As I grew up I became more in tune with the political side of news coverage. I watched a lot of CNN and I remember as early as 1988, my handicapping the presidential elections. One thing that doesn't get talked about a lot is that these people that work in news are just like me. They want to know what's going on in the world, they want to impart knowledge and at the same time to make those in power accountable for their actions. In the last 10-15 years hard news has taken a hit in favor of info-tainment which I find to be disgraceful. I don't think one can really cover the issues of the day with a clear bias one way or the other. (FOX news on the right and MSNBC on the left, CNN is center/left depending on the issue) It only serves to devalue the information given to the viewer. I mean, if you watch something that's mostly fitting your point of view then you're always going to hate other news sources because they're "biased" when the news you're watching is just as biased as anything else.

In a modern internet age one needs to read, listen and watch as much different sources of news coverage in order to get a clear picture of events. Unfortunately, many people don't have the time nor the willingness to do so. So to feeq (the poster who showed disdain for all media) and others I will provide a list of worthwhile and in many ways throwback news presentations that you should watch.

The Newshour with Jim Lehrer: This is news for the thinking person. I love it a lot for the simple fact that there is little to no hyperbole, subjects are dealt with in a timely manner and more often then not you'll hear from both sides of an issue. In an era where they give you information overload with a crawl on the bottom of the screen and talking heads talking all the time it's no wonder people feel jaded about the news business. The Newshour does a great job of taking issues in perspective and giving the issues of the day some serious discussion.

Anderson Cooper 360: Yes I know, AC 360 isn't exactly the most balanced news source. Anderson Cooper is the modern day version of Geraldo Rivera. The man just loves to make himself the center of attention. The show is obviously a mix of him wanting to do good in the world and a massive ego trip. So far, so bad right? Wrong, the show has evolved a lot since it first started. What started out as Anderson Cooper anchoring most of the show has become more of a shared role with John Roberts. I find that whenever Roberts is anchoring the show he does so in a very calm and dignified manner, conducts his interviews rather well and generally sticks to the harder news topics. In fact, I believe i've seen numbers that indicate the show has done better with Roberts at the helm. The actual news content of the show runs the gamut from speculation to muckraking in the best sense of the word with the "keeping them honest" segments. Overall, even though the show veers to the left at times it's generally a well done and well researched program.

Lou Dobbs Tonight: Oh boy...what can I say about Lou? At least he's consistently against MOST politicians. You can't call him left wing because he's the classic free market capitalist. His show isn't news per se. It's more of an opinion based newscast. There IS an agenda with the show but Lou doesn't hide it. He fights for America's borders, the middle class and for economic freedom in America. He generally holds great disdain for the Bush administrations handling of the war and the economy and generally he makes salient and common sense points. I've often heard from people that Lou Dobbs should actually run for president! I have to admit that would be very interesting because he just wouldn't fit with the parties in America today. So, while his show isn't news but more opinion it challenges the viewer to think things through and come up with their own conclusions. I rather like his take no prisoners approach to things and as long as he's true to himself then I don't mind it.

So those are three different news shows that takes wildly divergent takes on what is news, how to report it and the pace in which they do it in. Do these shows whip people up into a frenzy? Not really, there are times when Dobbs will stick to one issue and get some traction on it but mostly it's the same bunch of people watching the show. Do they misinform with badly reported stories? Hard to say, some of AC360 falls within the range of speculation so some things aren't totally concrete but most of the time they get their facts straight. Last but not least these shows all share one thing in common. They all want to be able to impart information and knowledge to the people and let them decide for themselves.

That's the truest way of doing the news.