[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Tax Cut Rally TV Coverage

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Speed Gibson:
Tax Cut Rally TV Coverage
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1241368918.shtml


   I recorded the four major Twin Cities television stations news
   broadcasts for the 24 hours following the 2009 Tax Cut Rally. First,
   thanks once again to KTLK, Minnesota Majority and the many other
   sponsors of this event, the best ever I think. My only complaint was
   that the lines were so long at the food booths that I had to settle
   for an ice cream treat. And no, cheese curds are not an option.
   Taking them in channel number order, channel 4 once again validated
   its "WDFL" moniker by spiking the story. We saw their truck, but
   apparently they were too busy covering their friends inside the
   Capitol. There was nothing on the events outside the building, not at
   5 pm, 6 pm, or 10 pm, nor on their 10 am Sunday broadcast.
   Channel 5 was the opposite, carrying it at 5 pm, 6 pm, 10 pm, and
   again on Sunday at 6 am and 8 am. Reporter Maggie Newland was on site,
   and on the air live at 5 and 6 pm during cleanup. The Saturday 5 pm
   (1:27) and 6 pm (1:20) were the longest, the rest about 1 minute each.
   I'll again say that KSTP-TV has the best local TV news, once again
   earning my trust.
   Channel 9 is a more modest operation, and had a full sports calendar
   that overlaid their normal Saturday 5:30 pm news and delayed their 10
   pm news by about 30 minutes. So I'll give them a pass for not covering
   the rally, this year anyway.
   Channel 11 gave it about 45 seconds on its 6 pm and 10 pm broadcasts.
   They have no Sunday morning shows. The 6 pm version was a bit
   troubling, showing the "spay" and "pimp" signs when there were so many
   good ones. One of them is now on my masthead above. But good as
   channel 5's coverage was, the KARE-11 10 pm broadcast did the best job
   of capturing the spirit of the rally. And let's also give them credit
   for any coverage. Channel 5 was the only station to cover it last
   year.
   I especially wanted to see the crowd size estimates. Two years ago,
   the obvious thousands present were presumed to be hundreds by WCCO-4
   and dozens by KARE-11. This year, only one broadcast each station made
   a guess, but they both said thousands this time, finally getting it
   right.