Week 9: News Analysis

Madison, WI Local News on NBC 15 http://www.nbc15.com/

I reviewed the 6:00 evening news on 3/30/07


Regular Staff
Anchors: John Stoffet and Becky Hillier
Meteorologist: David George
Sports: Mike Jaques


This evening the staff included John Stoffet without a co-anchor, Michelle Riell for weather and Michael Rigsby for sports.

• 2 min. Home Invasion: A Report by Melissa Wollering

There is evidence a UW employee stole chemicals from the lab where he works to use for his crimes. This included courtroom coverage as well as shots of the neighborhood in which the invasion took place.

• 30 sec. Koepp Pleads Guilty: Anchor

A drunk driver, who killed three, was sentenced for drunk driving (murder charges still pending).

• 30 sec. Dad Poisoned Son, Killed Himself: Anchor

Found in a MN hotel room; pictures of both the father and son.

• 30 sec. Burglary Suspects: Anchor

Three people were arrested for breaking into several area businesses. Included pictures of suspects.

• 1 min., 30 sec. Bus Drivers Earning Top Pay: Report by Zac Schultz

Madison Metro bus drivers are among the top paid city workers; five earn over $88,000 and two earn over $100,000 (more than the mayor and fire chief). Footage included buses driving around town as well as an interview with the Metro Transit G.M.

• 30 sec. Madison Water Utility: Anchor

Too much chlorine was found in an area well and needed to be de-chlorinated. Pictures of the Madison Water Utility building and the workers inside.

• 30 sec. UW Research Study: Anchor

A UW research study on deteriorating vision found that stem cells implanted in the retina can slow down deterioration. There were photos of an eye and lab workers as well as an interview with David Gamm, Asst. Prof. of Opthamology.

• 30 sec. Department of Health and Family Services: Anchor

A grant was offered to provide dental care to low income residents in southwest WI. There were clips of people clapping, a group of people holding a large check as well as a speaker, the Health Director, discussing a lack of dental care in those counties.

• 30 sec. Preview before commercial (previewed two stories and the weather)

• 1 min. Child Abuse Prevention: Anchor

April is Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The Dane County Commission on Sensitive Crimes is going to place pinwheels at the Alliant Energy Center to represent reported victims each year. Footage of the meeting and an interview with Brenda Nelson, director of Safe Harbor.

• 30 sec. Local Cyclists Get New Place to Ride: Anchor

A new bridge for bikes and pedestrians has been completed in Cambridge, WI. The bridge is over a creek in Cam-Rock Country Park. Pictures of the bridge.

• 30 sec. Local 4th Grader Awarded $1000 scholarship for growing a nine pound cabbage: Anchor

Footage of the winner getting her award; also, pictures of her with the cabbage.

• 15 sec. Preview before commercial (sports and weather)
• 3 minutes Weather: Michelle Riell

The weather was mainly focused on the local forecast, but briefly talked about the tornadoes in Texas as well as the forecast in neighboring states for travellers.

• 15 sec. Preview before commercial (sports)
• 4 min. Sports: Michael Rigsby (Brewers report previously taped by Mike Jaques)

UW Badgers women's basketball made it to the NIT championship game. Footage of the team playing as well as a follow up on their opponent, Wyoming. Texas freshman Kevin Durant was AP player of the Year in Men's basketball. Lastly, a lengthy Brewers preview, with an interview with the G.M as well as with a couple players. Footage from past games.

• 10 sec. Rehash: Anchor, weatherperson and sportscaster

All three together at the anchor's desk, rehashing the weather and Brewers. Then, a thank you.

Personal Reflection

I’ve never had to keep a viewing log of a 30 minute news show, and after the first five stories, I was not happy to see that I still had 25 minutes to go. I rarely watch the news on television; I tend to get my news by reading the newspaper or by reading the news online. My husband and I also have a subscription to Newsweek, which I like to read for national news and more in depth stories.

There was absolutely no coverage of the war in Iraq, or any other national news, nor was there any coverage of the upcoming Tuesday elections. I was also disappointed to see there was no coverage of this year’s pending layoffs and school closings due to budget cuts in the Madison Metropolitan School District. The stories were all pretty short in length, and were of local interest. The longest segments were for weather and sports, and those also focused on local weather and local sports teams, respectively.

From the news offered on this evening’s program, I would say that this news station does not cater to people interested in national news. Perhaps the station feels viewers get their national news from other sources, or perhaps the audience has indicated a preference to hearing about local stories. Or, maybe it was a slow Friday and much of the regular staff had already left for spring break, leaving others scrambling to fill in the time.

Week 8: Advertising

For this week’s assignment I decided to look at the ads in the most recent issue of US WEEKLY. Based on the contents of this weekly magazine, I would suggest the target audience would be anyone interested in celebrity gossip. However, when looking at the ads more closely, I think the major audience of US WEEKLY must be women between the ages of 18-40. The ads in this magazine were mainly for beauty products, weight loss products and television programs on Bravo and Showtime.

The first ad that caught my eye was an ad for Aveeno POSITIVELY AGELESS Rejuvenating Serum. At the top of the page are three close-up pictures of the faces of three different women. The women are all pretty, white, smiling and appear to be in their 30s, maybe 40s. Right underneath the pictures, in bold print is the statement and question: “Everyone ages differently. Does your skincare know that?”. Underneath that large bold print is smaller bold print describing this product: “Introducing the first self-adjusting serum for your unique skin”. Then, in smaller text in the middle of the page, there is a more detailed description of the ingredients (contains shiitake mushrooms, “…long believed to enhance vitality and slow aging”), qualities of this product, as well as some statistical evidence to prove its worth: “73% of women saw reduced lines and wrinkles in just 4 weeks”.

This Aveeno ad relates to discourse of femininity and beauty, and is playing on our insecurites associated with beauty and aging. To be beautiful is to look young, and we will only be beautiful with smooth, wrinkle-free skin if we buy this product.

When reading this week’s chapter on advertising, I was most struck by the amount of advertising of alcohol in programs geared towards adolescents. I was especially surprised that “All of the 15 most popular shows for adolescents had alcohol ads” and “…adolscents were 93 times more likely to see an ad promoting alcohol than an industry ad discouraging underage drinking” (Beach, 2007).

I decided to do a spoof on alcohol awareness/prevention ads that so often use celebrities. I choose Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie for the beginning since they have both received DUIs. I then chose Lindsay Lohan since she is only 20 years old, but she has been a staple at popular clubs for years and she’s already been to rehab. Lastly, I chose Britney Spears, for her well-publicized post-pregnancy, post-divorce partying and more recently, her stint in rehab. View my spoof at jumpcut:

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=1F34343EDAE611DBAB00000423CF0184

Week 7: Genre Assignment

Satirical Television News Programs

My favorite part of Saturday Night Live has always been "The Weekend Update". I always found it to be the most consistently funny and socially relevant part of the show. When Comedy Central began airing The Daily Show and more recently, The Colbert Report (both Ts are silent), I became an immediate fan. Like "The Weekend Update", I find The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to discuss the daily news in a biting and entertaining manner, which I find quite amusing and often educational. It’s great to know that I will always laugh out loud as well as learn something every time I watch one of those shows. Therefore, my choice of genre for this week’s assignment is the satirical news show.

For those of you unfamiliar with these programs, comedycentral.com desribes The Daily Show as "…a reality-based look at news, trends, pop culture, current events, politics, sports and entertainment with an alternative point of view" and The Colbert Report as "What The Daily Show is to evening news, The Colbert Report is to personality-driven pundit shows. Colbert brings his sarcastic charm to a half-hour report, tackling the important issues of the day and telling his guests why their opinions are just plain wrong" (comedycentral.com, 2007).

I tried to go through the Formalist/Structuralist approach as described in Beach’s book (and website) to describe the typical format of these satirical news shows.

Roles: Anchor and correspondents.

Settings: News station studio (but in front of a live audience) with occasional clips of interviews and correspondents reporting "at the scene".

Imagery and Symbols: The anchors and correspondents are always dressed professionally, usually in suits. The anchor sits behind a large desk. Often the colors red, white and blue are used in the studio, perhaps to convey patriotism.

Plot/Storyline: The shows follow similar formats of what we would normally see on an evening news show. The anchor tells us about national and world news, sometimes there are stories about pop culture and fads and sometimes there are taped interviews and reports from correspondents. The one major difference in these satirical news shows is that, unlike the typical evening news show, there is always a live interview between the anchor and a special guest.

Themes/Value Assumptions: These shows comment on many social and political issues and are often critical of the ways in which the mainstream media reports the news.

Apparently, with the popularity of The Daily Show, and the hits conservatives tend to take on it, Fox has recently started airing a satirical news show of its own, called 1/2 Hour News Hour. I don’t watch Fox news and just recently heard about this show, so I haven’t had the chance to review it. Unfortunately, Fox’s website doesn’t offer any information about the show or the characters. I’ve read mixed reviews of this show on the internet, and based on these initial reviews, it doesn’t look like this show will be as popular as The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. But I could be wrong…