March 17, 2003

I’d forgotten to expand on the “walking” in my last news rant. Suffice it to say it’s not sufficient to report from inside an empty school hallway, but they have to walk down it? Have you ever seen European news. It’s just a guy talking at the newsdesk and maybe some footage when it adds to the story. Sigh.

And you were right on about the local angle crap. During the war in bosnia, I swear the local angle was that somebody in MN once saw it on the globe and wondered about it. - Scott

March 16, 2003

Remind me never to read the complaint corner before I go to bed, ‘cuz now I’m all fired up. Here are some more things that really tick me off about the local news.

Why the f*** is it a story every freekin’ april 15th that are taxes are due? Really? I’ve been doing this for a dozen freekin’ years and I need the local news to point out that there is a huge line of cars at the post office and there are only about 100 minutes left until they’re due, so if you’re not out here yet, you should hurry up. That is not news. I swear to god they could just re-run the canned piece from last year and nobody would notice. (hey, isn’t that coat last year’s fashion?) A similar story is university of Minnesota students moving into the dorm. Man oh man alive, how is that news that students are moving into a dorm on labor day weekend? Gah.

Another thing that ticks me off is the walking. More than that, just the whole presence factor. They send somebody out to be on the scene of a city hall where a vote took place THREE HOURS BEFOREHAND! What the f*** can the point of having a person right there mean? Or, in the case of a story of the cops catching somebody, they’ll be standing LIVE outside the police station, even though there is absolutely nothing happening at the police station at that point. Do we need to be reminded of what a police station looks like? I watched a report once of a kidnapping at a Menards, and the video portion of the story was all these weird angle shots of the door, the Menards sign, the Open sign, people coming in and out, the parking lot, and none of them added anything to the story. The next time you watch the news, watch for this hypnotic-type crap that makes you sit there and vegetate. - Scott

March 15, 2003

My complaint isn’t the local news itself, but the fact that so much of our populous actually watches that crap. The news would be better if people really wanted to watch news that made them better citizens. Don’t even get me started on that Extra crap. It’s not news as much as it is a way for a local business/organization/whatever to market themselves. Or how about that patter those idiots always engage in? This complaint isn’t even as well organized as the news, so I’ll stop. Damn, I hate the local news. - Scott

March 14, 2003

Does anyone else get frustrated with the local news?

First, they are completely shameless in the promotion of the 10:00 news? "See how your life is at risk every time you step in your home... tonight at 10:00". What? If my life really is at risk, maybe you could please tell me now. It's worse when it turns out to be some convoluted combination of electrical/plumbing accidents set off by one of your pets that affects one in 100 million homes. Thanks.

Second, how about some real news? Why give me only five minutes on how our country is about to go to war or a plane crash that kills hundreds and then 15 minutes on new techniques for making apple cider and why everyone loves Girl Scout cookies (maybe because they're tasty?).

Third, I don't always need a local angle. If a girl is kidnapped in California, you don't need to interview a random local woman just because she happens to be the mother of a child as well (what a coincidence!). The "it would be terrible if it happened to me" is really not that insightful. I guess it only becomes bonafide news once a Minnesota accent is involved. Believe is or not... I might even want to hear an international story once in awhile. Who would ever want to know about a Nobel Peace Prize winner in Russia when you could find out how some gal won employee of the week as the superintendent of local school district 792?

Finally, and this is a bit more specific, but could they organize the weather portion a bit better? The first 3 minutes is always bragging about their latest, live, up-to-the-minute, Doppler, ultraviolet, infrared radar. Who cares what the animated cloud coverage looks like right now in fancy blues, greens and reds? The next 6 minutes are then devoted to the weather earlier today (temp, wind, humidity, dew point, precipitation, whatever). Guess what, I lived today and experienced the weather... I don't need the full minute-to-minute recap. I was there. Then, the last minute is the upcoming weeks predictions. Attention meteorologists... this is all I care about. I only watch the weather to see if I need a heavy coat tomorrow or can play some broomball on Saturday. There, now you know.

I'm sure I've got more complaints... some maybe life threatening... but sorry... tonight at 10:00. - Pat

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