WCCO Channel 4 News

I watched WCCO Channel 4 news on November 4 at 10:00 p.m. It was nothing short of painful. I don't typically watch the local news because it is so full of fluff and scare stories. I even recently cancelled my subscription to the Star Tribune because the newspaper is so similar in regard to irrelevant stories and superficial coverage. In general, I stick to the internet and major newspapers with a more national and international slant like The New York Times.

As for the actual broadcast, I had a difficult time keeping up with the pace of what I would consider "real" news. Each story was under 30 seconds and moved so quickly I hardly had time to jot down a note on what the story was about. In all, the newscasters covered 15 stories in 6 minutes, for an average of 24 seconds for each story. Really, how much detail can you get in 24 seconds? All that you can do is a quick headline, which is not really news.

The next group I tried to keep track of was a section I labeled "local stories." These were more in depth, but were typically focused on scare tactics and sensationalized stories. On the night I was watching, there were three stories like this: a family under foreclosure; a man very ill from lead found in his home; and a story about eight survivors of the 35W bridge collapse. These stories each had significantly more time devoted to them, averaging 2 minutes and 35 seconds for each one.

To review so far: 24 seconds for stories like U.S. aid to Pakistan under review versus 2 minutes, 35 seconds for lead found in a Minneapolis home.

The next section of the news was sports. I would have to say this is the only section of the news that had any type of positive angle to it. I am personally not a sports fan, so this section didn't mean a lot to me, but I actually appreciated the high school section. As Bri pointed out in our small group discussion in class, it is a nice place for kids to be highlighted; it seems an appropriate place for local coverage. However, with that said, it was 4 minutes and 15 seconds of the newscast and I think that might be a little much given how much is going on in the world and how little coverage was devoted to "real" news.

Next, weather. 4 minutes. I realize we live in Minnesota and weather is really important, but four full minutes? Perhaps we could skip ahead to the 5 day forecast. Isn't that all everyone wants anyway?

And now, the largest chunk of all...commercials. With 9 minutes 30 seconds, commercials were allotted the most time of the 30 minute broadcast. Perhaps this explains why the only in-depth reporting we get in our day is through public radio and public television which are not reliant on advertising to stay on the air. At least not yet.