Viewing log and analysis for local news

KARE-11 News

10:00 PM Broadcast
Monday, November 7, 2006
Viewing Log

Top Story: Decision 2006. Pre election coverage. Opening 1 minute, Democrats 1:O0:30 minutes, Republicans 1 minute, Independents 30 seconds
10:00-10:04

Poll: Governor and Senate race poll. Dems lead slightly in gov and by a wide margin and senate race. Discuss national Congressional control
10:04-10:05

Local News Story: Man Falls 30 Stories - dies
10:05-10:05:30

Local News Story: Crash shuts down 169 for 3 hours
10:05:30-10:06

Local News Story: St. Paul man arrested for molesting a 12 year old in a park in broad daylight
10:06-10:06:30

Local News: Mechanic strike
10:06:30-10:07

Short promo for Extra

Political ads: Not one ad that was not for or against a politician
10:07-10:10

Extra: Investigation on affects of dumping estrogen in water on fish. Response from government has been slow
10:10-10:18

Weather: Election day forecast
10:18-10:20

Teaser: Sports
10:20 – 10:20:30

Political ads: Again, all political ads – I’m getting nauseous by this time!
10:20:30-10:24

Sports: Wolves, Vikings, Athletes of the week
TEASER: Perk at play – I am getting sick!
10:24-10:27

Ads: All political ads
10:27-10:31

Perk at Play: Mind numbing and stupid drivel
10:31-sign off

Analysis
This newscast was a little different from most because it was broadcast the day before the election. The time the station devoted to the election was 5 minutes. They covered the race for governor, Senate, Congress, and some local races. They profiled some high profile people who were in town campaigning for candidates. There was little substance in the reporting. The station then reported on current polls and the race to gain control over Congress. However, the station sold over 9 minutes of this newscast to political parties for political ads. Both parties bought about equal time for ads and the station covered the Democrats and Republicans equally with brief mention of the Independents. It was striking that the station provided so little coverage for the Independence Party. Clearly the station gets much more money from the major parties so gives them more coverage.
There was no national news covered on this broadcast but the station covered 4 local stories, 2 stories that occurred that day and 2 follow-up stories. All 4 of these stories were covered in 2 minutes. The stories were factual and not fluff.
Then the political ads began. They were fairly balanced by party. Some were negative but many were “feel good” ads. The big guns were called in this night. An ad featuring Bill Clinton aired twice endorsing Mike Hatch. The Clinton ads appealed to voters who were democrats who may have been turned off by Hatch the last few days of the election. This told me that the Democrats were worried about Hatch’s chances to win the governor’s seat, given the events of the last week.
The “Extra” piece was 8 minutes of “Investigative Reporting.” It was a story about male fish that have been found to have developed eggs. This is due to high levels of the hormone estrogen that is being dumped in local lakes and river. This is important because fish are gateway animals and we may see that these contaminants have negative effects on mammals too. The government has been slow to respond to this issue, but is now investigating. Congress has gotten involved and the EPA will continue to look at the issue. This story clearly had been produced earlier and was a fill in piece. I wondered why the station put this story on the air on the eve of an important election. I watched this story to see if there was overt criticism of the Congress or local politicians to see if they might be trying to sway people to or away certain candidates, but that was not the case. It was just a boring filler story. I can imagine many people clicking away from this story.
The rest of the newscast was devoted to weather, sports, and a personality I just can’t stand to watch – Perk.
The newscast was dominated by males, even though there is a female anchor and a female weather person. Rick Kupchella was the reporter in the Extra and the male anchor did the majority of the news casting. The female anchor’s role was to ask wrap up questions of the reporters and provide banter as transitions were made. The anchors are attractive and the entire news team seems very capable. This particular night, while the news was far from hard hitting, it did not have the soft stories that hardly qualify as news. That was refreshing.