th0m
Beechwold
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So, I have had this preconceived opinion to summarize the local news broadcasts, and I was wondering what your opinions might be?
NCB4 - Intelligent, specific, liberal-ish
ABC6 - Fear mongering, talks down to the audience, conservative
10TV - Simple, no-BS, tries to find clarity
Of course a great idea would be to sample the Closed Captioning and use some kind of word count stats to try find an (actual) objective viewpoint, unlike my biases above :P
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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nbc4 has lately gotten into a really annoying predictable pattern of behavior.
They run an "OMG THIS is how they're spending YOUR moneyz!!1!" promo for a story. Then they have footage from where they sent (usually) Mike Bowersock out to do the story...
and by the end it turns out to be not actually outrageous at all or was a cost that is incurred to end up saving money over a period of a time and Mike ends up the story with his voice in his patented "but everything is ok after all" mode of speech and the story just kind of... peters out.
They LOVE doing these about police overtime (which, by the end of the story we find out ends up saving money in general).
I'm really not sure I've ever identified any really clear concrete examples of biases in the stations with the exception of the two Sinclair stations in one regard, which they appear to have stopped doing after the last presidential election (but I rarely watch the Sinclair news so perhaps they sometimes still do). For a long time, when all of the other outlets were reporting on military activity in Iraq, common usage (with most everyone) was "the war in Iraq". However, these two stations used the phrase "the war on terror" to refer specifically to military activities in Iraq. It's splitting a hair, but it's important linguistically as this was an administration 'talking point' at the time.
th0m
Beechwold
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That has been the most striking thing to me too about Sinclair. They also used to (maybe still do?) have a rather over the top conservative commentator on programs.
The term that I was always enamored with while these sorts of Rove shenanigans where in their hay-day was the concept of code switching. For instance at work I may say "Hello, how are you?" but elsewhere, and with different groups of people I just may say "Howdy?" but there are much grander examples. Anyway, I think this sort of switch of language is a "signal" that "these people" agree with your viewpoints.
I guess the same thing could be said for liberalism. I may gloss over heavy-handed bleeding heart stuff if a writer mentions Chomsky or something :P
But, these kinds of signals do eventually sort of make me sick to my stomach. Very much so Sinclair here in town, but as much as I love her, I get it from Rachel Maddow... she's awesome, but often I'm just like, "well, of course she'd say that" but I mean she is insightful, too.
I really wonder if liberals will rival the kind of brainwashing with words that Rove perfected, or maybe I'm too steeped in it to see it.
TheyCallMeTBone
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Say something bad about Yolanda Harris and I will CUT YOU.
Seriously, when I watch news it's ABC6 and I don't feel it overly conservative nor do I feel talked down to.
TheyCallMeTBone
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Come again? Your hilarity went over my head.
You must be one of those superior life forms that I hear populate this 'internet'.
th0m
Beechwold
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I feel that way, I really do. Often when they talk about about crimes, instead of saying "committing such a crime carries a sentence of ..." they instead say "if YOU are caught doing XXX you could be sent to jail for ..." at least, that was something that stuck out in my head one time when I watched them :P
Mister Shifter
Lewis Center
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TheyCallMeTBone wrote >>
Say something bad about Yolanda Harris and I will CUT YOU.
I went to a show at the Funny Bone, got there early and staked out a nice table towards the front with a couple of friends. Yolanda came in as the show was starting, started making a stink to the manager about there being no good seats left and they "kindly" asked me to get up and move because the table was "reserved" for Yolanda and her girlfriends. I can't stomach watching her to this day.
Mister Shifter
Lewis Center
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Long story, they pretty much made me and I didn't want to make a huge scene in the middle of the opening act. I haven't gone back to the Funny Bone since. It was total bullshit.
th0m
Beechwold
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I'd just like to add that I don't necessarily think ill of Sinclair personalities unless they know of such verbal manipulation going on with their news program. :P But I dunno, they're just people, and if I was in the same boat, I'd probably play whatever card I had. I play the supposedly unbiased pseudo-intellectual card every chance I can get :P
0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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Back in the 80’s I worked in University City shopping center and was getting some McDonald’s on my lunch break. Cabot Rea walked to the front of the long line and said to an older woman “You don’t mind, do you?†and ditched everyone else. I’m on the same page as Mister Shifter. If it doesn’t, the world SHOULD revolve around talking heads...
TheyCallMeTBone
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Mister Shifter wrote >>
Long story, they pretty much made me and I didn't want to make a huge scene in the middle of the opening act. I haven't gone back to the Funny Bone since. It was total bullshit.
You shouldn't have switched. I wouldn't switch tables for Yolanda Harris, Terrelle Pryor, Rick Nash, Snarf, or any other Columbus 'celebrity', real or imagined.
Talcott
Clintonville
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NBC4 lost me for good the day they were interviewing an athlete who used the word "nomenclature." The sports guy came back and made a comment about people using big words, which seemed odd but I didn't think much of it as they cut to commercial.
Then they come back for the tag before the national news and Cabot Rea is reading from his laptop the definition of "nomenclature" because no one on set knew what it meant (or at least the other anchors/reporters did a good job of acting surprised at the definition).
Of the three, I prefer 10TV, but that has more to do with the fact that it's still locally owned. I might have some issues with the Dispatch, but I feel like it is much more knowledgeable and involved in the community than the other two are. I actually feel like 6/28 do better local reporting than 4 does at this point, although anything national or international does feel very Sinclair-styled. Big words aside, 4 is all about the empty catch phrases ("BOTH SIDES" "BIG PICTURE") that reduce every news story into nothingness. I do wonder how much of the problem there comes from the fact that they have roughly six hours of local news to fill each day.
In the end though, I'm much more informed about things happening in Columbus now than I was when I watched the local news regularly. Whenever I do watch it, they non-crime stories all seem to be about stuff that I was aware of weeks (even months) ago. It's a bit like being a time traveler.
th0m
Beechwold
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Well, now I feel a little bad making a value judgement on people and whole teams I don't even know. I wonder about these kinds of things from time to time, and perhaps there is nothing new to say maybe. I do like listening occasionally to On The Media, and it reminds me there is no such perfect coverage.
I probably could be tuned into a lot of the ancillary topics, but I'm off in technobabble most of the time, so for me it is not too bad, and often I do enjoy that stuff a bit better.
Okay, yes, but still, a lot of even *that* stuff I do think is politicized, specifically Sinclair. Not in way any other than I described before, a sort of, well, nomenclature, to signal "hey we're your peeps on this this station. Ice Cream on the 4th and Ronald Regan." or something! I mean, on one had patriotism is *wonderful* and, well, I guess it is just my opinion that the general tone is specifically crafted in this way.
Oh well, first world problem I guess, and part of me sort of likes this great country, too, so heh. But if that tone of patriotism is crafted in this fashion for its specific media effect, well, I expect more patriotism than that.
That's my main point :P To be fair there's probably a million things I year I love and hate about each of them from time to time in some way, but whatever, see last paragraph. :P
drawrobot
Columbus, Ohio
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I don't see left or right, I just see crappy corporate driven news with no sense of context.
In a nutshell, it appears their format is run a couple of half-assed local segments where one barely gets a sentence out.
Or scrap that and run an AP story from Oklahoma on a plane crash. That's in Oklahoma. Who cares if it's not 'local'. We need an attention getter leading up to...
an infomercial... errr segment on a new Frosty from Wendy's.
Run weather a couple of times then go to sports.
That's it. That's local 'news' and why I stopped watching it when the DVR came around.
artbomb112
The Heights
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I prefer 10TV.
Channel 4 seems too dramatic about trivial things. Colleen Marshall is really nice in person. But as a whole I feel like I've walked into a Men's Warehouse ad or a Chadwicks of Boston catalog or JC Pennys.
Channel 6 and 28 are both ridiculous. I feel like I'm being talked at, rather than being given information. They always seem like they are on edge about something. I often feel like I'm watching a TV show about a news station rather than the news. I also see this news team screw things up the most.
Channel 10, I agree it feels more local. I'm not crazy about the Dispatch.. but it seems like there is enough separation in the reporting that it doesn't matter. I also hate reading. It also helps that I have a crush on Andrea.
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