Local evening news analysis

Analysis of the 10 o'clock news on KARE 11 from Monday, November 12:
Only a few things surprised me after watching this news broadcast. There were about 5 minutes devoted to "news," 7 minutes for a feature story, and 4 minutes each for weather and sports. I expected that the "news," weather, and sports would get similar amounts of time, but I underestimated how much airtime would be devoted to the feature story.
There seemed to be a rhetorical appeal to adults that they need to limit/control their teenagers' driving. Interestingly, the next night's KARE 11 Extra story is also about driving, but this time it focuses on the inadequacy of the state to handle our road system. I liked that tonight's Extra did not blame the roads, weather, or alcohol. Often these are scapegoats when individuals simply make stupid choices. A couple of the teenagers' parents commented on how their kids should have been wearing their seatbelt. The editors also included interviews of mothers, fathers, single parents, joint parents, and classmates; this was a well-balanced approach to the story. However, the editors clearly supported a law to limit passengers for teenage drivers. They showed a brief interview with a senator who proposed the idea. He was standing outside and was able to at least say several sentences. The “balance” was an interview with an opposing senator. He was interviewed in a stuffy office and cut off after a couple statements. Even just the setting of the interviews made a difference: real-world/outdoor interview vs. artificial/indoor interview. This made him seem more out-of-touch with reality than the supporting senator. They immediately cut to one of the teary-eyed victim’s parents defending the law.
Another interesting piece was about the Athletes of the Week. The female athlete was described mostly in terms of her ability and motivation while mostly statistics were used to describe the male. This may simply be because volleyball does not lend itself to stat keeping in the same way that football does.
I think that KARE 11 did a good job of selecting the stories to present. I am okay with the fact that only 5 minutes were spent on “hard news” about crime, politics, and miscellaneous events. These are important, but I prefer that they choose one or two stories on which to focus. The Extra and Athlete of the Week spots covered the topics much more in depth and left me feeling as though I had learned something. If the entire show devoted equal time to all of the stories, I don’t think that I would feel the same way. Tonight’s features focused on teenagers, but I know that this varies from night to night.

TIMELINE

Lead in to the show - 15 sec. about injured football player Adrianne Peterson

News stories (5 min.)

· 2 min, 10 sec. - a local group’s protest that “your” right to free speech is in jeopardy. They sent a postcard that contained over 12 errors to citizens about Robbinsdale school levy & now face legal trouble

· 20 sec. - motorcycle/car crash

· 40 sec. - Wisconsin man gets max. sentence for killing girlfriend

· 12 sec. - Mankato’s proposed “Social Host” ordinance to limit underage drinking

· 10 sec. – semi-truck carrying turkeys tips over in Mounds View

· 10 sec. - 35W bridge construction to begin

· 25 sec. - “Consistency” in housing market

· 6 sec. - DOW Jones drops

· 22 sec. - Gov. Pawlenty’s Veterans’Proposal (new state cemetery, $51 million, study mental health needs, housing assistance when returning from duty)

· 8 sec. - Eagan Vietnam Veteran receives award

· 30 sec. - Red Cross gives out coupons for free coffee & doughnuts to WWII vets, who were overcharged by the government during the war

Preview - Mild weather ahead, Viking Adrianne Peterson is in pain, Kare 11 Extra about teen driving deaths

COMMERCIAL (3 min.)

KARE 11 Extra 7 minutes, 15 sec. - story about 6 teens from Princeton High School who all died in car accidents within 18 months

· statistics about the high rate of fatal car accidents among teenagers,

· interview with female victim’s mother

· interview with male victim’s mother & father (mom talks)

· feature on the male victim’s girlfriend, who died in a car accident 1 year later

· interview with more parents and students

· major cause: too many kids in the car at once (driver is distracted)

· legislative proposal for limiting passengers for drivers with provisional licenses

· 4 sec. with senator who opposes the proposal, followed by three more interviews with victims’ parents

· Suggestion for parents to put their own restriction on passengers for their teen drivers

30 sec. - Preview of the next nights KARE 11 Extra, which is about the 394/94 bottleneck in Minneapolis

50 sec. - anchors discuss tragedy of the Princeton teen driving deaths, looking forward to tomorrow’s Extra

COMMERCIAL

Weather – 4 minutes

· 50 sec. - Weather from news desk (good driving conditions for next couple of days, records of warm November days)

· 3 minutes, 10 sec. – moves outside to do the rest of the weather (summary of today’s high/lowàchanges on the way, cold front moving inàtomorrow’s weatheràtonight’s weatheràtomorrow’s weatherà5 day outlookàweekend “sneak peek”)

10 sec. - Preview of football highlights

COMMERCIAL BREAK (3 minutes, 20 sec.)

SPORTS (4 min.)

· 15 sec. - recap of today’s professional sports scores (with rap music in background)

· 45 sec. - Peterson won’t play in game on Sunday because of knee injury, 5 second statement by coach Childress

· 20 sec. – Announcement of MBL’s rookies of the year

· 50 sec. – Where are they now? Update on a 1987 high school Athlete of the Week

· 45 sec. - Shakopee volleyball player (this week’s female Athlete of the Week)

· 45 sec. - Minneapolis football player (this week’s male Athlete of the Week)

· 15 sec. – go online to vote for this week’s “Hot Highlight” of the week

Preview: ‘bladers take over the dome

COMMERCIAL BREAK (2 min, 50 sec.)

30 sec. - Rollerdome opens

10 sec. - anchors banter about Rollerdome & weather