News Analysis

KARE-11 News

5:00 PM Broadcast

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Story	Time (all times approximated)
Preview at 4:55PM Anchors mention that they will talk about the tornados that touched down in Austin today, mention Father’s Day.	30 Seconds
Constant Scrolling Banner around the screen: T=Storm Warning Morrison County until 5:30pm	Constant
Teaser: A pilot dies midflight but first…	2 Seconds
Top Story: But first tornado story: images of tornado wreckage and snippets of people talking – overhead shots, weather shots, two lead anchors cut to another anchor (Scott Seroka) who interviews patrons of Austin, MN. Families and puppies and more wreckage. One guy seems to be the focus of the story – him and his dog. Cut to Sven Sundgaard to continue talking about weather	3 Minute for tornado story 1 Minute for additional weather
National News Story: Pilot dies midflight flying from Brussels to NJ – shots of passengers who were on board	1 minute
Local News: Lowry bridge implosion – shots of the bridge and the neighboring areas	1 minute
Local News: Governors new budget bill and side story with another anchor – interview with Hamline law professor – shots of Pawlenty , police, schools – talk about rebate program – talk about donations to political candidates	1 minute
Teaser: Heading to commercial: mention employment and again Father’s Day	20 seconds
Commercials	2-3 Minutes
Local Report: The Dwelling Place Shelter story, abused women who need help can head to this shelter – shots of the shelter, pamphlets, women, police cars (Trisha Volpe is anchor), follow up facts on story	2 Minutes
Kare 11 Self=promotion: Touch times – “Hero Central,” a new incentive launched by Kare 11	30 seconds
Teaser: Talk about a tree farm in WI, weather & Father’s day, cut to commercial again Commercials	20 seconds
Weather: back to Sven Sundgaard talking about why we are having the weather we are having. Sven looks quite sweaty. He walks outside and talks about the weather while they show a distant shot of a lake – why we have a weather “warning” – forecast for the next few days – this weather report takes the whole segment which is interesting	3-4 Minutes!
Teaser Project that took 34 years to complete, Christmas trees	20 seconds
Commercials	2 minutes
Wisconsin Story: Family tree farm giving away tons of money in trees – husband and wife work together (they are retired school teachers) – their land has grown in value – heartwarming story – the couple is shows mowing their fields, we get a picture of their family – there land undergoes a legality to maintain its conserved space (Boyd Huppert is the anchor)	2 minutes
National Report: Father’s day gifts – which are best	20 seconds
Kare 11 Advertisement: mentioning their 10PM broadcast – mention their ending story and preview the National News (with Brian Williams)	30 seconds
Commercials	2 minutes
Fluff Story: toothpick maker, made a model city out of toothpicks, wow	1 minute
Final Weather Shout Out – hail, etc.	20 seconds

Analysis: Tonight’s newscast, like so many, was such a fast paced flow of information; it is a wonder at the end. Do I feel more informed? Did I just learn anything? Clearly I am biased against this type of broadcast (I love my nytimes.com thank you very much!) but it was at least, entertaining.

The “show” began with what I assume they assumed was on everyone’s minds: the weather, especially the severe thunderstorm warnings. That went immediately to natural disasters that happened in Austin, which included many, many pictures of wrecked areas. I thought it was interesting how they “humanized” the story by focusing on one particular man and his dog and how they were affected. By choosing just one of the victims, it brought the story closer to home.

They then went into the pilot who died mid-flight, which is very interesting, but apparently kind of saved that story for Brian Williams, who kicked off his national news show with that very story at 5:30PM.

They quickly mentioned blowing up the Lowry Hill Bridge and then dipped right into Pawlenty’s budget. It was as though they assumed viewers knew the details of these two stories and they merely wanted to remind Minnesotans what was going on.

The teasers before the commercials are always funny: “Coming ahead, a couple that forgoes hundreds of thousands of dollars…” = of course you want to stick around and meet them!

I was kind of shocked how they flipped from an abuse story right into their self-promoted “Hero Central” – it was like they were trying to wash that ugly “abuse” taste out of our mouths.

The final minutes were a way to ease us out of their broadcast – weather, the family tree farm, Father’s Day gifts (they talked about this story longer than the actual story) and a man who spent 34 years building a toothpick palace – wow.

I feel an unsettling calm, hmmm…the overall effect is: all this stuff happened or is going on, but don’t worry, you can still build toothpick palaces in your house if you want to! Ain’t America Grand?