Friday, February 19, 2010

Tiger here, Tiger there, Tiger's EVERYWHERE!


Why are we so obsessed with the Tiger Woods story? I can hear it now....people saying "I'm not obsessed with the story, YOU ARE! I try not to. We honesty had a meeting this morning to decide if we were going to run the press conference live or just cover it in newscasts and sound bytes. We had to though. How can we call ourselves a "news station" if we don't cover one of the biggest news stories.

I tried to get away from it, but if you're a news junky like me, it couldn't be done this afternoon. I went on Twitter and there it was! Line-by-line coverage by the news correspondents I follow. I went on Facebook and my friends were talking about how crazy it was. I took off for the weekend to spend time with my daughter in Salem and there it was on the talk stations!

Some people say it's the medias fault. We MAKE it top story, we MAKE it the only thing discussed. However, I heard call after call after call from people commenting.

What is it about this story? The salaciousness of it? Do we rejoice in watching the rich falter? Is it just another case of our celebrity obsessed society?

One of my favorite postings of the day was from Mark Knoller of CBS News. He said: "We are a nation at war in a horrible financial situation and we devote live coverage to a golfer who cheated on his wife." Amen.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thanks for being the spoiler!!!

We had a story this morning about whether otr not news agencies should be banned from announcing the results of the Olympics until NBC airs the story on their nightly coverage. I don't see how you can!

Yesterday was a big day at the Olympics with Lindsay Vonn skiing and winning the gold medal. (Oooops! Sorry if you had taped it and I just ruined it.) The results were out by mid afternoon, but NBC wasn't going to broadcast the race until prime time. I read the results on twitter from a number of sources. The Boston Globe, the Herald, CNN. Some people were upset, I was not, but I do think we could be more careful.

On the NBC Evening News they show the results with some text while they play music and Brian Williams tells viewers to turn away. I think that's great and I think other media should do the same. On the radio we should give a warning so people can turn the radio down if they don't want to know. Websites can offer a link. "Click here to know more."

News is news and should be reported as it happens. We have a right to not listen to it if we want, but we also have the right to get the info immediately if we want.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

We deserve it!

I'm still yawning. The day after the Super Bowl has GOT to be one of the most difficult days to get out of bed especially if you have an early shift. We need to make a change!

The Super Bowl between the Saints and Colts has now been determined to be the most watched television event of all time. 106 million people watched. It's become a national obsession. So, why do we all have to be so tired the next day?

I had a story this morning (2/9) about a group that wants the Monday after the game to be a National Holiday. I personally think we have enough holidays.

Another suggestion is to move the game to a Saturday. Somehow, I don't think that will happen.

Still another idea is to move it all back another week and have the game played on the Sunday of the Presidents Day holiday. That might not be popular with the ski resorts that make a lot of money on that weekend.

I just know I'd like to see some type of change. I'd discuss it more with you.....but I need a nap!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Darn rodent!

Another Ground Hog Day has come and gone. Punxatawney Phil DID see his shadow today so it means six more weeks of winter. Of course, if you look at the calendar there's six more weeks til winter anyway. I read a stat today that he sees his shadow 87% of the time, yet his prediction is only right 39% of the time.

Sometimes I forget what the world looks like to young eyes. Last week I mentioned Ground Hog Day to my 11-year old and he was trying to figure this out. He wanted to know how it worked. When I explained it to him I could see that he was actually trying to use his analytical mind to figure it out. I then informed him that it didn't mean ANYTHING it was just a fun thing to do to try and deal with the winter blahs. Imagine if it really DID work?

But---here's hoping for an early spring!