International News Presentation: Past and Present

Question for some of our most knowledgable members (cough WWU cough!). What would you say are the best local news stations in the US, in terms of broadcasting high-quality, traditional, in-depth, non-tabloid newscasts? I was watching this video from Conan O'Brien about all that is wrong with local TV news and it got me thinking more broadly - is there a local station out there that really serves its audience with news that doesn't insult their intelligence?



I was watching WMAQ Chicago tonight and, like most times I watch local TV news now, I find it basically unwatchable - meaningless 10-second stories, drone-like and emotionally-numb anchors (a particularly upsetting story about a suicide in Chicago tonight was delivered without a shred of emotion and a "Now, here's Jim with the weather" vibe) and graphics-overload.

To my limited knowledge, I would offer KHON and KITV in Honolulu (which seems to be a pretty sedate, old-fashioned news market), maybe KPIX in San Fran and KOMO Seattle or WLS Chicago, and obviously PBS and Al-Jazeera America - but I don't really know. Are there any stations that really stand out for high-quality news, that slow it down and take their time?

@fox1: There are still some stations that do a credible job covering important local issues -- in fact, WMAQ itself has a well-respected political team that regularly covers stories related to state and city politics. However, much of this gets drowned among the consultant-driven fluff and the breathless approach of the anchors. In the U.S., local news on the commercial is essentially the equivalent of British tabloids -- highly competitive and populist, often relying on human-interest stories to beat the competition.

(There was a TV tuned to WMAQ while I was working today, and one story caught my attention -- the announcement of a 93-story skyscraper, designed by a star architect, to be built near the lake. That report interested me since I know the area well.)

Here in Chicago, viewers wanting more intellectual, in-depth news program tune in to Chicago Tonight on WTTW, one of the city's two major PBS stations. After a brief news update (with footage sometimes supplied by the commercial stations), the program is typically devoted to long reports and discussions about three or four major local developments of the day. Tonight, for instance, Chicago Tonight included in-depth coverage of two long-running political stories, a lighthearted feature on the history of Chicago's bridges (this being Chicago, architecture is always a popular topic), and a cultural story about a theater premiere. Although it wasn't the case today, Chicago Tonight also frequently hosts national authors who visit Chicago on their book tours.

BTW, for anyone interested in the history of U.S. television news, this book is coming out next month:

http://press.uchicago.edu/dms/ucp/books/jacket/978/02/26/47/9780226472454.jpg

That's the Way It Is: A History of Television News in America by Charles L. Ponce de Leon

From the publisher (excerpt):

"Ponce de Leon traces the entire history of televised news, from the household names of the late 1940s and early ’50s, like Eric Sevareid, Edward R. Murrow, and Walter Cronkite, through the rise of cable, the political power of Fox News, and the satirical punch of Colbert and Stewart. He shows us an industry forever in transition, where newsmagazines and celebrity profiles vie with political news and serious investigations. The need for ratings success—and the lighter, human interest stories that can help bring it—Ponce de Leon makes clear, has always sat uneasily alongside a real desire to report hard news.

"Highlighting the contradictions and paradoxes at the heart of TV news, and telling a story rich in familiar figures and fascinating anecdotes, That’s the Way It Is will be the definitive account of how television has showed us our history as it happens."

More info (including a sample chapter)

In my subjective opinion, I would venture that KTVU is a high quality station. They have always had a great reputation, and while things declined somewhat in recent years, despite what you may have heard, I think their new Fox ownership has improved things quite a bit. They've noticeably downplayed crime stories, and most packages are now 2-3 minutes long like they used to be at every station in the country.

Comcast has also invested a lot into the NBC local stations. I don't really watch KNTV here as they have made a conscious effort to focus only on one specific region, which I think is stupid, though I hear that WCAU in Philadelphia has turned into a really high quality station.

If you want really high quality news in the U.S., look to NPR — they're the only semblance of public media that has a significant audience here.

I would also agree about WMAQ's political team is quite good. WLS has a top notch investigative team helmed by Chuck Goudie. The tone of WMAQ has changed in the last few years. The breaking news that isnt breaking.... that type of stuff. But it could be Alison Rosati with her breathless delivery. Never been a fan. She is a morning anchor not a evening anchor. WLS in opinion delivers a solid newscast. A bit to suburban-y sometimes. Magers/Brock are granite. Unflappable and knowledgeable. Sometimes the younger reporters are a bit iffy. Its fairly good overall. Realize that most US newscasts will be a bit more sparkly than a typical UK newscast. So you are going to have graphic intros to stories and transitions. The thing to remember is you have to look past those things and listen to the stories being reported. Competition is fierce in most markets. On WLS I do wonder how certain reporters are still there. Sarah Schulte does a good job on recorded packages but is hopeless live. That isnt to say the report is garbage, she's just not smooth on air. John Garcia the same thing. Solid reporter..sometimes trips over himself. WBBM is still trying to live down the legacy of the tabloid experiment of 90s. WFLD Fox 32, never should have gotten rid of its long time anchor Robin Robinson. Now its helmed by a bunch child-like goofy lower market people from the nether regions.

WGN 9 overall i think is the least tabloid the most solid and quieter of all the Chicago's newscasts. The morning show of course being a completely different beast. Mark Suppelsa is solid as granite. And deserves to helm this broadcast. They should have kept Lourdes Duarte alongside for part of the new Evening broadcasts. She is quite good. WGN keeps the chit chat to a minimum usually. And they dont really do all the bells and whistles kind stuff. WGN is a legacy station and it acts that way.

When a story breaks and there are no scripts. WLS is super solid and WGN is solid, they are sedate non tabloid and easy and smooth and they can vamp for extended periods whilst delivering information in a clear calm mannter and not talking down to the audience. Id take Magers/Brock or Suppelsa/Matere over WMAQ/WBBM/WFLD any day.

The interesting thing about that CONAN clip is it featured smaller markets stations. Those typically operate with much smaller staffs and scripting is usually culled from wire pieces and packaged stories that are supplied. So you are going end up with the same script being used. They typically cut and paste scripts for their early morning newscasts as the staff is at a bare bones, but they still have stories to present with B roll footage..
This not as typical in the large market stations as was shown in the CONAN clip. CNN NEWSOURCE, FOXNEWS EDGE, NBC NEWS CHANNEL, ABC NEWSONE, and CBS NEWSPATH all provide a variety of stories, clips video, scripts, live feeds, live on scene reporters, etc. SO there is bound to be some repetition.

I like pretty much everything about this - set, graphics, feel.

WHAS Louisville

Absolutely - and I really don't understand what's meant to be shocking about different stations using the same agency copy for national stories. If you listened to news bulletins across a range of local radio stations in the UK (commercial or BBC), you'd hear exactly the same thing.

I don't quite get Conan's point. If it's that local stations shouldn't be running the same stories, why not? What's great about these newscasts is that they provide a mix of local, national an international news. If it's that they shouldn't be using the same copy, why would they waste valuable local resources rewriting?

The way I understood Conan's point - and this is why I used the words "got me thinking more broadly" when I made the original point. The issue is not that stations use the same copy - it's that local news is dominated by this meaningless drivel everywhere, with the same cloned, robotic anchor-drones.

Those are the Gannett standardized graphics. Gannett is now one of the largest station owners in the U.S., so these graphics are pretty common in a lot of places. The color-coding also ties in to all their websites and USA Today, which is a really nice touch.

So, which is worse? All the local stations in the U.S. running the same story like in the one above, or all the mainland Chinese TV stations being forced to simulcast CCTV's Xinwen Lianbo at the same time? (I'm not going to say that China is much better than the U.S. because I know there's no press freedom in there, but... )

Yeah i do like the Gannett standardized graphics. I like the unfussiness of them. Simple and clean. Not too impressed with the opens and transitions. Ehh. But the onscreen "furniture" is nice.

KBS, South Korea, 2015: