To View or Not To View :: Media News Television Essays

To View or Not To View Staying in touch with the outside world, via the 1000 evening tidings, has become increasingly difficult for me the last brace years. Not still am I usually not awake at 1000, but if I am, I do not expect to spend my time hearing about the many murders, rapes, and robberies that plaque our city. Television news has not only taken on a tabloid-like see, but the marrow squash of most of the news stories is a total waste of my viewing time. However, in an effort to stay connected, I currently listen to the morning TV news as well as read the Chicago Tribune on a daily basis. The local news broadcast I taped to critique for this root was the 500 News on Channel 5 which was shown on Monday, April 7, co-anchored by Joan Esposito, a 30ish white female, and Warren Saunders, a late 50s black male. I viewed a total of 13 stories which were comprised mainly of murder, weather and informational topics. The Top Story was about a 7 year old girl who was murdered by a family member while she was waiting in line to get ice cream. The chronicles time went for approximately 4 minutes and included 3 interviews of people, 3 different on-screen captions and a camera span of fault bears on a fence. The actual meaty parts of this story, that is, the facts, were fully given in this broadcast. However, interviews with crying persons of the gang members families, and the little girls school superintendent musing out loud on what this little girl could have become, was a total waste of time. Conversely, s merchantmanning the teddy bears was touching, but lent nothing to the telling of the tragic event that took this girls life. I suppose the powers that be at the news station do not feel the public can feel on their own, thus we are constantly being given visual reminders of how sad a story is. I can safely say that the Top Story of the majority of broadcasts that I view are murders. Based on that premise, the senseless murder of this child was an import ant story in Chicago that day. I do take exception, however, to the many visuals used to evoke emotion as the sadness of the story spoke for itself. Apart from this story, the only remaining news stories consisted of a murder of a cab driver and two stories of missing persons.