I quickly checked my mailbox after hearing KODE's Alan Cavanna report on the 5 p.m. newscast that personal information about St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin patients had been stolen from a microfilming company.
I didn't quite catch the dates that were covered by the thefts, since I was flipping back and forth between the stations to see who else had the story, but since I very clearly remember spending a day and a half at St. John's in December 2003 and having 12 units of blood pumped into me, so I could keep on teaching and writing, the story understandably caught my attention.
KSNF also had the story, though it was a readthrough by anchor Tiffany Alaniz.
There was no letter from St. John's in my mailbox, though two more companies did want me to use their credit cards.
***
It was a nice touch for Gary and Tiffany to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Bruce VonderHaar on Mrs. VonderHaar's pregnancy. I am sure many viewers who are connected with the two through television or through Bruce's work at Joplin High School, were happy to hear the news. I have no problem with it being mentioned on the air.
It's just a shame that the corporate bosses at KSNF didn't allow a mention of another news story involving VonderHaar earlier this year, when the first school operated television station in southwest Missouri, Jet 14, went on the air under VonderHaar's guidance. This was obviously a newsworthy event, but it was not covered by either KSNF or VonderHaar's old station, KODE, where he worked diligently for years as a sports anchor, because Jet 14 can only be seen on Cable One.
Nexstar Broadcasting, KSN's owner, and the de facto owner of KODE, pulled its programming off Cable One at the beginning of 2005. The company had every right to do so, but it should never have allowed that decision to affect its news coverage. Instead, it allowed KOAM to carry the exclusive story on what has been a major educational development for the Joplin R-8 School District.
There is no breaking of stories between KODE and KSN. They both know which stories they are covering. They have at least a couple meetings each day to discuss the nights news. It's a glorified game of exchaning baseball cards. You've got this, I'll trade you that.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, what source are you using to confirm that there was a big conspiracy that KODE & KSN didn't cover the Jet 14 launch? Both stations are very understaffed, could it be a case of not enough bodies to get it covered?
You have a good point about the stations being understaffed, and I don't recall what other stories were breaking that particular day, but that is a major story about the biggest school district in both KODE's and KSN's coverage area and both of those stations are Joplin stations. Plus, you would have thought KODE would have given it some publicity just because of all the good work Bruce VonderHaar did during his time at that station. For two Joplin stations to both be unable to cover a story about Joplin High School putting its own TV station on the air, and then not to play catchup and do something on it later, definitely seems planned to me. And yes, I was aware that KODE and KSNF handle stories the same way that KOAM and KFJX do.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I should add a little more to that last comment. I am aware that they do that, but I still have a hard time saying that KSNF/KODE broke a story or that KOAM/KFJX broke a story. I might have to rethink that.
ReplyDeleteSo,no sources that claim its a big conspiracy, yet you say there is one? Where is the fairness in that?Sounds like something you'd like to think, but decide to print it anyway. I hope you don't teach that in your journalism class.
ReplyDeleteI never said I did not have sources. This is not the first time I have mentioned the Jet 14 story. There were people at both stations who were not happy about not covering that and passed the word along to me. And, of course,I also heard from the station that was there. I might add that when I ran the story earlier, no one challenged its accuracy. It was right on the money then, and it's right on the money now.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't you ever run the ratings from May. Is it because some of 16's newscasts actually had more viewers this May than last May (when of course they were still on cable)?
ReplyDeleteI haven't run the ratings because I don't have them. If someone would like to get a copy to me, I would be very happy to run them no matter who had what ratings in any time period.
ReplyDelete