You might have noticed that the news on CBS4 sound different lately. A little before sweeps month started CBS4 News got a sound makeover. They dropped their news theme of 8 years and replaced it with a custom package.
The cut used in the open and bumps is from a song written for WFOR by 615 Music called “The Best Thing About Home”. The song is used in current station promos.
Current Open including promos:
Previous Open from September 2007:
CBS4.com has a new online feature, actually it’s not brand new it started March 31st I think. You could call it a video blog, it is a daily video from CBS4 managing editor Alissa Merlo or assignment editor Lucho Duran (?) giving a short preview of what stories CBS4 is working on for their newscasts.
And you get to hear what a crazy place the CBS4 newsroom is. Scanners chirping non-stop. So crazy, they must hear them in their sleep too. [CBS4.com video: Merlo's Menu] /via Owenized/
/hat tip Anonymous/
A message from Comcast on the DVR says TLC HD will be added today on channel 425.
The channel will be available to “Digital Starter HDTV service” subscribers. They probably meant those subscribing to the Digital Starter tier and HD service. Unless of course they are changing/adding tiers again.
It’s sweeps month and stations are doing everything they can to get and keep eyeballs.
Today WPTV aired an interview with John McCain and called it exclusive. Predictably a few people on the industry boards responded by mocking the station for calling something exclusive when it’s not. CNBC and FBN do that often with their guests too based on who gets to talk to them first.
WPTV’s report too brings the old question when is an exclusive really exclusive and do the viewers care?
I suppose being the only TV station in their market to sit down with the senator for a one-on-one interview is somewhat exclusive but he really didn’t say anything new or revealing. And is such an interview exclusive online too? [WPTV McCain Exclusive Online]
Victoria Regan who served as WPBF’s general manager resigned abruptly today after a staff meeting. She told staff her resignation was effective immediately and gave no reason for her departure although more details are expected within a few days.
The WB network was supposed to hang it up for good when it merged in 2006 with then UPN channel to create the CW.
Well Warner Brothers is bringing back the former home of Michigan J Frog but only on the internets. With the growth of YouTube and Hulu the WB must want to get on the streaming video gravy train. They’ll be making an official announcement today about their planned WB channel resurrection.
Sunbeam Television, parent company of WSVN and WHDH, has acquired the syndication rights for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
The popular series will begin airing in the fall of 2009.
Currently WSVN airs Law & Order: Criminal Intent on weekdays from 2pm to 3pm.
Howard Finkelstein, better known to most as the Howard in ‘Help Me Howard’, WSVN’s hugely popular newscast segment, is getting some well deserved praise.
The South Florida Times has a very nice story about him and his many efforts to assure that everyone has access to a public defender, but especially the poor and homeless who can’t afford high-powered lawyers. In recognition for those efforts on April 26th the League of Women Voters of Broward County awarded Finkelstein the Civics in Action award.
Finkelstein is “one of the original hippies” says Douglas Brawley Chief Assistant Public Defender of Mental Health adding “he’s about peace, love, equality for all people. He hasn’t sold out.”
And from the article it’s clear Howard is the real deal. He is the founder of the country’s first court for mentally ill defendants. He established Broward county’s drug court and after becoming the county’s Chief Public Defender in 2005 Finkelstein put measures in place that allowed defendants to spend more time with their public defenders where previously they were forced to decide their pleas after just a few minutes. [South Florida Times]
PBS invited all major media news outlets to discuss allegations in a New York Times article that military analysts were used by the Pentagon to sell the Iraq war. The report also uncovered information that many cable and network news analysts were lobbyists or consultants for military contractors who are now in Iraq. All analysts participated in Pentagon meetings and were given talking points, sometimes repeating them almost verbatim in interviews on cable news channels
Hard to believe just a couple of years ago these two little bandits almost didn’t make it after being born prematurely.
Now that they’re all grown up and healthy (and doing a pretty good job at reminding some of us how fast time flies) Luke and Jake are taking to the streets of Key Biscayne along with their dad, mom Laurie Jennings, Local10 anchor Charles Perez )and probably other Local 10 employees), in the March For Babies to help raise money for the prevention of premature births.
The event kicks off tomorrow, April 26th, at 8:30am with registrations at 7:30am.
Yesterday the swat team shot a guy dead and a nearby witness recorded the whole thing with his camera from his balcony. 7News used parts of the recording in their report.
Including what you see below. The swat team dragging the dead man’s body, face down, over the asphalt. Uncensored, unpixelated, unblurred. I added the pixelation in Photoshop.
They have now run this video at least 3 times. Last night at 10pm, maybe at 11pm too, and already twice this morning so it can’t be an accident or an oversight on their part. It’s deliberate.
Now, I’m no prude by any stretch of the imagination and I’m most definitely not easily offended (offendable?). Easily pissed off maybe but as far as offending me it’ll take all 4 TV networks at once and a lot of trying to do it. And I happen to think reports from Iraq are too sanitized.
But when I saw Rene Marsh’s report on 7News this morning and this poor guy’s body dragged over the pavement face down without even a little pixelation I was like “What the fuck were they thinking?”. And not only in my mind.
And I don’t know what they were thinking. If they were even thinking at all. It pissed me off enough to write this post and edit it 4 times already due to too much “bad” language.
I like my 7News, but this stunt was stupid, over the top and dare I say disgusting. And just plain idiotic. Or maybe I’m too sleep deprived and over reacting.
What do you think? Am I right? Wrong? Whiny? Should the 7News editors have ran the video in the first place or at least added some pixelation?
You can watch the report on WSVN’s site here and judge for yourself
Channels 4, 6 and 10 covered the story as well. Only WFOR, at least their 11pm story, used the same video footage from the witness but only the part where the body was laying near bushes and added a large blurred area to conceal it even though you could barely see it!
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