Channel 5

Media Study

Channel 5 Eyewitness News

Introduction . . .

Oil prices-What’s the Bottom Line?

Developing story . . .

Construction worker found dead. Investigators are trying to find out why-unclear circumstances, fell from bridge OSHA is on the scene and police are investigating the death. St. Louis Park (1-2 min)

News

Oil

Filling up the car and heating your home. Oil barrels will hit $100 mark, prices at the pump will get higher at a time when gas generally goes down. A young couple is interviewed and explain that their heat is expensive and will increase.

Center point explaining the hikes in heating cost

3.50 a gallon in the near future

4.00 by the summer

Experts say brace yourself for higher prices

KSTP.com for how to save (2 minutes)

Stock Prices

stock prices down (10 seconds)

Education Levies

Levies denied in 30 plus school districts Robbinsdale (footage of kids) school district fails. A new school in Delano passes (1 minute)

Misc.

Youth basketball coach confesses to kidnapping and molestation (30 seconds)

Vikings will be making a pitch for a new stadium. They thought they were close, but then 35W bridge collapse made the pitch disappear.

Say that they cannot make any revenue and want the state to at least think about designating some funds for the new stadium

Gary smith (Rochester resident) has second thoughts 1-2 min

Blaine city council will hear a proposal for Sportstown USA with hotels and waterslide (15 seconds)


Flu-like sickness outbreak at a school in Ramsey county (5 seconds)

Mrs. Obama visits Minnesota (10 seconds)

Puppy Mill Rescue

Puppy mill rescue-arc animal shelter, just a few of 75 found at a central Minnesota Puppy mill. They don’t know how to walk on a leash the operator might be actually operating in line with legal standards. Arc animal shelter is actually full and need some foster homes-more at 6 (2 minutes)


“Grabbers”

As temperatures drop, what should you remove from the garage?
Foreclosures nationwide
Forecast
Skiers

Commercial break 4 minutes

Space Shuttle

The space shuttle discovery lands safely today (30 seconds)

Chemicals in the Garage

Cooler weather moving in-some household chemicals will freeze. Interviews Kent (an old guy) who doesn’t bring in chemicals inside in the winter. Don’t throw chemicals away-return them to a safe facility (1 min)

Fuel Finder

Gas prices in the metro (deals)
Web poll what price would you start making a change in your driving habit 30 %-no change (30 seconds)


Misc.

Minneapolis C plus in personal debt (5 seconds)

Wild mountain is open for skiing today (5 seconds)

Weather

November snow storm (average date of snow cover November 18) some flurries in the Southern part of the state. Cloudy skies will clear and clear skies will create much cooler temperatures. (2 minutes)

Misc.

The Eagles will appear on the CMA music awards (30 seconds) (airing at seven)

Commercial break 4 minutes

Ahead at news at 6

Misc.

South Minneapolis movie-theater is back in business and will be showing love in the time of cholera (30 seconds)

Return to weather

As a person who likes to consider himself informed, I can’t say when the last time I watched TV for my daily dose of news was. I generally listen to MPR or read bbc.uk at work to catch up on current events. So it was odd to sit on the couch last night and click on the Channel 5 Eyewitness News.

The thirty minutes went by in an incredibly fast and action-packed collection of . . .well . . .um . . .news? Amid tales of the mundane and obvious (now folks, don’t throw chemicals into the garbage and did you notice? gas prices are rising) there was plenty of local fluff- (the Vikings are vying for a new stadium). The most time was devoted by far to rising gas prices and the toll it will take on the American consumer-great, but isn’t this something we all are painfully aware of. How can we save money? Or, more pointedly, how can we all work together to help the environment? Poor us, we are dependant on a depleting non-renewable resource . . .prices are increasing? Duh!

Hmm . . .is there a war in Iraq? How’s everything fairing in Pakistan? Are there other states besides Minnesota? At least I know that this Saturday will be partly cloudy and damn-rain on Veteran’s day!

The 30 minutes was edited to be extremely fast and narrow focused with a tendency for the overly dramatic. A rise of a cent per gallon in gas costs spawns close-ups of pump prices and a grim voice-over informing the increase in heating bills this winter. One moment that I particularly enjoyed was the mention of a flu-like epidemic at an undisclosed school district in Ramsey county-how’s that for grabbing the viewer’s attention? Just before commercial breaks, they include 30 seconds of the important stories they will be covering when the show returns. Before the last commercial break, they tell you about all the ‘important’ news coming up at 6:00.

To be fair, Channel 5 Eyewitness news is followed by a “world news” show-I didn’t stick around to check it out, but the lack of any real news at 5:00 could be due at least in some part to the fact that they have installments at 6:00, 7:00, and 10:00. Maybe if I devoted three hours a night, I could put together some semblance of what in the hell is going on in the world. Or, I suppose I could listen to a half-hour of NPR or peruse the BBC website for ten minutes.