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Post by fabolous on Aug 27, 2009 20:11:19 GMT -5
I think it is so friggin obnoxious that the local stations did wall-to-wall coverage of this for two straight days, and will again this weekend for the funeral. It's an important story, don't get me wrong, but who cares this much about his death!?!? People under age 30: Who do you know is watching wall to wall Kennedy coverage!? Seriously!?!?!?!
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Post by dotcomeditor on Aug 27, 2009 21:01:00 GMT -5
I was mightily impressed by Lisa Hughes' work on WBZ. She exhibited a masterful grasp of important dates and info snippets from Ted's lifetime, long before she ever came to Boston. Ms. Hughes was prepped very well and clearly did her homework. Kudos. BTW, when the casket was being moved from the house to the hearse, the best coverage was CNN -- their talking heads knew enough to stop yammering and let the pictures and sounds tell the story.
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Post by breakingnews on Aug 28, 2009 5:57:56 GMT -5
In watching the coverage on-line yesterday, I can't believe WCVB's Liz Brunner- she talked with her guest (?) the entire time. It was the beginning of the processional, and silence and pictures would have been golden. I wanted to watch the 'moment' with respect, and couldn't, it was very distracting.
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kvn
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Post by kvn on Aug 28, 2009 8:17:43 GMT -5
Silence is Golden. We can see what is there. I dont need johnny come latelys manufacturing commentary.
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Post by fox25rox on Aug 28, 2009 23:47:37 GMT -5
4 and 5 (well 4 up until the Patriots started) did another fine job tonight.
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Post by patsx3 on Aug 28, 2009 23:50:24 GMT -5
4 and 5 (well 4 up until the Patriots started) did another fine job tonight. 4 moved their Kennedy coverage to TV38 once the Pats game on CBS started. |
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Post by justcurious on Aug 29, 2009 9:29:00 GMT -5
Just an opinion from a lay person...
I watched Thursday's coverage from Hyannis and was annoyed with the extent of the top and bottom banners used to fill the TV screen. Fully one third of the picture was taken up by them.
It has been much better visually with today's coverage. It appears that the stations are using smaller block type visuals.
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Post by bostonmediaguy on Aug 29, 2009 12:06:50 GMT -5
Just an opinion from a lay person... I watched Thursday's coverage from Hyannis and was annoyed with the extent of the top and bottom banners used to fill the TV screen. Fully one third of the picture was taken up by them. It has been much better visually with today's coverage. It appears that the stations are using smaller block type visuals. Here's local blogger Steve Garfield's ("More Steve, on TV!") take on it. offonatangent.blogspot.com/2009/08/remembering-ted-kennedy-tv-coverage.html |
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Post by tmac505 on Aug 29, 2009 22:16:25 GMT -5
I agree with the comments about both hughes and unruh. they are both very professional. I was also glad 5 had randy price out in the field the other day, at the JFK library; he did very well.
just a question: i was watching 7's coverage and heard tom brokaw talking about Kennedy's legacy when all the congressmen were in front of the Capitol today. i flipped to another station, then back a bit later and heard francis rivera. had they switched teams or was brokaw with rivera in washington?
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Post by seeveebee on Aug 30, 2009 8:53:12 GMT -5
Overall, nice work by everyone. Marathon coverage appreciated by the viewers. Few thoughts: **WBZ and WCVB did a phenomenal job. Excellent performances by everyone. This kind of event REALLY gives them a huge advantage over WHDH. 7 looked like a Chicago station dedicating all of its resources to covering a Boston story. 7 did all it could,yet fell woefully short. Most of the time WHDHs format works well for them--NOT THIS WEEK. ***Generally don't like Randy in AM, but he REALLY paid off in the AM time slot. Like Randy much better in the PM, but he brought gravitas and perspective to this mega story WHEN we wanted it. Gave 5 a huge advantage in the AM coverage of this marathon--a CRITICAL advantage. ***Sorry, but the WCVB Set DID NOT WORK. I get the intention. But you needed a MUCH BETTER virtual set for this to work. I wanted to like it--but it was 100% cheesy. Use it for a Sunday morning political talk show--NOT mega story coverage. ***Jack Williams was superb. I thought he owned the coverage. Felt like I was watching with my favorite Uncle. Lisa Hughes had a tough challenge next to an Icon like Jack, but her commentary revealed some one who had done extra home work and she has evolved into a real Bostonian. Her growth on-air has been a joy to watch over recent years. ***Kudos to ALL stations for letting the nat sound tell much of the audio tale. Less is more on commentary.. thought every station got an A+ on this. Even Ed Harding showed excellent restraint (but I could "hear" him biting his tongue  )...and Ed it WAS OK to gush over Bill Russell--that was real. I thought Heather Unruh was over-the-top. The excessive exposure to emotion got to her IMO. Got the feeling: too much exposure to emotion-and too little sleep?? I've read the national critiques of the "Boston Kennedy TV Smotherage"...and there were a couple of days when it seemed slightly excessive, especially in the middle of the day....but the quantity of coverage was appropriate IMO. Ted Kennedy was one the most significant figures here-EVER. WE get that. And we expect, at the time of death, to focus on the marvelous attributes, generosity, and historic accomplishments of Kennedy. Job well done -even assuming the 16 months all stations had to prepare their pieces. You don't always get a 16-month heads-up on The Big Story- so the bar was raised--and you all soared over it. The Content and the Production values were top notch. If I can nit pick: Given the round-the-clock coverage, more should have been done on Kennedy's dark side. A significant part of the story is why Ted Kennedy is one of the single most hated Americans of our time. In "Catholic terms"---Ted has done so much "wrong" that the bad stuff would get him a non stop ticket to Hell. YET, he has done more GOOD for more people--than MOST Catholic Saints! THAT is the complexity of the Ted Kennedy story. The Mother Thersa Obit is easy. The Ted Kennedy Obit is difficult. With more than 100 hours of coverage--there was ample opportunity somewhere to report on that complexity in more than a token way. I would NOT expect that in 100 minutes of coverage. But in the 16 months of preparing for this, why didn't some one do a piece "Why Ted Kennedy is hated by more Americans than almost anyone else". In the context of a dozen or more appropriately glowing and deserved tributes, it would seem journalistically necessary even in the hours after Death, even in Massachusetts. Overall, a superb job by most--herculian effort by ALL. Despite massive budget cuts, Boston TV can still be the best in America. This past week proved that. |
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kvn
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Post by kvn on Aug 30, 2009 12:21:18 GMT -5
Why did 4 pull the old sister station crap at 756 pm saturday graveside. For A pre season football game. DISRESPECTFUL period They couldnt delay it for 15 mins or so, join in progress? Very BUSH league. And I am tired of the sister station crap too.
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andy
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Post by andy on Aug 30, 2009 15:35:09 GMT -5
kvn, WBZ is owned by CBS so I assume that they could not replace the CBS airing of the football game, I think that switching their content to their sister station was a good idea. They could have just dropped their coverage all together and gone to network programming but that is an advantage of having a sister station in the same market, you can flip coverage so you can always make the people happy. I am sure if they had not switched to the Pats game they would have people biting their heads off for not showing football. So it was in their best interest with their viewers to switch their coverage.
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kvn
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Post by kvn on Aug 30, 2009 16:27:58 GMT -5
I was talking about they pulled the plug saturday at the grave site to go to the San Diego Chargers v. Atlanta Falcons game,not friday and the Pats game. In light of the fact that Cnn and Fox network were covering it as well, and that it was Local news , CBS should have delayed the fb coverage. As a local station CBS4 should have been there. So much for their credibility in my eyes.
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andy
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Post by andy on Aug 30, 2009 17:57:02 GMT -5
oh ok, sorry about that then kvn... however, like I said before, I think they had to carry the national network coverage of the game since they are owned by CBS and it is probably easier for them to just pre-empt whatever was on WSBK then to pre-empt a national football game... they might have something in their contract with CBS that they can only break into national network time if there is an emergency
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Post by dotcomeditor on Aug 30, 2009 19:49:11 GMT -5
'BZ has no choice in the matter. It's owned by CBS Inc. But imagine that 'BZ did not have the luxury of shifting coverage to WSBK. If this were the case with WCVB or WHDH, they'd have nowhere to shift programming -- though neither is network owned.
And also (is that redundant?), consider the advertising revenue that each station lost, gotta be huge.
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)...and Ed it WAS OK to gush over Bill Russell--that was real. I thought Heather Unruh was over-the-top. The excessive exposure to emotion got to her IMO. Got the feeling: too much exposure to emotion-and too little sleep??