Tonight's local news coverage began with the story on everyones' minds recently: swine flu. Naturally, CBS New York led off by informing the tristate audience of the most recent local school closings and giving the up to the minute case numbers in the area. The focus then turned to the national picture where the 160 nationwide swine flu cases were recognized. National then turned to global attention, with CBS letting us know that there are now 16 nations worldwide who have reported cases of swine flu.
Next on the news agenda was completion of the first 100 days in office for President Obama, an artificial milestone that all media has decided to legitimize. The focus of this report was the Republican scorecard of the first 100 days. Not surprisingly, Republicans haven't been too supportive of the Democratic president so far. They continue to point to Obama's ambitious spending plans as the wrong direction for America but this is expected.
From Republicans assessing the progress of President Obama, news coverage turned to focus on the GOP's comeback plan. The Democratic party, which now holds 59 seats in the Senate, one away from a filibuster-proof majority (which will likely happen once the courts decide the Al Franken case), have clearly become the dominant party, holding both the presidency and Congress. It has obviously been a tough climate for Republicans recently and it has left them looking for ways to rebound.
The Chrysler bankruptcy then took centerstage as well as new reforms in the credit card industry. Both news stories had mentions of what government was planning to accomplish with both struggling entities. Politicians, naturally, sided with the people and pledged to work in the public's best interest.
All major news stories covered tonight by CBS had something in common. They all had a political response from government officials. This goes back to the idea that the media need the press and the press need the media. It is a love-hate relationship because the politicians love being in front of the camera but the media love it when politicians goof up. People watching the news want to know that their democratically elected officials are responding to the issues facing their areas.
Unfortunately, this edition of the local news lacked any real entertainment (WARNING: youtube link may contain some explicit language). The anchors merely read the teleprompter and never moved away from it. There was no interpretation or discussion of the news stories like they do on most cable news programs but this allows the audience to formulate their own opinions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment