Posts Tagged ‘MSNBC’

9/11: media remembrances moving

All this week, media channels in Erie and around the globe have been filled with stories and special programming marking the 10 years since the devastating events of September 11, 2001 in New York City, Washington, DC and Shanksville, PA.

MSNBC: Men secure a flag over a World Trade Center beam prior to transportation to Erie, Pa., for construction of a memorial to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

For me it is very easy to jump back a decade to that profound sense of horror, pain, and loss; not only in the immediate wake of the attack, but of the accumulated loss over ten years of wars, decimated economy, and internal national strife.

Those of us who were media producers on 9/11/01 instantly recall our efforts of getting the news out to the community, the hours on end radio and television news broadcasts, the extra edition of the Times-News, back-office staff filling roles where needed so that the organizations would meet the challenges of that horrible day.

Perhaps the most rewarding culmination of those extra efforts was United We Stand, the historical combined remote of all the Erie radio and television stations, well covered by the newspaper to raise funds for the American Red Cross and the victims of the attacks on September 20, 2001 at the Millcreek Mall. That sense of unity of purpose was unfortunately soon lost, and so our sense of loss in remembering is multiplied.

There has been some excellent reporting this week, with specials still planned on Sunday. Don’t miss this local content:

Poll: your #1 for cable news

When we asked P&T readers if the media was partially to blame for the public’s lack of knowledge regarding the huge deficit currently facing the Erie city school district, two out of every three thought that local news gathering organizations fell down on the job in keeping the district accountable. One in five said that the reporting was average or better.

In the spirit of our little April Fools fun, let’s ask a real question…who do you go to for 24 hour news?

Who is your #1 cable news source?

  • Fox News Channel (34%, 19 Votes)
  • CNN (30%, 17 Votes)
  • MSNBC (16%, 9 Votes)
  • Headline News (11%, 6 Votes)
  • Other (please note channel in comments) (4%, 2 Votes)
  • Bloomberg News (2%, 1 Votes)
  • Fox Business Channel (2%, 1 Votes)
  • I don't have cable (2%, 1 Votes)
  • CNBC (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 56

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Local NBC affiliates miss the Education Nation moment

Education Nation

NBC News Education Nation

This week, the broadcast, cable and online assets of NBC News are giving unprecedented coverage to what might be the greatest crisis our nation faces: the decline of our education system.

Now GE/NBC is not known for throwing a bunch of money around, remember, this is the network that brought us the 10:00 Jay Leno strip to save money from the episodic dramas they once and now again carry. For their week-long Education Nation initiative, NBC built a temporary studio and interactive stations on the mall at Rockefeller Center along with a new website,  and they are conducting big town hall meetings and interviews with President Obama and the like. The network is serious about putting the spotlight on the terrible statistics facing US schools and what can be done about it.

What is unfortunate is that seemingly few of NBC’s local affiliates have taken advantage of the moment the network has provided. In an online search of the Erie, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh NBC affiliate websites, as well as the 10 DMA markets immediately larger than Erie, only WGRZ/Buffalo and WKYC/Cleveland currently are making any attempt to cover a local angle to this important national conversation.

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A clearer picture of Apollo 11′s lunar landing

Where were you when Neil Armstrong took that “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”?

This 7-year-old was sitting on the TV room floor in our West Erie home watching Jules Bergman explaining the maneuvers on ABC. As NASA celebrates the 40 year history of the first moon landing, they have released digitally-enhanced footage of this historic event. Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News gives us some perspective of what it took to bring those pictures from the moon back home:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

NASA has gone all out to remember what is probably it’s finest hour. A full 40th anniversary site has been created, including a fascinating real time radio stream of all transmissions between the spacecraft and the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

An amazing tribute of technology and media.

Did Bush attack Obama at Manufacturer’s event?

1600 people couldn’t be wrong, right?

John Guerriero didn’t think so. While covering former President George W. Bush’s speech and question and answer session at the Manufacturer’s Association annual event, the veteran Erie Times-News reporter described “a relaxed and engaging citizen-in-chief.” Portions of Guerriero’s reporting went into the The Associated Press wire piece about the occasion was equally even-keeled.

However Washington Times reporter Joseph Curl saw it differently. In an article headlined, “Bush takes swipes at Obama policies,” Curl equated Bush’s reaffirmation of his capitalist and anti-terrorism ideologies, hardly breaking news, as attacks on the Obama administration.

Even though Curl admitted that President Bush repeatedly said that he would not directly criticize President Obama, the Times reporter took Bush’s defense of his eight years of policies as an attack on Obama.

In my review of the reporting, all it took was one reporter; even better, one headline writer of an influential newspaper to send the political class all chattering.

The Drudge Report had the screaming headline: “It’s On: W Slams O!” at 4:45 AM Thursday. That was enough to send FoxNews, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, USAToday.com, and even the NBC Nightly News into a feeding frenzy over the “fact” that President Bush took the gloves off.

That was news to the $180 a plate glitterati at the Bayfront Convention Center!

JET-TV’s Kim Thomas interviewed political leaders that were at the event, including Manufacturer’s and Business Association President Ralph Pontillo:

I’m at a loss as to why the national media is trying to spin this in a negative way when in fact the President never once spoke out against the current administration under any of the questions he was asked or in his presentation whatsoever.

We were not able to confirm any existence of the transcript of President Bush’s remarks before post time. But isn’t it curious and troubling to have everyone actually at an event relate first-person content that is totally at odds at what is now considered reported “fact” by a national media who did not even attend?

Or is this evidence of a national press corps that is so sensitive to any public comments that are contrary to the current administration’s policy, that just a restating of pre-January 20th philosophy is considered a slam.

Erie media and the time crunch

Over the past week I’ve made a significant observation: when I get out of my Press and Tower journalism mode, and act as a typical Erie citizen in my routine, I consume little traditional Erie media.

The reason why this is occurring to me now is that for the past week, I’ve had a few really big deadlines at work that have me concentrating on the tasks morning, noon and night, so my blogging juices have gone on the back burner for a little while. My schedule put me in a mode of everyone else who doesn’t have a regular blog deadline, and here’s what I found out.

When I was in radio, we talked about “appointment radio;” making moments that people would stop and change their routine to listen to. This past week, when my life made me just average busy Joe Cume member, I found that there is very little in Erie media that I’ll make an appointment to watch, read or listen. Perhaps the most regular consumption is 15 minutes scanning the Times-News with my coffee and cereal. 15 minutes of NPR or Barry and Jim on the way to work. More sporadically I’ll catch Sean and Selena, or Amanda and Kevin about once a week each. Music on the radio is a weekend thing, 80′s on Classy 100, swing on WQLN, and worship on WCTL. Like many, I find that media viewing and listening is a secondary action while doing something else: eating, driving, getting ready for bed.
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ETN’s Rankin: Inauguration ‘left me speechless’

I watched NBC’s coverage of President Obama’s Inauguration and it was apparent that beyond the “newsey” commentary by Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw, there was a special passion in the descriptions of the moment by NBC’s Lester Holt and Rehema Ellis. The reality of the first African-American President of the United States truly moved these hardened news veterans, who happen to share the new President’s race.

It occurred to me that members of Erie’s media community who are African-American would also have special insights to share. I must say that I was pretty shocked at the lack of proportional minority representation in our local newsrooms, but that’s a story for another day.

Tuesday evening, I was able to connect with Duane Rankin, Sports Reporter for the Erie Times-News. Politics is pretty far from his normal beat of covering the Erie Bayhawks, the NBA, and local college hoops, but this was a transcendental moment that greatly affected him.

Watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama left me speechless.

Here is a man who not only represents African-Americans, but he represents all Americans. He was able to tap into so many difference demographics and sections of our nation and touch them with words of conviction and compassion.

He understands where we are as a country and seems so up to the challenge of turning this nation around.

You can’t help but admire someone who is ready to take on a task of this magnitude. Growing up in Huntington, W.Va., I was taught that anything is possible through hard work.

Seeing Barack Obama under oath with millions of people watching in Washington D.C. and billions of others watching all over the world proves once again that anything is possible.