THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
IF IT BLEEDS, it leads. That's the shorthand of the TV newsroom, and it means let's start off the newscast with a story about murder and mayhem - hook the channel surfers.
Is there too much violence on local TV news? Are stations using news about crime and criminals to improve ratings and thereby increase revenues and profits?
At 100 TV stations in 58 cities, that is precisely what is happening, according to a survey conducted by a consumers' watchdog group in Denver.
Last year, the Rocky Mountain Media Watch conducted four national studies, calling them snapshots of local TV news in America. Volunteers taped the 11 o'clock newscasts on nights selected by the group - the latest was Sept. 20, 1995 - and then sent the tapes to Denver to be studied and analyzed.
No stations in Hampton Roads were included. But they will be in the future.
When Paul Klite and his colleagues in Denver, Robert A. Bardwell and Jason Salzman, ``developed'' the latest snapshot of local TV news in America, here is what they discovered:
News of crime and violence dominated the 11 p.m. newscasts, taking up 30.2 percent of the half hour.
In a typical 30-minute local newscast, 39.8 percent of the time was devoted to covering news, 12.5 percent to sports, 9.6 percent to weather and 30.7 percent to commercials.
Too much time was given to fluff and soft news - 7.3 percent of the typical newscast.
Anchors and co-anchors spent an average of 1 minute and 8 seconds chatting with each other.
``That's long enough to do another story,'' Klite said of the chatting time.
The 100 stations spent an average of 5.5 minutes of every newscast promoting and previewing the news to come.
Long enough for a substitute piece on, say, the environment, the arts and humanities, or education, Klite said. The group exists to challenge local news directors to cut back on the mayhem, reduce the commercials and offer programming to help cut down the violence in their communities, he said.
``Curb the excess. Crime and disaster make news. But coverage must be condensed into healthier proportions. Think of television news excess like toxic emissions that must be reduced to safe levels.''
Hampton Roads has no such air pollution, says WVEC's news director, David Cassidy. He's ordered his crews to avoid filming the bodies found within that yellow ``Crime scene. Do not cross'' tape. Channel 13's ``Crime Line'' offers the kind of antidote to crime which Klite and his colleagues want to see on TV screens across America.
``I believe that the local newscasts here are not driven by stories of crime as is the case in some other markets,'' Cassidy said. ``Television here is not as crime-hungry and salacious as it is in other places.''
In future Rocky Mountain Media Watch surveys, the Hampton Roads market will be included. Since Klite's watchdogs have not been at work here, I took a little survey of my own.
Conclusion: While some crime stories, such as the recent shooting of a Norfolk police officer, led all three local newscasts on the night it happened, the producers at WVEC, WTKR and WAVY generally do not exploit murder and mayhem.
On WTKR the other night, co-anchors Tom Randles and LeAnne Rains chose not to lead with a story about a hostage-taking in Portland, Ore., or the discovery of a body in a burned-out building in Newport News. Instead, Channel 3 started with a viewer-friendly story about reducing the cost of your home mortgage.
Klite and his colleagues in Denver would be pleased.
But I doubt they would throw roses at WTKR for taking a minute or two out of the 11 p.m. newscast for the lottery results.
``Do a minute less of chatter, save two minutes from sports, weather and the teases, cut down the time for commercials and mayhem, and you'd double the time available for news worth staying tuned for,'' said Klite.
Less chatter? Less happy talk on camera? Fewer giggles?
That's a habit hard to break. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
WVEC news director David Cassidy
Photo
WTKR's Tom Randles would have to answer for Lotto time.
by CNB