What were they thinking?
You can look at any television ratings book and see KFSN, Channel 30, is the most watched station when it comes to local news. And 99% of the time the local ABC station does the solid work that proves it deserves that attention.
That is why when the station loses its focus the results just seem completely out of place. Just such a moment happened Thursday night. Any of you who stayed up past “Lost” saw the story. If you didn’t see the report, you at least had to have seen one of the 34,267,528 promotions for it.
The story that stands out like a sore thumb is KFSN’s report on Fresno’s Bigfoot connection.
There is a reason KFSN strayed so far from their usual solid path. Thursday was the first night of the May sweeps. This is one of the periods during the year when television stations use their ratings to determine advertising rates. More viewers mean more money. That’s understandable. Television stations need money to operate.
A few years ago, sweeps stories dealt with topics like “Picking Your Summer Bikini” or “Spring Break Fun.” But the political correctness police have made those kinds of stories less appealing as a viewer attraction.
The supernatural remains fair game.
But doing a story on Bigfoot in Fresno is just absurd. Is a story about alien abductions on the November sweeps budget? Could the Loch Ness Monster in Shaver Lake be a draw for viewers next February?
KFSN Reporter Gene Haagenson looked embarrassed he had been reduced to such tabloid journalism. His report offered as much news as possible. Even Walter Cronkite couldn’t put together a credible news story based on the facts one person thought she heard Bigfoot and another smelled the mythical creature. You go to most neighborhoods in Fresno and hear and smell strange things.
The report, which took up almost seven minutes of the 11 p.m. newscasts, was bad enough. But co-anchor Liz Harrison had to add a clincher. During the banter after the story she argued Bigfoot’s existence had not been disproved. That would suggest any absurd theory should be accepted until it is disproved. That’s good news for the Loch Ness Monster, leprechauns and the Tooth Fairy.
KFSN doesn’t have to resort to such snake oil stories. We expect better.
Comments:
One of the many reasons I'd rather watch CBS. No question 47 has better shows. ABC gets attention because they can afford certain things...thanks to the Disney money behind them. Money may mean flashy graphics and fancy HD but it doesn't mean quality news and interesting stories.
Posted by: Local Gal at April 25, 2008 3:03 PM
I thought the story was pretty interesting. If you do just a little bit of research on the story (instead of jumping to your obviously slanted opinion on bigfoot) you would see that a lot of scientists are beginning to believe in the 'possibility' of an ape species we haven't caught. it's more about thinking of this in scientific terms and not mythical terms. As for the story, ABC30 obviously handled it with as much 'journalistic' care as possible. What's wrong with doing an entertaining/informative story once in while? It's also obvious 30 was trying to tap into the 'LOST' audience with a story of this nature...good for them to know how to actually promote to an audience and then deliver on a story.
The other stations are so 'all over the place' with their promos and coverage, it's no wonder ABC30 beats them all like a drum! It also helps when other stations (47) create promotions that actually mention what 30 is doing on their news. They spoofed the Bigfoot story in a poorly produced spot to push their own 'yawner' stories. How STUPID can 47 be? I guess you just need to look at a ratings book to figure that one out.
Posted by: Local Guy at April 26, 2008 8:07 AM
BifFoot?
ohreaally...
I mean, he is all over the place (we gots da BigFoots, Old Red Eyes, da SkunkApe, and Jersey Devil back east...(and that's just in the garden state..)
How come nobody did anything on
'cupacabawaba,'
'chupacorncob,'
'chupachimp,'
er
ah,
'chupie chupie chompe',
'chupi-kopi',
'chumbawumb,'
uh...
um...
you know
that goat sucker fella...
(do not say that three times fast...)
Posted by: wet towel at April 26, 2008 4:58 PM
Decent report and glad they included Meldrum towards the end. The DNA testing may solve this mystery one day. These creatures could be Miocene Apes or some other hominid.
Go look at the Giant Panda story and how long it took westerners to prove its existence. Before that, said westerners thought it was just a Chinese myth. In Chinese culture, the Panda had been a reality for over 2000 years.
* * * * *
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/2695/gpan.html
The giant panda was not known outside of China until a French missionary and naturalist Pere Armand David is brought a dead specimen by hunters on March 23 1869.
In 1914, the first westerner to see alive panda was a German zoologist Hugo Weigold.
This set off a string of western hunters seeking a giant panda pelt. Amoung the the first western hunters to kill a giant panda was Kermit and Theodore Roosevelt in 1928. They were the sons of president Theodore Roosevelt. On April 24 1939, China issued an order that prohibited the capture of giant pandas.
Posted by: Joe at April 27, 2008 10:07 AM
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