It’s not the first time we made a viewer mad, it most certainly won’t be the last. Sarah Saxon owns a restaurant in Dallas called Sali’s and she emailed us, outraged over our constant coverage of a shrinking economy. She says all we are doing is making things worse, scaring people into staying home and hoarding what little money they do have.
The fact is, we all know NBC5 and every other news station has a flare for the dramatics. No matter what you believe, studies have shown, you the viewer won’t watch us unless the story is dramatic. I heard someone say, “TV news is like pornography, no one admits they watch it and certainly no will admit they LIKE to watch it.”
Maybe we could tone things down, and yes sometimes I laugh at our own “Teases”. But I want you to know, the facts are not made up, the numbers are what they are. With that said, the viewers need to be engaged and smart enough to decipher, yes I said decipher, what we are getting at. Try to look through the hype and the real story is always there.
As for the economy it’s a strange beast, its huge and multi faceted. One person could think things are great, another might see things as bad as the great depression. Even the housing market changes from one zip code to another. As I said at ten last night, we only have 30 minutes to a newscast, not every angle can be told. We try to report what WE think is most important to YOU. Sometimes we make a bad decision, email us when we do. We really do read those emails and maybe if your lucky, I may even come out and do a story on your anger with me. As long as it’s dramatic enough 
May 8, 2008 at 11:00 pm |
I agree with Sarah. I believe we draw to us what we focus on and I think the news reports always focus on the bad/negative things. It seems like the great things that are happening in the world go unreported. I think as a society it’s time for us to take responsibility for what we are creating. I agree prices are high but the public already knows that I don’t think it needs to be sensationalized.
Of course I believe maybe the crime rates would go down if crime shows where not on tv every day for young impressionable minds to watch. We wonder why junior high kids are stealing but the video games we buy are grand theft auto—- dah.
I for one would like to see a balance between the great uplifting things in the world and true news worthy events. Thanks for what you do. Carol
May 10, 2008 at 6:32 pm |
Thanks for your interesting note. I agree with most of what you say except the video games teaching kids bad things. I was raised to know what’s right and wrong and I never confused my love of “space invaders” to actually attack another world!