Channel 5 Eyewitness News at 5:00

A friend of mine recently told me his theory about watching the news: "They save the weather and sports until the end, because that's all anyone cares about anyway. You're forced to watch the rest of the show because you're waiting to hear what the high temperature will be tomorrow, so you can plan what to wear." Well, after watching the 5:00 news on Saturday evening, I think he may at least be right about the weather part. I heard three weather previews before they actually got to the full weather report; one at the top of the hour, one that was embedded into a news story about the Red River flood, and one right before the first commercial break. It was almost to the point that I didn't need to watch the weather report; I had heard it all already! And, in case I missed it, they ended the show with weather, too.

Here's a breakdown of the 1/2-hour show (27 minutes to be exact):

• 5:00 Quick preview of top stories: Murder-suicide, Red River, Winter Storm Approaching
• 5:00-5:07 Red River Flood Watch News Story. Coverage included: reporter's narration of situation in several locations; video footage of families being rescued, a house that is now an island, zoom in on water hose, a pan shot across sandbags; interview of Fargo mayor who spoke in a very serious voice; reporter standing at site speaking in a tense, excited voice; caption at news station that reads "presidential praise." At 5:06, they talked about how "the situation is changing by the hour" and how it's related to the weather. (That was their smooth transition to preview the upcoming storm for the second time during the newscast.)
• 5:07-5:09 Murder-Suicide News Story. Coverage included: reporter outside the scene; shot of street signs showing the intersection; voice over narration with a timeline shown on the screen; long shots of caution tape, cut to police officer, cut to people walking by scene, cut to interviewee, and finally a cut to reporter.
• 5:09-5:13 Advertisements
• 5:13-5:15 World/National News Stories. About 30 seconds were spent on each of the following stories: "Put People First" Demonstrations in major European cities, Space Shuttle Landing, Spring Blizzard in Kansas, and National Guard brought in to help with Red River Flood. 
• 5:15-5:18 Weather. They talked about the Winter Storm Watch first, then current temps, Sunday's highs, Monday's forecast, tonight's weather, Sunday again, and finally the 7-day outlook.
• 5:18-5:21 On the Road Feature Story. They discussed how people are designing gravestones to include images from their lives, not just words. I noticed how there was light piano music playing in the background, which was more relaxing than the sounds from the leading news stories.
• 5:21-5:23 Sports. Brief coverage of the High School Boys' Basketball Tournament, the Minnesota Wild's upcoming schedule, and the NCAA Hockey Tournament.
• 5:23-5:26 Advertisements
• 5:26-5:27 Library Fundraiser Feature Story. They discussed how the St. Paul public library needed donations. They interviewed one man in charge, using a comfortable medium shot, and told viewers if they wanted information on how to donate, to look on the KSTP website. 
• 5:27 Weather and Sign-offs. Recap of 7-day outlook, and an invitation to "Join us at 6. Hope to see you then."
• 5:28 Advertisements

Reflection: The first thing that comes to mind is just how many ways the newscasters try to convey information to the audience. I was overwhelmed trying to record everything; it switched too often. Reporters on the scene, voice-overs, graphs and charts and lists, interviews, different background music, different shots and angles for video footage; the information overload certainly kept my attention! Which is their goal, so well done, Channel 5.

I was also struck with the tone each newscaster had. The newscasters are supposed to maintain their audience's attention; one strategy is to speak with an excited expression. No matter who was talking or what was being talked about (floods, murder-suicide, weather, boys' basketball), there was a sense of excitement and/or urgency in their voice. This was made clear with the contrast of the Fargo mayor's demeanor; he is truly being affected by the flood, there isn't anything exciting about it, and his tone in the interview was serious and weary. 

Last, it seemed the newscasters referred to the channel's website at least 3 times. I wonder, is there a quota they need to meet? Beach asserts that more and more people are turning to the web for their news, so it makes sense that the newscasters refer to their site often. I thought it was very clever of them to end the last story with a reference to the website; it is probably more effective then than in the middle of the newscast.

Facebook: "It's baller"

For this week's media ethnography assignment, I chose to focus on why and how my 9th, 11th, and 12th grade students use Facebook. I myself recently gave into peer pressure and joined this social network and was curious about how the younger generation viewed their participation in this forum. 

PROCESS: Of course, I am not "Facebook friends" with any of my students, nor do I want to be, so I didn't actually view their profiles online. Instead, I gathered "data" by distributing an anonymous survey on the last day before spring break.

My first question was "Do you participate in any social networks?" 10 out of 60 said "no"; the rest said yes, and many participated in 3 or more groups! (No wonder they don't get their homework done; that's a lot to keep up with every night!)

The next question was, "Which ones?" Since most said Facebook, I decided to analyze only the surveys that discussed Facebook. 

Question #3 was, "Why do you participate?" I compiled their responses on a Word document, creating one list for the 9th graders and a separate list for the 11th and 12th graders, thinking that there might be interesting differences in the two age groups' responses. For both age groups, the most popular reason to be on Facebook is to keep in touch with family and friends. A few people stated that they used it to meet new people (one recently joined a group for the incoming freshmen at the college he/she plans to attend next fall), and that it was simply a good way to pass time. My favorite response was, "It's baller." I guess so.

Question #4 was, "How do you decide what to post on your profile?" Both age groups responded that they like to post "funny and cool stuff," "nothing too personal," and items that "show who I am as a person." Everyone took their audience into consideration, too. One 9th grader wrote that he/she didn't post anything that would "make other people mad," and an upperclassman wrote, "my parents, bosses, and peers are looking at my profile, otherwise I just try to be myself." Now, I did warn them before they took the survey that they shouldn't tell me anything that I would have to report, so this could explain why I didn't get more shocking responses such as those that are seen in the news...but then again, maybe these students are learning from others' mistakes? I hope, I hope.

My last question was, "How does what you post reflect your attitude or stance toward certain issues?" Most surveys came back with this part blank, "IDK," "?", or "I don't really think about it." The 9th graders especially had little to say. One student said "music, that's all I care about," and another wrote about how 4H was being cut from the county and she/he posted items to raise awareness to stop it from happening. The upperclassmen had more "issues" that they cared about, including religion, Japanese culture, politics, saving the environment and rainforest, 4H, and supporting the troops/respecting soldiers. They also said they liked to post funny YouTube videos and inspirational quotes.

CONCLUSIONS: High school students mainly see Facebook as a way to stay connected with friends and family when they can't see them in person. This is made evident when they claim that they only post items that reflect their personalities and interests, but without getting too personal since it is a public forum. The underclassmen really only talked about friends and putting "cool" things on their profiles; many had never thought about their stances on issues, or if they even had any. The upperclassmen did have more to say about issues, showing their maturity level in caring more about world issues. This makes sense, as they are almost finished with high school and will be "entering" the world in the next 1-2 years.

It was refreshing to see that students didn't seem to be too sucked into the realm of Facebook; they use it to keep up with people they know, but they aren't going crazy posting a ton of items or forgetting that they don't always know who is looking at their profile. They don't seem to see themselves as the main attraction; they're there to see what others are doing and to support unique causes (although they still aren't willing to post anything that would portray themselves as "uncool," so they ARE still worried about how others view them; it's just not blatantly obvious. :-)). 

Gizmoz

Here's my first attempt at creating a CA. It was interesting that most of the "female over 14 years old" costume options were swimsuits or summer tops...not a whole lot of options for a young female teacher to look professional yet unsexy

research paper

By Cmeister / 01-Mar-2009

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