Watchdogs of democracy?

About a week ago, I finished reading Helen Thomas’s Watchdogs of democracy?: the waning Washington press corps and how it has failed the public. And I absolutely loved the book.

If you’re in journalism, interested in journalism or think the media is a left-leaning entity, I would highly recommend giving it a read. Thomas calls out the press for doing nothing when President Bush called on America to go to war with Iraq. She points out that it is the media’s function to question our leaders and ensure the public is getting all the information. “Gotcha journalism” is the biggest buzzword, but asking those kind of questions usually helps expose corruption or incompetence.

Thomas goes on to talk about media consolidation, and its impact on the messages Americans receive.

As Representative Maurice Hinchey once said, media consolidation “is the most critical issue facing the American people today: whether to allow a handful of people to determine what information we receive and influence the decisions we make.”

Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) summed up the issue well when he said the FCC rules “will lead to even fewer media giants owning and controlling what people see, hear, and read in America. That’s truly dangerous because the health of our democracy depends on multiple viewpoints being debates. When you have only a few companies controlling everything, you get one corporate view.”

Even if you’re not interested in the rest of the book, I would suggest picking up a copy and reading her epilogue.

She definitely sticks it to bloggers, saying they aren’t really journalists and shouldn’t be credentialed for events. Thomas says that “real journalists” work for papers, wire services or television outlets. But those outlets are the ones being impacted by media consolidation.

While blogging may be more of an opinion piece, in lieu of journalism, bloggers are digging up facts and writing posts that are in the public interest. The problem stems from writers who are pushing their opinions as reality, and the readers who believe those interpretations to be true.

Overall, it’s a great read, though. I would urge you to go out and borrow the book for a weekend.

Heading down Arkansas way

On another note, I’m in the process of getting ready to head out to the brand new terminal at Indianapolis International Airport. This will be my first trip through Weir Cook Terminal, and from everything I’ve heard, it’s fantastic.

I’ll be working this week’s Sun Belt game on ESPN+, Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State.

I was looking forward to heading to Arkansas for the weekend. It’s in the south, it should be warm, right? Apparently not. The forecast for tomorrow has the high at 48°, but we’ll be there at 7:00am and it’s going to be cold!

Rental car delicious-ness

I couldn’t believe I got this rental car in Monroe, Louisiana. A Ford Mustang? From an airport that only takes prop and regional jets? And they had a whole fleet of Ford Mustangs?

I guess I should look into moving to Monroe, LA, there’s apparently more happening there than it appears.

Tomorrow night is the 42nd Annual CMA Awards live from Nashville at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.

We’ll hit the air at 7:30 PM with the RTV6 CMA Countdown, our live pre-show special from the red carpet. As part of the pre-production for tomorrow’s special, I was asked to put together the open for the broadcast.

Here’s what you’ll see tomorrow at 7:30 PM following 6 News at 7:00:

The CMA Awards are closing in quickly.

Every November you can count on ABC to pull out the “country’s night to rock” line. The awards are Wednesday night in Nashville, and aside from the actual awards show, we send a crew down for our live CMA Countdown from the venue.

Here’s an early look at the promo we put together. It starts running tonight during primetime. My boss produced the spot, Steve shot Paul Poteet and the gang from WFMS, Kirk designed the 3D logo and I edited and added effects. Take a look:

Should be a good show this year, I don’t even like country music, but the awards broadcast is usually pretty fun to watch.

From abcnews.com

Wow.

That’s all there is to say about tonight.

Unfortunately, we still don’t know which way Indiana went this year. Blue? Red? A shade of purple is what we’re at now.

At least I know which image I need, and change is coming:

Barack Obama wins

I did my civic duty today. And boy, did it feel good.

It wasn’t even painful.

In Indiana there had been a lot of talk about how long it would take the typical Hoosier to vote. Some people have waited in lines for as long as 3 hours, just to get inside the polling place. I would have been glad to wait that long to make sure my voice was heard, but I didn’t have to.

My wait didn’t even come close.

I walked into Indianapolis Fire Department Station 5 around 9:50am; and walked out at 10:00am.

Easy. Simple. Painless.

Then I got to work.

Sweeps is always hectic at a TV station, but Election day at the beginning of ratings is especially crazy. I fully expect to put in 12 hours today, if not more. It’ll all be worth it in the end, though.

Instead of the typical “here’s what’s coming up at 5:00pm” promo, I took a different approach.

Here’s the spot that starts running in about 15 minutes:

We’ll see how long we’re on the air, and how long before we know who the President-elect will be.

(Some are betting we’ll know the next President by 11:00pm, I’m saying 2:00 or 3:00am)

Feel free to share.

Full images are 4500 x 6000 (approximately 10.5MB).

Barack Obama wins

John McCain wins

Sweeps is upon us, and that means not only are political candidates vying for your vote, but so are television stations.

November sweeps and elections go hand-in-hand. All the local TV stations try to out perform the competition by promising “the most experienced news team,” “accurate reporting,” or “trust.”

I could talk all day about my competition’s position on such issues, but why would I want to? Instead, I want to ask you: “This November, can we count on your remote?”