In the months since Steve Schwaid became news director at WGCL, the station’s news department has shed a couple of embarrassing habits. It no longer obsessively leads its newscasts with “only on CBS-46″ exclusives, saving those moments for times when a) they seem to make sense and b) there aren’t other Big Stories that obviously [...]
Archive for September, 2008
29 Sep
Too few “massage services” ads…?
The AJC reports that Creative Loafing has filed for bankruptcy. “CEO Ben Eason said the filing would help the chain improve its online business while it reorganizes its operations,” writes the AJC. Fresh Loaf has been linking to other blogs that predict trouble for other prominent free weeklies, including layoffs at the Village Voice. But [...]
29 Sep
Ablaze: WAGA’s news judgment
Sweet apartment fire. “You’re like candy to me. But candy’s no good.” On Friday the Wall St. bailout talks lost and regained traction more local gas stations went dry the presidential candidates met for their first debate an aide to Rowland Barnes testified at the Nichols murder trial; … and WAGA devoted seven minutes of [...]
25 Sep
Lenslinger
TV news photographers don’t get enough credit. At some stations, they’re absurdly underpaid. At other stations, they’re being phased out. Yet they are the essence of TV newsgathering. “Without us, you’d be watching radio.” They like to say stuff like that. They are often multi-talented. Many are voracious readers. Some are gifted painters and [...]
25 Sep
Gassy McGee
Gasoline shortage / price stories often have a tediously one-note quality to them. Over and over, the video and storylines repeat. And it’s somewhat unavoidable. So give Ross Cavitt credit for pumping some life into his story on WSB at 6 Wednesday. Cavitt’s coverage from a Cobb Co. gas station had some surprising elements. An [...]
23 Sep
Addition by subtraction
On Friday, there was a shooting and kidnapping in SE Atlanta. Two stations managed to get cameras to the scene, WGCL and WXIA. Their approaches to the story were completely different, and quite instructive. Both stations appeared to get the facts right. One of them produced a broilerplate, garden variety package. The other produced a [...]
23 Sep
Winne Watch 9.19.08
“Sounds like they did him dirty — deadly dirty — when they lured Adams up a path across from his home and toward an alley on March 19th.” – WSB’s Mark Winne, Friday at 6pm, on an unsolved murder in Mechanicsville. Drama points: √√√ (out of 5)
22 Sep
Nichols trial live
Looks like two Atlanta stations, WGCL and WXIA, are streaming the Brian Nichols trial live on their websites. It appears attorneys will give their opening statements this afternoon. If you go to WGCL’s site in the half-hour prior to a newscast, you might also get an advance view of Rebekka Schramm’s taped package, fed from [...]
21 Sep
Gaseous clouds
Friday’s coverage of gasoline supplies and prices yielded some unexpected contradictions. What was the story? Depended on which station you watched. WAGA’s Chris Shaw told viewers at 10 that gasoline stations “sprinkled all across the Atlanta metro area” were suddenly experiencing shortages. In a Q & A with anchor Russ Spencer, Shaw told viewers the [...]
18 Sep
Satanic majesties
No doubt, we weren’t the only ones who howled with laughter when we spotted the current Creative Loafing in a box in Decatur. The cover photo of Bob Barr is delightfully evil. It is among several taken during a Libertarian Party fundraiser. Photographer Joeff Davis — if that’s his real name — used the tried-and-true [...]
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