More job loss
Analysis:
This story announces that Brunswick is eliminating 115 production jobs in Muskegon and sending them to Mexico. However, the story is framed to minimize any negative attention on the company. First, the reporter shows kids at a bowling alley benefiting from a Brunswick program. The first perspective viewers hear is from the company President who says They are good employees who have made good quality bowling balls for us for years, and we feel bad about the fact that they will be losing their jobs. This clearly is intended to make the company president look sympathetic towards the plight of workers.
After more commentary from the reporter, they finally talk to a worker who basically says this will be bad for the community, but the reporter then ends the story by saying that the worker went back to college to get a degree, as if to say the job lose thing is working itself out in the end anyway.
Unfortunately, no real reasons are provided other than from the company president who said Brunswick wasnt profitable for years. There is no elaboration or verification of the reason given for job loss. Go to the Brunswick corporate website and you will find that from 2002-2004 there was a steady increase in sales and earnings over the past 2 years. It took us 2 minutes to verify the claims made by the company president, which according to their website were not true. Viewers might ask themselves what a difference it could make if reporters actually investigated allegations, such as the one from Brunswick, and what that means for the community. One last thing to mention is that much of the factory flight is due to trade policies. So, even though Mexico is mentioned as the destination of the jobs, channel 17 does not look at how NAFTA played a role in this, and they dont tell workers and their families who have lost jobs that there are some provisions for workers who lose manufacturing jobs to NAFTA.
Story:
WXMI 17 News reader – After nearly 100 years of making bowling balls in Muskegon the Brunswick corporation is moving production to Mexico.
Reporter – Michelle, 115 production workers, many who worked for the company for decades will be fazed out in one to two years. The news is devastating to many who say Brunswick is a major part of the community. Brunswick is doing a lot to help these kids score big. A kids bumper league at Northway Lanes in Muskegon, where the only place the ball can go, is to the pin. But just up the street there are no bumpers protecting Brunswick workers.
Factory President – They are good employees who have made good quality bowling balls for us for years, and we feel bad about the fact that they will be losing their jobs.
Reporter – One hundred and fifteen manufacturing jobs cut, production moving to Reynosa, Mexico. The President of Brunswick Bowling and Billiards says that the company hasn’t been profitable in years. Executives spent the last 12 months trying to avoid job cuts, but not everyone will be let go. Breathing a sigh of relief tonight are some 275 sales and supporter staffers in this building. Stopping production across the street should save the company about 5-6 million dollars a year, but what actually happens to the building once it is empty is anyone’s guess. The news doesn’t surprise Eugene Thompson, he heard rumors of job cuts a year ago. His mother worked for Brunswick. He was hired 13 years ago.
Worker – It is a sad thing. Like I say, a lot of people have kids and things. So, it is not just me, so it will affect this whole community.
Reporter – Back at Northway lanes, parents are concerned, concerned about the future of the city where they are raising their kids.
Parent – We are turning into a tourist attraction and our employment rate is just going down. It is a shame and it is going to hurt us.
Reporter – The transition will cost Brunswick $7 million over the next 2 years and as for Eugene he told us he went back to college when he heard the plant might close. He graduates next year with a mechanical engineering degree. He just hopes that the other 114 unemployed workers will have other options.
Total Time – 2 minutes and 16 seconds
Solving Childhood Obesity with Drugs
Analysis:
This story is a typical example of the health related stories seen on the local news in that the focus is on a product rather than an issue. Often, stories are aired promoting a new medication. Undoubtedly, this is in many cases due to the PR efforts of the drug manufacturers. While it is impossible to say conclusively that this particular story is a video news release, it is quite likely that the footage in this story was provided by the drug manufacturer as part of a PR effort.
This story does not give the viewer any information explaining why childhood obesity is on the rise. There is no information about unhealthy eating and exercise habits among youth. Nor is any information given as to the role of commercial media in promoting junk food and high fat/high calorie food to youth.
Story:
WOOD TV 8 News reader – Our children are becoming so overweight and the problem is so widespread that weight loss drugs are now being approved for teenagers. The latest research shows that this drug orlistat or xenical does indeed help prevent the worsening of obesity in children. More than a quarter of patients taking orlistat had at least a 5% decrease in body mass index. This expert said he saw a doubling of weight loss over just that one year period.
Expert/Doctor – I have used it in selected patients and some of them have gotten a lot of help from it. Sometimes it is just enough to give them a boost to feel their getting a result that helps them stay with the diet and exercise plan.
WOOD TV 8 News reader – The problem is that the drug is not indicated for longer than one year’s use so that after the drug is stopped the tendency is that the patient regains the weight.
Total Time – 49 seconds
The Local News Plays Matchmaker
Analysis:
Viewers should ask themselves what news value this story has. The story is trivial and it is from Omaha, well outside the viewing area of WXMI 17. It has no relevance to West Michigan.
Story:
WZZM 13 News reader – A Nebraska man doesn’t want to be lonely anymore, so he is advertising for a wife everywhere he can. No he goes by just his first name Harold. He is a truck driver and he says he doesn’t meet many women. On days when he is not driving he stands on an Omaha street corner with a sign for his website – will work for a wife.org. He also printed up business cards in order to billboard to help meet his mate.
Truck driver – Well I’d love to be married by Christmas if you want the truth on it, but I don’t know that that will happen.
Guy driving by – I got a former sister-in-law he might be interested in.
WZZM 13 News reader – Harold expects his wife search could end up costing him about $10,000. If you want to know more about him go to the news links section of our website wzzm13.com. If he gets married it is going to cost him a lot more than $10,000.
Total Time – 54 seconds
Patriot Act and FBI Report
Analysis:
This story reports on two seperate topic, the debate on extending the Patriot Act, and a new Justice Department report on pre-9-11 intelligence. The story on the Justice Department report is sandwiched inside this story on the Patriot act. By putting one story within the other, the impression is created that these two topics are related. While both topics are related in a general sence, there is no direct relationship between them. Patriot Act was passed after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. The Justice Dept. report is about FBI investigations prior to Sept. 11, 2001. By combining these two stories, the reporter is potentially biasing the story as a viewer may make the assumption that the Patriot Act is somehow validated by the Justice Department report.
Story:
WXMI Newsreader – President Bush says renewing the Patriot Act is critical to preventing another terror attack in this country. Hes demanding that Congress immediately renew controversial parts of the law that are set to expire in September. Fox 17s Grant Rampy is live in Washington with more Grant?
Reporter – Evening, Mike. This is day two of the Presidents push to not only extend but also expand the Patriot Act. The Whitehouse faces stiff opposition from civil libertarians, Democrats, and even a few Republicans.
President Bush stopping by the center where the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security Department now coordinate anti-terror efforts. As he makes the case that, thanks to the Patriot Act, those agencies are getting better intelligence, hes also warning lawmakers; the country will be hurt if they dont extend the law.
Bush – That doesnt make any sense to me that if somethings working, why should it expire? We need to renew the Patriot Act.
Reporter – Critics argue the Patriot Act steps on citizens rights. Theyre concerned that police can conduct secret searches. Investigators can find out what people are reading at the library and the Feds can hold terror suspects indefinitely.
Chip Pitts – The mere existence of such measures has a chilling effect on fundamental freedoms including speech and association, religion and belief, privacy, due process, and equal protection.
James Zogby – It creates a groundswell of support for those who would do harm to our country.
Reporter – As lawmakers heatedly debate the Patriot Acts pros and cons, the justice departments looking back at 9/11. A new report concludes the FBI missed five opportunities to stop two of the hijackers. Questions persist about whether the bureau has gotten any better about listening to its backroom analysts.
Andrew Zajac – I think it mainly just takes the bureau to task for not being aggressive enough in following leads pertaining to Al Qaeda pertaining to terrorism.
Reporter – As for the hearing that was held earlier today, it abruptly ended when Republican members stormed out. They say much of the testimony presented by the laws critics is irrelevant. Live of Capitol Hill, Grant Rampy, Fox 17 News at 10.
Total time: 2 minutes, 12 seconds
Selective Editing Concerning Election Reform
Analysis:
The article is about a task force of election officials put together by a non-profit group called The Election Center. This Task force put out a series of recommendations for reforming elections in the US. Chief among these recommendations is the creation of centralized “voting centers”, that is, a central locale where all the residents in a county could vote without having to worry about what precinct they are from. The article also states that the authors of the report “focus much of their attention on voters and poll workers rather than voting machines — the subject of so much debate ever since the 2000 presidential stalemate in Florida.” This was the only mention in the Grand Rapids Press version of the article about electronic voting machines.
Considering how contentious the issue of electronic voting machines where in the last election, it is reasonable to wonder why the issue of electronic voting machines was not further explored in this report. One possible explanation is that the Election Center has, according to the online source Source Watch received funding from Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., Election systems and Software inc, and Diebold Election systems, all companies that manufacture electronic voting machines. This fact about some of the Election Center’s funding is important contextual information and yet it was not included in the Grand Rapids Press version of this article. To give the reporter his due credit, the original, full version of this article does mention that the Election Center has received contributions from voting machine manufacturers. It also notes the Election Center report pointedly downplaying a widespread push for paper receipts from touch screen voting systems, a position also held by the electronic voting machine manufacturers. This information about the Election Center’s connection of voting machine manufacturers is important in that it brings into question the objectivity of this Election Center report and yet the Grand Rapids press choose to edit it out of the story before printing it.
Story:
It’s all about the voter: elections task force says
By Robert Tanner
AP National Writer
Published: Jun 07, 2005 12:54 AM EST
(AP) – The nation’s election administrators say it’s time to restructure elections to reflect the way Americans live, scrapping neighborhood precincts and Election Day for large, customer-oriented “vote centers” where people could cast ballots over a period of weeks.
In a new, sweeping report, state and local officials focus much of their attention on voters and poll workers rather than voting machines — the subject of so much debate ever since the 2000 presidential stalemate in Florida.
“We are looking forward, we are looking at ways to make elections better,” said Dawn Williams, who oversees voting in Marshall County, Iowa. She co-chaired a task force of officials and former officials from 15 states that was set up by the Houston-based Election Center.
So-called “universal vote centers,” introduced two years ago on a limited basis in Colorado, could end some of the biggest flaws in the way Americans vote if widely implemented, administrators said.
Such centers eliminate confusion over where to vote, since everyone in a county can vote at any center; reduce lines by allowing for more equipment and staff at fewer locations; and prevent mistakes by better marshaling well-trained election officials along with day workers.
“It addresses what happened in Florida in 2000 better than the (federal) Help America Vote Act” — the law Congress passed to fix elections three years ago, said Larimer County (Colorado) Clerk Scott Doyle, who came up with the idea. “It’s the way America lives. Why shouldn’t America vote that way?”
Doyle sought and won a change in state law that allowed him to replace 143 precincts with 20 vote centers. Larger facilities — hotel ballrooms and state fairgrounds — allow easier access and parking for voters, and more efficient concentration of resources for administrators.
“There’s an opportunity here to better meet our voters’ needs and save millions of dollars,” Doyle said. With vote centers, the county can save several hundred thousand dollars by buying fewer handicapped-accessible voting machines, since the new federal law requires one at each polling location, he said.
The report, to be officially released Tuesday, also backs a growing trend toward voting over days and weeks, rather than just Election Day.
At least 30 states have already broadened their balloting rules, expanding absentee voting to “no excuse” voting — so anyone who wants to vote absentee is allowed.
The task force also suggested that states:
—Prohibit companies that register new voters from getting paid by the number of registrants and punish those that misuse the process.
—Assist felons by providing them with a faster way to regain voting rights, where allowed, and better election information.
—Share voter registration information between states to avoid duplication and safeguard against fraud.
Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:
In some places, residents can also vote early, in person, as much as a month ahead of Election Day.
“We’ve got to look at how we make this better for voters at all points. Don’t try to fix the symptoms but say, `What is causing the problem and how do we fix them?'” said Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center, which trains election officials.
“Here are some concepts. They’re not revolutionary concepts, they’re evolutionary,” Lewis said.
The report also urges state legislators to consider an “independently verifiable” record of each voter’s ballot from ATM-style touchscreen voting machines that could be electronic, video or some other form — pointedly downplaying a widespread push for paper receipts from touchscreens.
Elections administrators have taken a fair share of blame for the nation’s electoral troubles in recent years.
Many critics say local and state officials have been complacent or worse about threats to the electoral system, including worries that people seeking to manipulate elections could hack into computerized machines and rig the results.
The faults in the machines are real and can’t be ignored, said Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer science professor. Election officials should heed the computer science community’s warnings, he said.
The Election Center has come in for criticism after reports that the nonprofit, nonpartisan group accepts contributions from voting machine manufacturers. Two members of the task force are former local election administrators who’ve formed their own election-related businesses.
The report is one of several continuing efforts to improve elections as disputes continue over 2004 results.
Most prominent among those was the 129-vote victory of Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, who won office on the third count of the votes. A state judge upheld her victory Monday.
Gangs in Grand Rapids
Analysis:
This story is problematic on many levels. First, it hypes the possibility that dangerous Latino gangs might be in Grand Rapids. The use of what FOX 17 claims is footage from a gang initiation video shows what are believed to be gang members beating someone on the ground. Viewers should ask themselves how channel 17 got a copy of the video, or if it was just a clip they got from another news service.
Second, the story is problematic in that they only provide the perspectives of 2 different law enforcement officials. What difference might it have made for viewers to hear from community based organizations or people who work with youth in the community?
Third, this story has the potential of perpetuating stereotypes about Latinos and urban youth. Several times when law enforcement officials are talking, the video footage shows urban youth, like the still photo included here. These images make the assumption that all urban youth, especially those wearing sports jerseys, are involved in gangs. Viewers should ask themselves why did channel 17 choose to use these clips of urban youth while talking about gangs? These kinds of stories which portray youth in a negative light generally outweigh positive stories and we have found in our own study as well as other media
Representation of youth research. Another way these stories stereotype is in the area of racial representation. We have documented that Latinos and minorities in general receive limited coverage in local news stories and when they do they disproportionately are represented in a negative way, generally as criminals. National groups such as the Association of Hispanic Journalists have documented similar trends in their annual studied known as Brown Out.
Story:
WXMI 17 News reader – Tonight new ways to combat an old problem…gangs. Two branches of the Federal government joining the fight with local police investigating and prosecuting gang members. Agents say the problem is getting worse.
Reporter – Agents with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, cracking down on Latino gang members like the ones in this initiation video throughout the countries biggest cities. They have been so successful they are now going to focus on gangs in all cities, including Grand Rapids. Especially members of international gangs from Honduras and Mexico, like MS 13 and SUR 13, what they call the most violent in Grand Rapids.
US Immigration & Customs Official – I would look over my shoulder, realizing that we will use every resource at our disposal to bring you to justice.
Reporter – The Kent County jail keeps track of 44 gangs, a lot of their members locked up here every month. ICE agents in Grand Rapids hope to use their federal authority to enforce criminal and immigration laws to put members behind bars or out of the country for good.
US Immigration & Customs Official – I would put on notice any gang member in Western Michigan. If you are here, if you pose a threat to public safety…ICE is going to look at you.
Reporter – And they are going to use any resource they can identify, deter and prosecute. They call their mission Operation Community Shield, but they’ll need help from local officers.
US Immigration & Customs Official – The federal resources are just not that great, so we have to work closely with our partners in state and local law enforcement.
Reporter – And federal ICE agents aren’t the only ones investigating the gang situation here in Grand Rapids. Soon the US Attorney’s office will be here as well. They have been ordered by the Attorney general to create a gang task force this summer to help combat the problem.
US Attorney’s Office – So we’re in the process now of evaluating the extend to which we have a problem and then by the end of July this year we are supposed to send in an initiative to the Attorney General telling him what we intend to do about it.
Reporter – US Attorneys say they need a unique plan. Most of the gangs in Grand Rapids are neighborhood based gangs in neighborhoods they hope to clean up.
US Attorney’s Office – They can’t affect a neighborhood in an unsafe way yet, more directly than perhaps some national gangs which are focused on bigger crimes, different crimes.
Reporter – In Grand Rapids, Dan Krauth, Fox 17 news at Ten.
WXMI 17 News reader – Officers say there are about 3,000 gang members in the Grand Rapids area.
Total time – 2 minutes and 26 seconds
Baghdad as “Fun City”
Analysis:
The ongoing war and occupation in Iraq has been receiving less coverage in the local news than previously seen. This short story about “fun city” was the only Iraq coverage on FOX 17 that day. This story does little to inform the viewer about the reality in Iraq. The story does acknowledge the “car bombs and terror in the streets” but is framed in a way to give the impression that things are improving since the amusement park is now open. This way of framing the story obscures the fact that violence and disorder are increasing in Iraq, not the opposite.
Story:
WXMI Newsreader – Despite the war that has torn its county apart, sounds of fun are returning slowly to the heart of Baghdad, it’s our Freeze Frame tonight. Fun City is an older amusement park built three decades ago in the Eastern side of the city. It closed during the U.S. led invasion and is slowly coming back to life. Families are going there to unwind, laugh, and escape the car bombs and terror in their streets.
Total Time: 23 seconds
More irrelevant animal footage
Analysis:
Another strange animal story pulled form a national news feed. Much like the WZZM 13 pieces on the “suicidal possum” or the “super freak calf”, this WOOD 8 piece is of no news value but is aired because of its compelling and unusual visual images.
Story:
Newsreader – There was a unique road hazard in Florida for the morning commute. A big alligator, right there, shut down a main road in West Palm Beach for about an hour this morning. A trapper was called in to tape the gator’s mouth shut and haul it away. Officers say that the gator did not threaten anyone; it was just sitting there in the middle of the road.
Total Time: 16 seconds
Yet Another Strange Animal Story
Analysis:
Another story featuring unusual footage of animals with no relevance to the West Michigan viewing audience. This style of “fluff” story has appeared on all three local TV stations recently.
Story:
Newsreader #1 – A Texas car owner has some weird noises coming from his car. It’s kind of a buzzing noise. It’s thousands of bees clustered near the back bumper of his car. The owner says he first found them spread out across the entire back of the car. Since then, though, they’ve all gathered in that one spot in the corner. The thing is, nobody’s sure why the bees picked that spot to hang on to. A bee keeper had to be called in to scrape them all off.
Newsreader #2 – Ugh.
Newsreader #1 – Ugh.
Total Time: 27 seconds
More Footage of Non-Local Crime
Analysis:
Here is another example of dramatic footage with no relevance to the West Michigan Community being passed off as news. Viewers should ask themselves why would this story even be offered by the news station in Kansas City to other news stations not in their area? Again, we see that compelling footage seems to be more important than local relevance.
Story:
Newsreader – Police caught a bold burglary on tape. The thieves backed an SUV through the doors of a Kansas City convenience store Sunday night. The men loaded an ATM into the vehicle and drove off. Police still haven’t found the suspects.
