Breaking News: Local Fox News Affiliate Throws in the Towel
Posted by BKisida | Random Riffs | November 20, 2009
The current state of journalism is well known. No one is surprised anymore when they learn that newspapers are losing revenue and closing. No one is surprised anymore when television tabloid journalism receives more airtime and attracts more viewers than serious events. Still, it’s worth noting when media outlets fall by the wayside. And it’s worth pointing out when a half-serious blog run by volunteers (like this one) inadvertantly has more journalistic prowess than a full-fledged professional outfit.
Yesterday, the Fox News affiliate that serves Northwest Arkansas, KNWA, passed away after a bold attempt to water-ski over ferocious man-eating sharks.
Well, not exactly. What they did do, though, was probably worse. They interviewed a frickin’ vampire. And they did it with a straight face. They did it without laughing at the loser. They did it without laughing at themselves. In fact, they pretty much insinuated that vampires were real.
Now, I’m not going to pretend that before KNWA jumped the shark they were a good example of quality journalism. Even before the vampire interview they resembled student journalism, and it seemed intentional. They had a laid back we’re-hipster-cool-cats kind of style and hired female newscasters for their uncanny ability to look good in HD. But the vampire story was officially the last straw.
They’re not so cool as to make their videos embeddable, but you can view the vampire story, and pay your final respects, here.
That’s actually a pretty cool story. What other show would you find that on besides the news? It’s not jumping the shark in my opinion. Otherwise every freakin news station that ever did a story on a cute squirrel who befriends a dog would also as you say be “jumping the shark”. Sometimes we just have to have the quirky stories. Looks like you were grasping for straws on your end.
Hi Sarah. I agree that cute squirrel stories are overdone, but at least squirrels are real.
I’m not saying that the news can’t cover local people with mental health issues, but they ought to do so from a perspective based in reality.
Alternatively, they could remove the word “news” from the title of their program.
that appears to be the local NBC affiliate
I’m glad that you saw this as well, Brian. That segment created a running joke between Trisha and I for the last few days after seeing their “preview” of the vampire story the first night. Yes, believe it or not, they ran the vampire for two nights. It was like the central piece in their news segment. Awesome.
Whether or not the news station should have taken the “vampires are real” line, it actually is interesting to know that somebody locally likes to drink human blood.
I agree with both Stuart and Sarah, it WAS an interesting story. Similarly, David Koresh and the events down in Waco years ago made for an interesting story, but I don’t recall any news agencies referring to Koresh as Jesus Christ, though that is who he claimed to be.
Justin: It is some sort of partnership between Fox and NBC, i don’t know the particulars of it. Here in Fayetteville the news program I am referring to runs on the Fox network.
Actually the desire to drink blood has nothing to do with vampires. It is called Renfield’s syndrome, after the character Renfield in the novel “Dracula ” by Bram Stoker. However the condition is not recognized by most medical doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists. Another term, sanguinarian refers to a physical term for people who crave blood. Whether it is a physical or psychological condition who knows or cares. There are people who crave eating dirt, maybe they think they are earthworms!
One thing you learn in journalism, news is not “news”, news as we get it is for entertainment purposes.