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News :: Media |
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Medical Student |
Current rating: 3 |
by Mark Johnson
Email: trkyjrky99 (nospam) yahoo.com (verified) |
07 Jun 2003
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FROM WATCH DOG TO LAP DOG: WCIA Channel 3 NEWS
My personal letter to those at WCIA arguing for more local and investigative reporting.
I wrote because of how sick I was at their shameless promotion of Viacom. |
From Watch Dog, to Lap Dog: WCIA.
2 FAST, NOW WERE FURIOUS
I am writing about the 2 Fast 2 Furious news segment on channel 3 morning news of June 6th. The report shows action-packed car wrecks, violence, thinly clad women, and speeding.
The movie stars Ludacris, the same person who Bill OReilly denied a Pepsi contract because of immorality. Ludacris is, coincidentally from Decatur, which would actually be a local story. However, it was most obviously a feed from national headquarters, a trailer for Viacoms new movie. The problem is that this is taking up free time on our airwaves.
Since the telecommunications act in 1996, the percentage of air time as commercials is increasing. Now, we also have these “stories” that are thinly disguised advertisements on our local morning news on top of more paid commercials. You may ask, if I didnt like the segment, why watch it? Coincidentally, I did change the channel only to see a very similar report a few minutes later on the local UPN morning news! Viacom owns the movie, UPN, and CBS.
THE REAL NEWS STORY: FCC RULES CHANGES
Without much news coverage, the FCC has passed new rules that allow for big companies to get bigger, and it repeals regulation for these companies to now own and control newspapers, radio, and television in the same market. Imagine if I bought a News-Gazette paper and saw a 2 Fast 2 Furious article on the front page!
News stories used to make politicians live up to their word, they required companies to become accountable for their actions. Why am I seeing poor Martha Stuart go to court, but I did not see Enron or WorldCom CEOs go to jail?
These FCC rule changes are only covered on free, public venues such as C-Span and NPR. It is time for local reporters to live up to their responsibility to the public. You are using the people’s airwaves. Serve your local customers in Illinois to better ourselves, not to serve some machine of a corporation headquartered in Texas!
TOPICS C-U IS INTERESTED IN
Here are some topics to discuss, if you have so much extra air time that you now shamelessly promote a sister companies movie and sell it for news.
Now there is a new climate of speak first, and let the dust settle later. Politicians are given the benefit of the doubt, but now ignore questioning into past statements. Remember those WMDs? Saddam Hussein? Osama bin Laden? Where are they?
More local questions about national concerns could be: how can the federal government so radically cut taxes the same time the state government is cutting funding? Are these two related? Why is my tuition going up, but Dick Cheney is going to get an extra $100,000 per year in tax cuts? Why are all of my working friends without health insurance? Why cant my other University of Illinois graduate friends find jobs?
Remember on the eve of our bombings in Iraq, when our commander in chief so eloquently spoke:
We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.
Why havent we asked why the president did not have a better plan for post-war Iraq? His entire task force seemed to be on convincing us that we need to go NOW. Little time was spent on what we would do once we got there. How well did we convey that respect by guarding oil fields but watching nuclear waste sites and national treasures be pillaged?
BE THE LEADER YOU ARE
Please accept this constructive criticism as a way for you to better our local news station. WCIA is the top rated news station in the town of my Alma Mater; I want it to serve this great community. Public sentiment is changing quicker than the news. We are getting sick of being lied to and sugar coated about everything. The climate of fear from the two wars and September 11 is leaving us with a morning after feel here. We need to figure out what exactly we did, and hold those responsible for any wrong doings. We also need to inquire into reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. More locally, we need to know how these tax bills so easily written off as economic stimulus will change the U of I, and C-U communities.
There is a new energized group in this community. I have seen it first hand. I recently went to a Dean Meet-up at the Office in Urbana. People are talking about these issues. People are getting angry and energized over our President, and the nations top contender: Governor Howard Dean. You can see for yourself at www.deanforamerica.com .
NPR and C-Span are garnering larger and larger ratings for a reason. It is because a lot of us feel that corporate and commercial news sources are no longer serving us. Please return to the great in-depth reporting. I know the Nexstar buyout has made changes to your operation, but please continue to serve the entire community. It will not only be reflected in ratings, but also in a better central Illinois for all citizens.
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See also:
http://www.deanforamerica.com
http://homepage.mac.com/leperous/PhotoAlbum1.html
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Re: Medical Student |
by Bernie
bernies (nospam) uillinois.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
02 Mar 2004
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This article says: "Ludacris is, coincidentally from Decatur, which would actually be a local story. "
Ludacris is not from Decatur (at least not Decatur Illinois). The references to "Decatur" in his lyrics are references to Decatur GEORGIA. |
