Literally? Totally!

It's a word that's so over-used, it's become more than just an annoyance, it's become a general pain in the ass. 

It's a word that routinely makes those year-end lists of words that should be banned. 

It's a word, like many, that's so over-used that it's generally meaningless. 

The word? 

Listen to any conversation at your local Starbucks or any group of over-educated Millenials, and you will hear it. The word?

LITERALLY. 

No, that's the word. 

So, when it makes it's way into the news writing, even in conversational story-telling, the annoyance factor kicks in. A useless word, holding no meaning, literally. 

While LITERALLY is the most notorious, check the list for more.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/09/these-words-are-so-overus_n_5447356.html

Local TV News

Sorry, no pretty pictures, just a link to a well-done assessment of local TV news. 

The issues that drive Fort Wayne viewers crazy are not exclusive to our market. 

http://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/local-tv-news/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=3c65befc89-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_07_12_01_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-3c65befc89-400229509

Journalistic Economics

A possible gang-related shooting at the Glenbrook Square Mall parking lot. Both TV news operations covered the story and did a fairly good job - heavy on details, and light on conjecture. Well done. 

But, the contrast between WANE-TV and WPTA/ABC21 coverage shows a sharp difference in their follow-up stories. 

WANE-TV plays it straight, adding new information and getting a usable response from mall management. 

Read the WANE-TV story here:

http://www.wane.com/news/local-news/1-person-shot-outside-glenbrook-mall/1242118336

WPTA/ABC21 takes a different approach. 

Read the WPTA/ABC21 story here: 

http://www.wpta21.com/story/38448264/new-details-released-in-shooting-outside-fort-wayne-mall

Relying heavily on the media press release from the police spokesman, as WANE-TV did, WPTA/ABC21 fills in the blanks of who, what, why, where and how and then offers something additional. The WPTA/ABC21 story uses their news product to go out of the way to reassure and comfort viewers that the malls are safe and secure. Besides the obvious ass-kissing, WPTA/ABC21 appears to be doing their best to protect the lucrative advertising contracts from Glenbrook Square. 

That, kids, is the economics of "journalism" in Fort Wayne TV news. 

Laughing At Media

The Emporer Has No Clothes.....

...the Media have no pride.

WOWO News with word of a PLAN crash...

Plan crash? Kids! Is that like a "plane" crash? The Maven has a feeling you'd never do that to an advertiser's name or commercial copy. 

At least the WOWO kids knew it was an aircraft.

The people in the pretty building on Butler Road left the airplane totally out of their story. 

Reading this story, it sounds like the pilot landed on his ass in the middle of a field without an airplane. But that's OK. Their newscasts save lives. 

WOWO News Comes Up A Little Short

The developers and promoters of the Electrics Works project at the former GE campus are doing something smart. Offering free tours to the public as a way to build excitement and leverage support for their project. 

When it comes to telling that story, seems like the kids at WOWO presented a big picture and only a laundry-list of dates and times. Other media, appear to have more "meat" in their stories. 

Don't try to read the fine print, but it's easy to see which news story was tossed together from a press release and which ones appear to be actual news stories. 

The WOWO story is on the left, WPTA21/ABC21 story is in the middle and the News Sentinel offering is on the right. 

While the kids in the WOWO news room have worked hard to restore credibility to the brand over the past few years, the Maven thinks they still have a journey ahead of them. 

Amazing Fort Wayne Facts

The Maven never knew the Embassy Theatre was THAT old!

The Maven loves WPTA21 aka ABC21, the gift that just keeps on giving. 

What other station could take a funny story about the planet Uranus (and it's disgusting smell) and turn it into an English pronunciation lecture? 

Rather than use the common pronunciation (ur-AY-nus), which would play into the joke, the male anchor went out of his way lecture viewers about the "proper" pronunciation of the planet's name (YUR-un-us) and spoiled what could have been a fun and humorous moment. 

Proving that Uranus isn't the only thing that smells, a few minutes earlier, WPTA21 aka ABC21 was forced to "correct" a story they ran in an earlier segment. Turns out that the fellow shot by a Dekalb County Sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop in Garrett 2 weeks ago is NOT DEAD and has never been dead, as the kids on 21 reported just 30 minutes before. Indeed, the man, Joshua Mumma is in critical condition and remains in critical condition. 

Setting aside the dripping hypocrisy of lecturing the audience right after committing a glaring reporting error, one might take heart in the boastful words of WPTA21 aka ABC21's "news whisperer" that their newscasts "save lives". 

It's true! They brought Joshua Mumma back to life right before our very eyes.