Maybe It's Not All About You

This was sent in by a Maven follower, and frankly, the Maven isn't quite sure what to make of it. 

On one hand, admitting and embracing one's personal strengths and weaknesses is important to personal and career growth. 

On the other hand, maybe some people don't share that same level of appreciation for you that you seem to have for yourself? How dare they!

Perhaps they are annoyed that you feel a need to read their profiles and diagnose their mental weaknesses.

As someone who has been in the public eye and often criticized on multiple media platforms, in this market and others for over 30 years, the only advice the Media Maven can give you is something Mrs. McCluskey, my kindergarten teacher told me. 

"Sometimes, it's not all about you or your feelings. If you give others the power to hurt your feelings...they will. Stand tall, and be yourself. You will do just fine". 

Don't let what others say ruin your Christmas. 

Sensationalism You Can Count On

At the close of their 6pm newscast (they call them "shows") WANE-15 breathlessly told us of breaking news. A plane had crashed at Smith Field and told us a crew was on the way to cover the carnage. 

As it turned out, an antique light aircraft (solidly on the ground) had lurched 15-20 feet and stuck a light pole, when the motor unexpectedly engaged during a maintenance procedure. 
While there was a "crash" involving an airplane, it did not fall thousands of feet from the sky, resulting in damage and death that WANE-15's reporting had implied might be the case. 

Other local media did not use the word "crash", instead, they stated the facts with little or no "shock and awe" as WANE-15's presentation seemed to portray.

 

It can be argued that the Smith Field incident might qualify as a "plane crash" in the academic sense, but there can be no argument that the kids in the million-dollar WANE-15 newsroom clearly played fast and loose with this story in order to add "sizzle" the story for fun and profit. 

WANE-15's Language Problem

Regular readers to this blog no doubt know that the Maven firmly believes that there's a "language" problem at WANE-15. 

Sometimes it just a minor bobble, like Saturday night's newscast where the young woman anchor substituted the word "disregarded" for "discarded" when wrapping up a package about local authorities gathering old, and out-dated prescription drugs.

 
Then there's the poor choice of wording when one is trying to be "creative" or "cute".

On Friday night's 6:00pm newscast, Sports Geek Colton Howard reminded us he would have the results of tonight's other "juicy" match-ups from local High School football games on the Highlight Zone at 11:00pm.

 
It was clear that Mr. Howard did not "mis-speak" and using word "juicy" was clearly his intent. It sounded odd, and perhaps, slightly inappropriate.

 
In nearly seven decades of following sports and reporting sports, the Maven does not recall ever seeing, hearing, or reading the word "juicy" to describe an athletic event. 

A couple of readers have emailed to ask "why so quiet, has local TV news improved"? 

The simple answer is no. It's just that the Maven has been paying less attention to the nightly disaster most call a "newscast" and spending more time living a life not attached to a TV set. 

Study after study has shown that local TV news is no longer considered top-of-mind to viewer's as it was a decade ago.  Like many in the audience the Maven just don't consider it a priority. It never changes FUBARs and all. 

So, just what did the Maven miss this past week? Just the usual...

WANE-15's Josh Ayen's reading a press release from the studio as if he has discovered the information on his own.

WPTA ABC21's Brien McElhatten's faux compassion dripping in his voice as he reads a story, but his facial expressions indicate he has gas in his lower tract.

Live "on scene" reporters essentially repeating the "toss" from the anchors. Usually this consists of the anchor saying, "now live to John Doe at the Coliseum" and the reporter nodding his/her head responding with "yes, that 's right, I'm John Doe at the Coliseum". Or, even worse, WANE-15's Chris Darby and WPTA ABC21's Jeff Neumeyer both mumbling "yeah..." and then presenting their stories. 

Something else the Maven missed is WANE-15's Colton Howard "yelling" the sports at the camera. 

Then, there's WPTA ABC21's Kaitlyn Kendall getting lost reading the business news and creating words that don't exist in the language. 

And then there's WFFT 55's 10 pm nightly newscast, that no one seems to remember is on. 

No, local TV news is not improving, it's just that it's proved to be an option, rather than a priority in people's lives. 

 

No-Show at the Car Show

This weekend's Annual Crimestoppers Car Show was well-attended by lots of folks...except the local media. 

This is a real head-scratcher for the Maven. Usually car shows attract large crowds, and offer TV stations plenty of visual content. 

So, for your listening and dancing pleasure, the Maven presents this Top Ten List direct from the home office in Tunker, Indiana:

Top Ten Reasons Fort Wayne Media Ignored the Annual Crimestoppers Car Show this weekend. 

10. "All our reporters went to Lallapaloosa in hopes of getting lucky. We were short-staffed." 

9. "Only old, blad, fat, white guys go to these events. Not our target audience".

8. "All that chrome would throw off too much glare, and damage our cameras".

7. "Does not help us advance the Defund The Police Movement we are told to support by local influencers."

6. "The cars run on fossil fuels and add to the carbon footprint."

5. "The cars were produced way before our reporters and anchors were born. They cannot relate"

4. "Was there free food and an open bar? We would have been there".

3. "Was the Mayor scheduled to appear? We always cover him, it's a state law".

2. "We heard that the General Mad Anthony Wayne guy was gonna be there".

Drumroll: And the number one reason Fort Wayne Media Ignored the Annual Crimestoppers Car Show this weekend: 

"Honestly, the dog ate the press release and pissed on the hand-outs. Sorry."

Ambiguous, At Best

The headline announces:

Most of us who have lived in Fort Wayne for any length of time should recall that Indianapolis Road runs from the airport and crosses I-469 on its way to Zanesville and points to the south. 

But the kids at Fort Wayne's NBC (the red-headed step-child sub-channel of WPTA ABC21) are pulling a fast one, on us. 

Actually, this is an Indianapolis news story, often inserted in local news coverage to fill in space or time on local newscasts. 

In fact, as the text indicates, no one is really sure of the thoroughfare's actual designation, because it's called a "street" and an "avenue" in the story.

What troubles the Maven is that the kids at FWNBC don't understand that their headline is ambiguous, at best, and misleading at worst. They also don't understand that such ambiguity/negligence might or would confuse readers/viewers into thinking that two men died in Allen county when they actually died 120 miles away. 

Someone should also explain why Fort Wayne's NBC is doing a disservice to their positioning statement "Focused on The Fort" by including news from 120 miles away and passing it off as what appears to be a "local" story. 

Golden Oldie - WPTA ABC21 July 7, 2017

Four years ago, it was the day before the opening of the 3Rivers Festival. 

And WPTA ABC21 gave us this:

 

An hour later, Baha's colleague (that's really his name) had more on the story:

Then, having had enough of the public panic, Fort Wayne Police spokesman Michael Joyner put the bullshit story to rest:

Doing damage control on WOWO's Pat Miller show the next week, Alexis Gray admitted that their facts were wrong...there was not an active shooter, but she insisted: "during breaking news, the facts don't matter. Our stories saved lives that day". Yeah. Saved lives from an active shooter that never existed. 

Ask Louie

On a slow news day, reporters will often "recycle" a previous story to fill their quota. Often, this is done by claiming that readers/listeners/viewers reached out to the reporter with "questions" about the story. 

The Maven would like to propose that Fort Wayne's NBC take things a step further, and create an Ask Louie segment for on-air and social media platforms. A great way to promote Louie and help fill those slow news days. 

"Dear Louie: Generally, should I wear high-heels or just stick with flats? - Jenny in New Haven.

Louie says: Thanks, Jenny. Flat shoes are practical and much more versatile than heels and are a far safer option in bad weather. Wearing flat shoes with a low heel will likely be more comfortable than high heels or extremely flat shoes". 

Yes, this is satire.

Really? A Journalist Wasn't Available?

A publicity stunt, or a way to solidify their audience base? 

Note: the above is the un-retouched WOWO news story announcing the trip, warts and all. 

In what can only be described as a step up from car dealer remotes and roofing commercials, WOWO's Kayla Blakeslee will tag along with Congressman Banks to attend what is best described as a Trump event at the Southern US border. 

A couple of questions:

Is WOWO paying her travel and lodging expenses?

Is Jim Bank's office using tax-payer funds or campaign contributions to pay for her travel and lodging expenses?

Will we suddenly hear a plethora of trade-out travel agent commercials on WOWO to pay for her travel and lodging expenses?

And will WOWO disclose any information about Kayla's remuneration for the trip?

When Will Fort Wayne Media Ask The Mayor This Question?

 A friend of the Maven posted this on Facebook this morning and it begs the question: When will someone in Fort Wayne Media ask the mayor, or his campaign consultants who created the Fifth Safest City in the Country commercial, to explain how that incredible claim can be made, in light of the violence that continues to take the lives of Fort Wayne citizens.

Will 15 Find Out? Will WPTA ABC21 Dig Deeper? Will Louie Tran return to journalism from his PR stint for the downtown rioters long enough to ask the question?  

No. Because they fear that they will piss off the Mayor and "lose their access" to get information for news stories. 

It's a laughable concern, since everyone knows that all news stories in Fort Wayne, originate from the Journal Gazette, and all others simply regurgitate what the JG says. 

So, when will someone go on the record and explain how Fort Wayne sets homicide records, but we're considered "safer" than most US cities?

Mass Shooting. Guaranteed Headline-grabber

When the WANE-15 News app alerted about a MASS SHOOTING Saturday night, the Maven quickly recalled the carnage at Indianapolis' Fed Ex facility recently where a single gunman killed 8 people. 

As more details emerged from Saturday night's shooting, an innocent woman, sleeping in her apartment had died by a stray bullet, and 4 others were injured due to what appeared to be a parking lot gunfight at the Villages of Hanna/Eden Green apartments.
While the death of anyone is tragic, one wonders why WANE-15 chose to call the tragedy a MASS SHOOTING? 
For the record, no other Fort Wayne media outlet called Saturday's loss of life a MASS SHOOTING. WPTA ABC21 and their red-headed stepchild Fort Wayne's NBC characterized the event as a GUN FIGHT. WOWO 1190 radio and the Journal-Gazette merely labeled it a SHOOTING. 
The Maven wonders why WANE-15 has suddenly taken to sensationalizing local tragedies, most recently explicitly describing a murdered toddler's injuries with the words "heart ripped in half". Is this a directive from Media Giant Nextar (WANE-15's owner) or just an effort to gain more ratings and increase profits by emotionalizing and event that takes a life? We may never know. 
As for the term MASS SHOOTING, there appears to be no quantifiable definition. 
Following the MASS SHOOTING at the Indy Fed Ex facility, Indy's WTHR 13 published and excellent story attempting to explain the use of the term. 
"Rand Company research found a common approach has been to set a casualty threshold of "four fatalities by firearm, excluding the offender or offenders." Research can rely on fatality data captured in administrative reports and, frequently, media."
So, absent a well-defined definition of MASS SHOOTING, the Rand research puts it best: 
"A gray area arises when media, researchers, academics and law enforcement agencies use different definitions of mass shootings for their separate purposes."
In WANE-15's case, Saturday night's tragedy is a MASS SHOOTING, because it serves WANE-15's purposes. 

Find the WTHR 13 story here:

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/fedex-mass-shooting/what-defines-a-mass-shooting-incident-fedex-randolph-street-adams-street-rand-fbi/531-7196f457-865a-4662-bd47-e5ea374d1857

If It Bleeds, It Leads

"If It Bleeds, It Leads" is an old news business phrase to describe how sensationalizing a tragic story will reward the news outlet with higher ratings, higher readership, and increased profits.

Today's tragic story of the murder of 17-month-old Aiden Mishawn Clark was reported by Fort Wayne local media. 

Most media outlets played it straight and reported the facts...and one chose to sensationalize, and exploit the child's death. Can you spot the one story that's not like the others? 

From WPTA ABC21:

From the Journal Gazette:

From WANE-15:

And the often-forgotten WFFT 55:

Which of these news stories would you be most likely NOT choose to read and/or explain to your kids? 

 

Who Is At Fault?

A dead body is reported to the police. They investigate. PIO makes a statement based on conjecture.

Neophyte reporter reports the remark as fact. 

Days later the Coroner's investigation proves the PIO's statement and reporter's story totally incorrect.

Who gets a reprimand? Or does anyone?

Read paragraphs 3 and 4 of the WANE TV story. You can find it here: 

https://www.wane.com/top-stories/fort-wayne-man-found-dead-from-apparent-gunshot-wounds/

Ten More Things I Learned From Local Media

11. Automobiles are being fined, apparently not the drivers of the cars. One would think that a human would be in a better position to pay the fine, than an inanimate object like a car...but if WANE TV says it, it must be true. 

12. That big church in Paris, France is interchangeable with that big university in South Bend, Indiana. 

13. Any FUBAR is always blamed on technology. It's easier than taking responsibility, unless an advertising sponsor is involved. Then, an intern is the culprit. (unless the intern is related to the sponsor).

14. If you criticize local media on their Facebook page or other social media, they will either ban you from the page, or will get their feelings hurt, have a good cry, and then withdraw to their "safe place" because what you said is "hurtful". Also note, that WPTA ABC21 journalistic standards for a news cast on the air, and a live social media broadcast are different. So, the jerky camera shots plus the hyperventilated rumor and conjecture during Facebook live reports are not only excused, they are celebrated?

15. Hands, feet, and guns are routinely used by criminals in the commission of a crime. Who knew?

16. If a listener asks you a question about a station promotion, and you don't know the answer, don't bother the K105 promotion director...just tell the listener to "lighten up". I'm sure the listener will remember your helpful text exchange if they ever have to fill out an Arbitron ratings diary. 

17. While you slept, WANE TV moved Mercer County, Ohio across the line into Indiana. 

18. According to WFFT, Fort Wayne City Utilities also offers natural gas and electricity. Who knew?

19. According to the kids in the WOWO news room, being accused of murder makes one a murderer...even before there's a trial. 

20. Glenbrook Mall must have good self-esteem, if during a power outage, they can remain calm and COMPOSED. 

More to come...

Ten Things I Learned From Local Media

1. Indiana Legislators are now personally arresting and prosecuting brick and mortar structures for selling cigarettes to kids. 

 

2. Someone has been prosecuted for murdering a vacant house.

3. Days of the week Wednesday and Thursday are interchangeable when it comes to weather forecasts.

4. Shootings are so commonplace in Fort Wayne, they are now rated as "horrible" and "non-horrible.

5. Andy Beckman is still trolling for a co-host. What's wrong with Andy? He's a great guy!

6. Did you know that the Embassy theatre is 900 years old?

7. WFFT is not aware of any plans to contain the COVID 19 virus and the Maven is unsure what Fort Wayne streets have to do with it.

8. WPTA ABC21 is confused as to who owns the Indiana Toll Road. (Hint, it's owned by the State of Indiana and has been leased to an operating company).

9. Pretty little anchors are not in tune with the priorities of their audience and must lecture them on what's important.

 

10. Unlike most reputable media outlets, WANE TV names the victim of a suicide. Family and friends must be thrilled. 

But wait! There's more coming soon!

Reserve the Cuteness For Babies, Kittens, and Puppies

 

WANE 15's consultant must have told the kids writing the news to be more "creative" and to "engage" their viewers. 

On tonight's 6pm "show" (their word, not the Maven's) WANE 15 featured a story about Indiana's State Senate blocking a bill that would have allowed residents to carry a gun without having to buy a permit. 

As the anchor dutifully read the package intro they eluded to the legislation being "shot down" by the lawmakers in Indianapolis. 

Picking up the toss from the anchor, the reporter-ette presenting her package report used the same, trite, phrase. In her sing-song, Bob Dylan-esque speaking style she informed us all that the bill had been "shot down" by the Indiana State Senate. To add emphasis, she added, a few adjectives later, that the bill was "dead" for this legislative session.

So, just why does the Maven have his BVDs in a bunch? 

First, gun violence, and the government's efforts to eliminate it are serious and divisive political topics. Today, President Biden issued executive orders impacting gun owners. And WANE 15's own broadcast of the CBS Evening News featured a breaking story about a mass shooting in Texas. 

Not cute and fuzzy topics or outcomes. 

The Maven prays that someone, anyone will be adult enough to remember that "cute" belongs in feature stories, not hard news stories. 

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. 

This is how it looked on Twitter:

Foolishness on Parade at WPTA ABC21

Hey kids: This is Linus Van Pelt. Linus (like most of the free world and parts of Arkansas) pronounces his name with a long "I". Kinda rhymes with "Lion".

That was not the case this morning, as the girl doing the story pronounced Linus' name with a short "I"...not once, but all through her story. 

It was clear to the Maven, and those who contacted the Maven about this "Baha Eldon moment", that this young woman had no stinking idea what she was talking about and did not seem to understand the correlation between the famous cartoon character and Project Linus, a worthy non-profit organization that has provided hand-made blankets to children in need, since 1955. 

https://www.projectlinus.org/

Also, readers, please take a moment and bow your heads, and hold a good thought for all these self-avowed genius Millennials who were born too late to have any appreciation for people, places, and/or things, that preceded their being born on to the planet. 

We may be old, but at least, we got to see all the cool bands.

Language Problem Persists at WANE TV

From the station that brought you Transpiration...

From the station that brought you Complains...

Here's WANE TV's latest challenge with English grammar and spelling:

While technology is usually blamed for allowing such a fubar, there is no excuse for not reading your work before publishing it (AKA hitting SEND). 

For you kids writing this stuff, you may not care about the "content" you create, but your audience sure as hell does. Each of these "nitpicking" examples were not discovered by the cranky Media Maven, they were sent in, unsolicited, by regular users of WANE-TV and its media platforms. 

They deserve better.