The Maven wonders what was in the coffee (or the brownies), as the crew of WANE 15's First News Saturday conducted what could only be called a "giggle-fest" Saturday morning (10/6/18)
While bright smiles and an upbeat attitude work well for morning programs, the Maven noted that the atmosphere was more than just jovial for the morning broadcast as both anchors seemed to be enjoying a joke not shared with the audience.
The fun and frivolity weren't confined to just the West State studios, WANE 15's reporter-ette reporting live from a farmer's market seemed to get caught up in the fun. At one point, her giggles became so distracting that she actually turned her back on the camera and guest, to compose herself and then wrapped up her reported as she fought back the giggles.
Now, the Maven is known to enjoy a good laugh, but really, kids.
What was so damn funny that you couldn't share with the audience?
You left us out. The least you could have done is to share those brownies.
The Maven is often asked "why do you worry so much about typos and other trivials that the media publish?"
Two answers easily come to mind.
One is that the Maven is a cold and bitter man, left behind by an industry he once loved. One who finds nits to pick and axes to grind because he is no longer an influential member of the media.
The other, and more honest answer is that the media loves to criticize and find fault, yet rarely, if ever acknowledge their own shortcomings, ineptitude and/or ignorance.
It wasn't long ago that gray-haired grade school English teachers would wave around a copy of the local daily newspaper and admonish their students to "write like this. If it's in this newspaper, you know it's correct". That, was a while ago. Now, media, thanks to large corporate, profit-driven organizations must squeeze every penny of profit and will spare no effort in cutting corners and cheapening their product in order to make the shareholders happy. Couple that with a generation of kids writing news on iPads while sipping $6 coffee, living in their parent's basements who can't seem to be bothered with details of who, what, where, when and how....and you get results like this.
And that, kids, brings us to today's example of laziness and lack of quality control. It is clear that no one at WANE TV reads their final product.
Really? Reach and every day? Ruh roh is right. The likelihood of those words rolling off Chief Lahey's tongue and few and far between....unless, of course, you reside in the WANE TV news room.
