Breaking Hype Alert
The text message arrived on my cell phone at 8:29 Wednesday morning. It read BREAKING NEWS: Autopsy Report: Schiavo Did Not Starve To Death /- Details On KTVU.com
What?! Oh my, oh my!
But… but… but… we watched the whole drama on TV. We saw Dubya make a special trip half way across country to sign the absurd legislation that proved Republicans have abandoned their philosophy of keeping the government out of your life and off your back. We saw him, Tom DeLay, and other grandstanding politicians ignore "the sanctity of marriage" they care so much about, vilify Mr. Schiavo, and cater to the Christian right.
And, now we find out that she didn’t die of starvation! Oh my! She must have been poisoned! Or abused! The truth has finally come out! We were duped!
Well, yes.
Sort of.
But, not by Mr. Schiavo. Not even by Tom DeLay (this time).
Who then!? Who!? Who!?
KTVU.
I’m sure you’ve heard by now the autopsy showed that the cause of death was technically dehydration – not starvation. But, you wouldn’t have thought that from KTVU’s “breaking news” alert would you? The text message could have said “BREAKING NEWS: Autopsy report: Dehydration cause of Schiavo’s death”. But… nah. That’s too blah. That’s not exciting. That doesn’t hype it up enough to get you in front of your computer and find out the real story from those in-the-know boys at Channel 2.
So, now we see what KTVU’s “breaking news” alerts really are. They’re simply a tool to drive traffic to their website. That way KTVU.com gets lots of hits and they demand more advertising dollars.
Remember Ronald Reagan’s funeral? KTVU saw fit to send a “breaking news” alert when his funeral started. Gee… a scheduled event everyone knew about days and days in advance was somehow “breaking” news. Wow. Can't get anything past those crackerjacks at KTVU!
I have the highest respect for Dennis Richmond and Leslie Griffith. I can think of no other word to describe them than “professional”. They deserve admiration and respect for being the journalists they are. Let’s hope some of that rubs off on whoever is managing the website and the “breaking news” alerts. I’m thisclose to unsubscribing.
What?! Oh my, oh my!
But… but… but… we watched the whole drama on TV. We saw Dubya make a special trip half way across country to sign the absurd legislation that proved Republicans have abandoned their philosophy of keeping the government out of your life and off your back. We saw him, Tom DeLay, and other grandstanding politicians ignore "the sanctity of marriage" they care so much about, vilify Mr. Schiavo, and cater to the Christian right.
And, now we find out that she didn’t die of starvation! Oh my! She must have been poisoned! Or abused! The truth has finally come out! We were duped!
Well, yes.
Sort of.
But, not by Mr. Schiavo. Not even by Tom DeLay (this time).
Who then!? Who!? Who!?
KTVU.
I’m sure you’ve heard by now the autopsy showed that the cause of death was technically dehydration – not starvation. But, you wouldn’t have thought that from KTVU’s “breaking news” alert would you? The text message could have said “BREAKING NEWS: Autopsy report: Dehydration cause of Schiavo’s death”. But… nah. That’s too blah. That’s not exciting. That doesn’t hype it up enough to get you in front of your computer and find out the real story from those in-the-know boys at Channel 2.
So, now we see what KTVU’s “breaking news” alerts really are. They’re simply a tool to drive traffic to their website. That way KTVU.com gets lots of hits and they demand more advertising dollars.
Remember Ronald Reagan’s funeral? KTVU saw fit to send a “breaking news” alert when his funeral started. Gee… a scheduled event everyone knew about days and days in advance was somehow “breaking” news. Wow. Can't get anything past those crackerjacks at KTVU!
I have the highest respect for Dennis Richmond and Leslie Griffith. I can think of no other word to describe them than “professional”. They deserve admiration and respect for being the journalists they are. Let’s hope some of that rubs off on whoever is managing the website and the “breaking news” alerts. I’m thisclose to unsubscribing.
posted by Mark @ 1:59 AM
recently added to 
1 Comments:
At 10:30 AM,
digitic said…
I used to have the biggest crush for Dennis Richmond ... still think he's quite a looker. Very professional and seems so much more inteligent than those other newscasters/talking heads on other local stations.
I'd like to seee Dennis Richmond and Katty Kay (BBC International News) work together -- they'd make a fantastic team!
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