Week 8

WSB-TV
Channel 2 Action News
6 PM Broadcast
November 7, 2008


Viewing Log

Story/Time
Top Story: The ongoing trial of Brian Nichols is finally coming towards an end. Brian Nichols is on trial for a murderous rampage that he went on three years ago. He murdered four people (courthouse and government officials), carjacked five people, and kidnapped one person for escape. 4 min
Local News Story: Sheriff’s plan to improve court house safety to prevent any future incidents such as the Brian Nichols rampage from occurring again.
1 min, 10 secs

Weather: Brad Nitz provides the weather for the 3-Day forecast.
1 min

Commercial Break
2 mins

National News: Discuss President Elect Barack Obama’s transition into White House
3 mins

Local News: Fulton county election officials finally completes absentee ballot that will determine if there will be a runoff race between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin for the Senator of Georgia
45 secs

Local News: Plans from Chambliss and Martin are revealed for campaigning possible senate race runoff. Saxby Chambliss plans to fly in John McCain to help him, and Martin has contacted President Elect Barack Obama. Obama has not yet responded.
2 min, 20 secs

Quick Reports
Consumer Reporting: Credit card fraud is increasing as we get closer to the holiday season. Business will be checking the last 4 digits of your credit card to make sure that match with numbers printed that appear on the receipt.
Local News: New insights into the Brian Nichols’ case
News Ad: Stay tuned for ABC World News later.
About 30 seconds each

Commercial Breaks
3 mins

Local News: Brian Nichols has been found guilty on all counts of charges
3mins

Local News: Police arrest four people in connection to murders and a series of assaults in Atlanta.
1 min

Local News: Road Work
45 secs

Weather: More updates for the upcoming weather for the weekend and the week
2 mins, 30 secs


News Analysis
The news report began with local news reporting of the Brian Nichols case. Nichols has been on trial for 3 years and 8 months, a time period that has been too long for victims and the communities deeply affected by this tragedy. The seriousness and importance of this report was evident by the f the our minutes that were allotted to it in the news reporting. After a direct report on the Nichols case, a reporting of plans of improvement of the Fulton County courthouse was given. At the beginning of this reporting, it seemed as if this was a different local news topic until the reporting reverted back to the topic of Brian Nichols again. During these obviously related reportings, the stories were introduced by one of the stations lead news anchors, Monica Kaufman, but told in its entirety by one of its male news anchors. The news that the community will soon be safe from the merciless killer is rendered by the station’s white male reporter validates the news report.

The evening news continues their report by providing updated information on the elections for a Georgia senator. The updated report on the vote counting is given along with the candidates plan for a runoff race. Again, two different headline titles are used for reporting the same story. Maybe the use of the headlines is a tactic to keep the audience engaged in watching the news reports. During the 30-minute report, it seems as if I watched the news report on the same topics repeatedly.

Before the 30-minutes news segment was complete, the news station continued to provide updated reports on the Brian Nichols case. Clearly, there was an agenda behind all of these reports on Mr. Nichols. By the way, he was never given the respect of being addressed as mister. At least half of this 30-minute news had been structured as a tribute to the slain Judge Barnes that Nichols murdered over 3 years ago. It was if the news station were speaking to him and saying, “Judge Barnes you are not forgotten and we will do our best to make sure justice is served in your honor”. In addition, “your community and loved ones do not have to worry about a plague like this ever affecting them again”. Well, I don’t want to call any names, but I wonder what were the demographics for the people who viewed this evening report.

Other news during the segment included three minutes allotted to national news focused on President Elect Barack Obama’s transition into the White House which received less air time than the local weather. Other news stories briefly discussed consumer reporting, road work, murder arrests, and economy reports which all received 30 to 45 seconds of news reporting. It can be assumed that whatever affects a community the most is what is aired on the local news. No offense to Mr. Obama for the short time allotted to him during this news segment. Topics of concern to the Georgia conservatives were on the agenda tonight due to current priorities to ensure their piece of mind through justice and a republican elected official.


Teaching Critical Analysis

A possible teaching activity would consist of students choosing two different news stations to research and analyze. Students will gain research skills by researching what corporate companies own news stations and finding out the history of these companies. Research in the history of these companies should assist with helping the students in discovering what kind of ideological stance or perspectives companies have about the world.

Afterwards, students will choose a current major headline story. They will analyze how the two news stations report the events. Questions to guide their inquiry include: (1) Who are the news reporters (identify gender and race and impact on reporting news if any)? (2) Do they provide alternative perspective of news reports? (3) Do they use coded language and what group of people does this language appeal to? (4) Is the antagonist in the story humanized or dehumanized? (5) What types of headlines are used to report the story? (6) What kind of film clips of the story are used to report it to the public (any exclusion of material and affects)?

Once students have analyzed the story, they will compose their research and all findings in a comparison/contrast expository essay. Students will also create a 6-8 minute presentation incorporating some form of technology to present their findings. Grading will be based on a rubric that students will be completed by both teacher and student for grading.