In a mostly feast-or-famine environment, reporter Chris Filippi of KCBS has been steady and solid on the possible BART strike story. Filippi's been on the scene since day one of the back-and-forth negotiations which have taken on a life of their own. But give him credit: unlike a lot of other breathless members of the local glee club, Filippi's methodical approach of providing information without sounding as if he was reporting the second coming was welcome and appreciated.
Granted, this is a difficult story to report because of the gag order both sides have stuck to; there's really been no official information or feel of how the negotiations were going until late Monday when the talks went past yet another BART union deadline--in fact, just plain common sense indicated that there was movement because both sides had much to lose in the event of a strike.
*As a reader pointed out, the "Breaking News"-fetish that permeates KTVU was evident with a "story" that was not a story at all Monday night...2, complete with sounder and graphic galore splashed a "Breaking... across its screen only for the viewer to see in fact that "Breaking" was no-breaking after all but a bank of microphones in front of an empty lectern. There was no breaking news.
*KCBS did a very good job as I pointed out. But their relentless plugging to listeners to send a text to the station to get back a text if the labor situation changed was over the top. I get it that it's important and a community service for commuters, especially, to have access to the latest info but KCBS went above and beyond in promoting its text deal after each and EVERY report.
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KGO RADIO LOL No One is at the helm of there Website when Disaster strikes. There was no BART Update after 5:20 pm Monday afternoon. The Update they did have looked as if someone running late posted it on the way out the door for the day. Haing up the all news format KGO you are a joke and a bad one at that. KGO should start playing Pre 1965 Country and Western for the over 90 crowd.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. For a all news station, they had nothing on the strike. KGO can't get anything right.
DeleteLet's see: Bret Burkhart back in New York receiving the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award for local reporting. Funny--no awards for KCBS at that event. what's going on Rich? From the inside, KGO is the # 20 or 24th ranked station in the market but the #6 ranked billing station in the market. Still an AWESOME BRAND you have to admit. I don 't think all of those salespeople were "leaving in droves" as you reported months ago.
DeleteYes, we actually turned to another channel to get some real news because KTVU felt like they had to say BREAKING NEWS literally every five minutes...just to recap what they'd already told us at the top. They've gone from the best news station in the Bay Area to laughing stock, and this is *aside from* the Asiana Airlines fiasco.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Filippi has calmed down a bit. I do recall however a few weeks ago stating on these here pages that Filippi was in fact breathless and overly excited the last time he covered the strike to the point of sounding giddy. Still solid otherwise though.
ReplyDeleteI flip around until I find something comfortable. I have been sticking with 5 because 2 and 7 act like it is the end of the world. Are they having a contest to see who can get more red on the screen? Plus the 5 people just tell you the story without all the theatrics.
ReplyDeleteChris is a real pro and a 'throwback' to the days when broadcast journalism was regarded as important in this country. Actually, KCBS and KQED FM are like 'islands' among much of the dreck that passes for radio these days in the bay area.
ReplyDeleteKTVU has a problem with the concepts of "breaking news" and "developing news" Of course," breaking news" is more alarming than "developing news" so it is used more.
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