Oregon Media Insiders

Monday night in the middle of a long summer holiday weekend. I'm curious what kind of effort KOIN is going to put in to their 11pm newscast? I'm not expecting both anchors - Gianola and Day - to be on duty and I'm right; Kelley Day is off while Jeff Gianola solo anchors the 11pm newscast.

-There is a pre-show tease at the end of CSI: MIami that is read by Gianola. He tells us about a local Amtrak crash that has led to the deaths of four people. OK, I'm hooked. Despite the thoughtlessly edited pre-show video of the accident scene from the chopper - I'm sticking around. Too bad the really good video wasn't used. It would have given the pre-show tease much more polish. I'm prepared to be underwhelmed

-11pm Newsopen - Jeff Gianola solo anchors.

-Lead story: fatal Amtrak-involved accident kills four in Castle Rock, Washington.
This is the sort of story local television stations sink their teeth into; it's got everything: it's visual, interesting, continuing, emotional, affects people - and it's non-crime. This is an opportunity for special graphics, bullet points, maps, explainers, etc.

KOIN gives us their version of KGW TeamCoverage: a three box. Gianola is in the studio; Kohr Harlan at the scene and Joel Iwanaga at Portland's Union Station.

I haven't been charitable towards Harlan recently because I think he's been 'calling it in' during his live shots and packages. I think he's capable of so much more. He seems a bit more animated tonight but absolutely fails flat and fails to do a demonstrative live shot. He's standing at the scene of the accident, I can see people behind him but he fails to set the scene and show us, the viewers, what's happening right now. Are investigators at the scene? Pan the camera - give us a shot of what's happening! So he tosses to his story and while solid it's not particularly memorable. Harlan tells pretty much the what and where of the story but leaves off the who and why. Virtually no info on the victims until the tag and then he doesn't even mention the approximate ages of the four killed. And while he's live, he keeps talking about the lack of 'crossing guards' at the scene of the accident when I think he meant to say, 'crossing gates.' Too bad. His story had no locals - simply a sheriff's soundbite. I didn't watch Fox at 10pm - but am curious what they and the other stations had at 11pm.

Gianola now tosses to Iwanaga who fronts a vo/sot live from Union Station which is where most of the passengers ended up after being delayed four+ hours on their trip from Seattle. Iwanaga tries to make something out of this but it looks like he got there too late because he only manages one short interview with a woman who heard very little and saw even less. Any station would have gone and tried and get some sound from passengers, I just don't think they were able to get what they had hoped for.

Gianola buttons up the coverage with a still store graphic that reads, 'Deadly Accident' but doesn't even reference Amtrak in the graphic. Weak.

[All in all, this is what now constitutes 'solid' coverage for KOIN on a holiday weekend. But to be honest, the coverage was a sub par when it could and should have been great. Iwanaga should have been dispatched up to Cowlitz County to cover victims side of the story as well as community reaction since Harlan was tied down on the scene. But to do that would have required bringing in additional crews for the 11pm show; and I'm sure there was no one around to do that. Where is Jeff Alan when this stuff is going down? Not reachable to make some decisions? He's the big news director from Pittsburgh and Houston who has written a book on network anchors and coverage.] They should bring their soapbox downtown to Pioneer Square, I'll get up on it and say it like it is. Will they run it? Nope.

-Near drowning at a SW Portland school pool today - they have a vo/sot with an official and should have gotten some sound with parents and kids. They missed the actual incident at the Wilson HS pool.

-Clackamas River Drowning bodies have been recovered. We're told there have been 11 drowning deaths locally in the past couple of days. They have a vo/sot with another official.

-Holiday Weekend Weather update at 11:06pm
Gianola tosses to Baskin - once again omitting the SkyWatch Weather branding - so Baskin can tell us about some lightning strikes in the area. Too bad they use some of that video of the lightning strikes while they're talking about them. It's 'saved' for the main weather forecast coming up in 5 minutes. Weather at KOIN is a mess. They've got a weather guy who isn't credible and doesn't do a good job on a presentation front. If you disagree - then respond.

-A confusingly written story about a continuing fire in Estacada and then a reference to a fireworks related fire in Eagle Creek. I'm not sure if these are connected or what's going on. I'm confused. It's a vo.

-Homemade fireworks scare in SW Portland using an unnecessary map. They have a vo/sot with - you guessed it - another official! How about an interview with the woman who found the illegal fireworks and called the 911?

-Legal fireworks shows tomorrow night - info is displayed on a still store. There's no mention of the KOIN.com website which no doubt has a listing of local fireworks shows.
-Blues festival wraps up tomorrow night - it's a vo and I'm beginning to think we've seen the last of the news when....

-Joel Iwanaga has a package on a couple of houses vandalized by burglars in SE Portland. He's got good stuff here and this was probably originally the 11pm show lead until the train accident screwed up their plans. But with graphic video showing the damage inside one neighbor's house, why start the story with a shot of victim's hands while she's talking? Why not start with a couple of shots of the vandalism?

- tease 1 two suspects in custody in connection with last week's gang rape.
- tease 2 hit and run bicyclist.
- tease 3 lightning strikes. [now we get to see the video!]

break.

-Second man arrested in rape case. It's a mug shot and some court video
-Homicide suspect wanted - another map and mug shot.
-Victim's names released from weekend car accident involving a police car. Do we really need to know?
-Hit and run bicyclist is angered about being suspect not stopping after hit and run accident. vosot.
-Shuttle Launch: We see wallpaper file tape of the shuttle on the pad instead of taking the live NASA feed from Cape Canaveral which is now up and available for on air use. Must have been too much work to think and do such a thing. Right, just do what comes easiest - the viewers won't notice.
-Baskin - live from SkyWatch Weather Center. Gianola actually references the SkyWatch Weather Center - but Baskin doesn't pick up on it and run with it.

-Tease: 8000 mile walk by a Portland native.

Break.

-Man is walking 8000 around the United States. They show a map of his route and a quick sot with him. This could have been a pretty good story.

Break

Sports with Dan Christopherson. He's the generic replacement for Scott Burridge. He's Anymarket, USA sports/news anchor with very very white teeth.

All in all, a pretty typical KOIN performance. They were given a lot to work with and they did very little with it. They covered the basics - but were late to stories, got the easy interviews and didn't break any new ground. KOIN isn't reporting the news anymore, they're simply putting it on tv.