Oregon Media Insiders

Tell us something we don't know Peter. Your columns are just like the worst newscasts, just what we already know, with tillilating bits.
Let's talk about how the telecommunications act of 1996 started this current decline in news (given that since the time of Hearst there has been alot to complain about in news coverage in the USA) let's talk about profit, and how about the local group trying to challenge the licenses of the local stations, tell us about the owners, the news directors, etc. Try talking to a specific reporter about how the story came together.
I can sit at home on the couch and come up with the same easy column you wrote.

Since I know he reads here and sometimes comments, I wonder if he took inspiration from the "Cybersting" blog here? And of course the many intelligent comments we made?

If Carlin's point was that KPTV's newscasts are shallow, his column certainly wasn't any deeper. Why not a thoughtful critique of what they do citing examples with some analysis and comparison to other stations. Why not blast them for their decisions in how they cover news? Instead what we got was a KPTV's rundown on paper with some flashes and whooshs thrown in. Balls? I don't think so.

I wonder what's gotten into him. He hasn't done a sweeps piece in ages, like years--or at least it seems to have been that long. The last local TV story I remember him writing was the timeline of the KOIN sale in mid-2006. Now we get a series. I thought he was the TV critic, like national TV shows-type TV critic. I mean, that's what he says he is. I'm so confused now!

Not that I disagree with anything he says in this piece. But criticizing KPTV during sweeps--that's like shooting fish in a barrel. I love youse guys over there, seriously, but you know it's true. I wish you could take your great people and sense of style and turn out something that doesn't make me ill to watch, because lately I've been tuning out almost immediately after the top of the show until 10:32 for my boy Mark.

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Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

IMO, PAC wrote what a great number of people feel about KPTV...I agree with most of his "assessment" but (like one of the comments suggest) I think it would have been better if he got "insight" from those at the KPTV camp to hear what they have to say. That would have made things even more juicy!

Interesting that he carped on KPTV for presenting news that wasn't really news...in a column that wasn't really news itself. (Is it news that KPTV is the Weekly World News of local TV?)

Exactly. I thought it was disingenuous of him to say that he covered national TV to the exclusion of all else, just as it would be ridiculous for an Oregonian business reporter to say he didn't write about local business issues. It's worse, in a way, because there are plenty of sources for national TV criticism and hardly any for local TV coverage.

I suppose I should be happier that he's covering the local TV scene for a change. I just wish it was something more interesting or substantive than making the observation that KPTV is crummy. Or, as he put it: "Once it's done you feel empty, yet queasy, your dusty orange fingers signifying your shame in absurdist neon."

but I'd like to see the Oregonian take on a real story dealing with local T.V. news.
Find out what the new T.V. 'news' people are being taught in their ethics classes. Compare today's format to that of 40 years ago, find out what changes have been made, and why they were made (not tech changes, but ideology).
Get an interview with an ad exec and find out how much influence he/she has over news content.
We hear over and over again that T.V. news is mindless crap, I think a good story would be a local stations spiral from quality information years ago, to the evenings police blotter with fancy graphics today. Maybe we'll just find out that it has always been soley about ratings and therefore ad dollars and that the watchers interests have just changed, but I'd like to see a detailed story from a 'semi'-trustworty news source.

His writing about KPTV brings the issue to a much wider audience than our little ramblings here do. But yeah, I wish it would have been a bit more hard hitting. Maybe we will get more perspective over the course of the whole series. I do enjoy his writing for the most part, but that's mostly on the national scene.

he gave his opinion on a T.V. show. That's what he is paid to do, that's what he did.

He's not doing news, he's a columnist.

your obsessed with Mark Nelsen, ha?

and gets props for it?
Did he just start watching them?
What has he been doing all these years?
Oh yes, watching sitcoms.

Over the years, the Oregonian has rarely commented on the local news scene. Does this signal a change in their approach?

But, come on, this debate isn't exactly new. The "sizzle sells" story is atleast 25 years old, if not older. KIRO in Seattle turned crime into ratings in the early 80's. "Action News" and "Eyewitness News" themed newscasts are middle-aged. Why is this all of a sudden a story in 2007? We get it.

is exactly doing what Peter Carlin,Betsy Hammond and Steve Duin do, and all other columnists write about. An opinion on any given subject, and that is what Peter did. I agree what and how he expressed himself was shallow. He could have made mentioned that this applied to all of Portland TV stations. The crime report, weather report, and who is lost on the Hood makes for the nightly news, or what passes as nightly news. Of course the big boys do the same but with a little pizazz e.g. Nicole Smith. That is why the Internet is winning.

Yes, PAC did a good job at stating the obvious. However, KPTV is good at what they do, and I don't have a problem with them doing it. It's successful because people watch it. It's entertaining. But, is it news? There's more than enough time to do the sizzle AND the steak.
If viewers want popcorn shrimp instead of filet mignon, then that's what they'll get.
My opinion is that the station that's bold enough to do true journalism will probably be rewarded with more loyal viewers. Don't eliminate the other stuff. Incorporate it.
KGW is the closest we have, and that's why they dominate, except at 10.

Since he's doing a whole news show for KPTV which is an hour long, a half hour longer than most newscasts, I just want to know who is the Oregonian critic? I mean they have tons of fluff, death, destruction, heck they usually have a police blotter type section. Did he even bother to check what his paper wrote up that day too? I bet they had the 84 year old arrested as well. And Anna Nicole, and such and such. Another thing, is he just going to pick on one station or is he going to do all the stations during sweeps? Because if not, then he is really being unfair. He also needs to do some research, because again folks, KPTV FOX 12 and FOX NEWS are two totally different entities. He says all the opening stories come with the Most Wanted banner. They don't do that for every story off the top. And he rips on the fact that the anchors say tonight. Well, what does he want him to say since it is a 10pm newscast, not a noon time cast. And cybersting was done here before NBC did it. He may not have to follow all the rules of an actual journalist, but he should get his facts correct. Ten to one says this schmuck never even bothered to call KPTV. If this is the way he is going to go about critiquing the stations, then I guess we all are going to get slammed since he doesn't care about the whole truth.

at his column because every bit of it was so true. Sure, the other stations all do it to some degree as well, and even most of the stories that he made fun of in the column have been covered in the O as well, but KPTV is by far the epitome of just how far from real news most TV "news" content really is . . . Much of print too, for that matter.

and has been for more than a week. My biggest complaint about 12 is that they frequently leave out the WHERE and WHEN on their stories.

On another front - I'm sure some news director somewhere is trying to find a story that would include animals, snow and a sex predator.

You know its only a matter of time before a news outlet poses as a sex predator to find out who these real potential victims are then ambushes them and their parents to find out what the hell they are thinking inviting strangers over to their house.

I watch KPTV for Mark as well. Which means I watch them for about 20 minutes a week.

If so could be intresting straegy on KGW's part during sweeps.

Just an opinion and usually not a good one. Hell any if you could have Carlin's job.

Those who can't do, teach. Those who really can't do, criticize.

In an era of severe newsroom constriction, it seems that being a TV critic/writer is a luxury...unless that person covers the business angle, stays hyperfocused on local coverage, provides valuable insight, and (not so incidentally) churns out a ton of copy.

It can be done. The movie industry in Portland is smaller than the TV/radio industry, and yet Shawn Levy is an asset to the O; he's all over his beat like a horse blanket.

Carlin? Not so much. I don't see him rattling the branches outside the local stations, writing about the business decisions behind what you watch, or providing a critical eye or unique perspective on the industry. All of this was probably fine 10 years ago, but it doesn't make sense in today's newsroom, where the suits are looking for jobs to cut. You can argue that not being hungry/aggressive at the O isn't just limited to him, but it's also true that his counterparts at similarly-sized papers work harder and smarter. Telling readers that KPTV news is flashy and swooshy is about as newsy as, well, KPTV itself.

What a stupid article. Like all of Peter Ames Carlin’s columns about local TV, there is no credibility or insight. Anyone can sit and watch the 10 O’clock news and come to the same conclusion; I have. The last article I read from him about local TV and a ratings period, he made some wild, naive statement like “Once again, KGW is #1 is all time slots as it has been for 10 years

His commentary is entirely accurate, and he is to be commended for putting it in writing. That's his job.. to call it like he sees it. What's sad is how the other stations seem to envy KPTV's ability to pull off the banal and inane content-stacking in their shows. What i have a problem with is KPTV's penchant for qualifying entertainment as news..no big deal if what they present at 10 O'clock is a news and entertainment show---but it's NOT! It's presented under the guise of a newscast, which it clearly is not. Britney's shaved head and Paris Hilton's sex-life belong on "Extra", "Entertainment Tonight", "Hollywood Insider"..and the like.
They've gone from serving the viewers to serving themselves. Gone is the responsibility as journalists to maintain a standard; Perhaps all newsies should be sworn to an oath of ethics as doctors are. But then they'd have to uphold those standards..God forbid! The ratings would drop, and the ND, GM and sales people wouldn't see that fat bonus check that motivates them in the first place. MOTIVATION. That's what it's all about. What drives the people who work there.. money or journalistic responsibility? I ask because the two are clearly a conflict of interest. But I digress.

The Oregonian is not any better than local TV in covering local news. The paper's liberal biases show all the time.

That's a pretty sweet deal he's got there at the O. A few columns, a few junkets, occasionally meeting celebrities, not bad. Also time off to write a pretty good book about a subject he loves. I think he's a pretty smart guy.

I'm sorry but I don't give much credibility to any newscast that gives things away during the broadcast.

now HE knew how to rip television apart - he used to make me so mad, but he was a true critic. He made me think, after I calmed down a bit.

I get the feeling he was actually eating Cheetos as he watched, and then incorporated the snacking as a metaphor. His fingers prolly weren't the only appendage orange with shame!

Be kind to your Waitress!

Check out their political cartoonist who bashes anything to the right of Ted Kennedy and the fact that they run "Doonesbury" on the cartoon page instead of the editorial page and it will show which way they lean,