Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Errol Morris Takes on MacDonald Murder Case - NYTimes.com

What are the chances that WUNC will be "coveirng" the argument in Wilmington federal court? Or mentioning this story or the book on air - except, perhaps, on the "State of Things"? Or the syndicated show, "The Story"? I am thinking more about "reporting" as in journalism.

Two minutes?

I wonder if anyone else wonders, if I do, about the critical news value of reporting repeatedly that three Republicans had been given "two minutes each" to speak at the National Republican Convention? I'd sure like to understand the news judgment decision process that produced that! I'd feel the same way, by the way, if it were three Democrats speaking in Charlotte at the National Democratic Convention. What news?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

GOP's Paul Ryan Stumps In Raleigh —

Another report read on WUNC mentioned something about RYAN doing a fundraiser at a private home. Why didn't the cracker jack reporting team at WUNC tell us which one? I can think of reasons an none is very good. (If it had been VP BIDEN doing the same thing, I'd be making the same comment.)

Friday, August 17, 2012

Search Results

This is the other major charity/non-profit rating organization. Lots of public radio stations listed here but no WUNC. Why?

Charity Navigator - Your Search Results

Why is WUNC not here?

wuncplone_webslingerz_com —

One might think, as I do, that the NPR report on eugenics compensation in NC today on All Things Considered might have resulted in some meaningful organization of at least this material on the WUNC site. But no, that did not happen. Probably everyone left early for the weekend when NC news only exists on WUNC if it happens on one of the feeds they broadcast from other organizations. I find WUNC's management of all this to be utterly astounding.

Record Corn Crop Predicted for NC —

Gee, if you hear/read this report, you'd think no one in NC eats any corn grown here - "nearly 100%" goes to feed animals and 1/10th of one percent goes for ethanol, it says. If we eat less than ethanol uses, what's wrong with this picture and what's wrong with WUNC that this doesn't pop up on the air or - God forbid - on their website by way of expanded coverage of the subject. I am increasingly convinced that WUNC consists of a group of entertainers/announcers who are much more focused on the way their voices sound than they area on what those voices say.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Last Motel —

During the day yesterday I heard a couple of promos for Last Motel saying that Trombone Shorty would be on the show. It sounded like a pretty big deal and having seen him perform overseas, I was interested in what he might have to say. So I tuned in at 6 PM. The first words out of the announcer's mouth were something like - "we'll get to Trombone Shorty" a little later, but first....". That lasted at least 30 minutes, when I turned it off in order to watch the network news on television. Commercial television is very good at this trick - telling people about something "coming up" and then making them wait through commercials and much wasted time in order to see whatever it was. There is no place for this in public radio. Either tell people that this is going to be in the second half of the show, spend some extra time and create a transcript, or stop the commercial promotion trick!