Media Critique: WLKY vs. WDRB vs. CJ on Fluff Stories

Even though "Fluff" stories aren't really essential in our everyday lives, as humans, we tend to enjoy listening to gossip and celebrity break-ups over important diplomacy issues in Iraq. It's important to balance such stories with ones with more impact. Often times, news stations choose ratings over their own journalistic integrity. If you look below, you'll see the large difference between the percent of fluff stories in different stations. For example, WLKY has only 2% of its stories as fluff while WDRB has about 12%! Though I find it commendable that WLKY has so few of its stories on fluff, it might be more enjoyable for some of the audience and a news station should take into account the consumers interest and WDRB has far too many fluff stories at %12 but CJ has a good amount at 7% because it keeps a good balance between needs and wants. 

This graph shows the percent of fluff stories average in an episode of WDRB, WLKY,
 and CJ. Note how CJ is almost perfectly in the middle of the two extremes next to it. 

Class Response: Radio's Relationship with Music

Radio, though thoroughly demassified, is still very much a presence in today's society. What do most people listen to radio for? For the music. Though there are those who listen to news or political/sports commentary, music is very popular. In all, it was a very wise decision for radio to focus on music. Radio provides a free and easy way to listen to all of your favorite songs. Of course, radio music has also been demassified. Each specific station has one specific genre that it focuses on. Though music within radio has been demassified it was also what keeps a radio in every car and keeps them around at all.  

Media Critique: WLKY vs. WAVE and WHAS on Crime

Look at the graph below. Almost all of the points line up except for the category listed as "Crime". WLKY has almost six crime stories out of about fourteen per episode. This may just be because there is a sudden burst in crime when this data was collected but this isn't the case. Both WHAS and WAVE have significantly less stories. There are many reasons why this may be. Perhaps both WHAS and WAVE missed all of the high-profile crime stories but it is more likely that WLKY is digging up insignificant crime stories to make for a more interesting thirty minutes. This is breaking the Principle of Journalism "Make the Important Interesting". Reference the chart below for all of the data mentioned above.  

This graph shows how many stories of different types were in three different
stations. Make sure to look at the differences between the different data points

Class Response: TV, Too Much Influence?

Television had an overwhelming influence on the masses, as we discussed in class. When you see someone wearing an outfit on TV, you instantly accept at as an ordinary part of the fashion world. Someone watches a story on increasing crime in the neighborhood, then that person might begin to lock their doors at night. The question is whether this influence is a good thing or a bad thing. The answer to that question is a very complex and difficult one. It's the same as asking whether or not propaganda is a good thing. I think that it's really all in the way you use it. Obviously influencing the fashion world doesn't seem to be too harmful unless, of course, it becomes a TV trend for characters to wear a Swastika pins. It's all in the way TVs influence is used.

Media Critique: WHAS Comes Short on Stories

WHAS's number of stories per episode average makes very little sense. Though you can obviously fit more articles on a webpage than in a thirty minute show, shouldn't you be able to get all of the major stories from the television show alone? All of the other stations, though there aren't the same number of stories on both the webpage and the the television episode, there id never a distance larger than eleven stories but in WHAS's case there is a gap of about thirty-eight stories. You might point out that the news-crew over at WHAS puts out too many stories on their website but there is also, on average, about eight more stories meaning it doesn't meaning WHAS doesn't keep the general public as up to date as it should. To see all the data, look at the chart below.

This chart displays how many stories each of the news-stations in Louisville
KY had over a several-week period on average. Note the large difference
 between the data on WHAS and on all of the other stations

Classmate Review: "Media Review" by Yamini

I thought that Yamini's media critique of WHAS11 was very good and to the point, which is how you should format news articles. All of the points she makes about the news story "Carmel, Ind. named one of America's best cities-again" I can completely agree with. The story does not have local relevance nor does it have newsworthiness on its side. The only part of this critique that needs fixing is that Yamini accidentally used "peripheral" and "core" synonymously when in truth they mean totally opposite things but in the end it was clear that it was just a miscommunication and the message she was trying to get across did come through.  There is also a link to her article below.

Yamini's Media Critique 

A Classmate Review: "Car Crash Story..." by Cameron

I thought that this was an excellent review because not only did it state which law of journalism it violated, but Cameron also thought outside the box and wrote about what ulterior motives the news station might've had in putting up such an unnecessary article. She also points out how unspectacular the event in question was and though the story may have deserved some sort of reporting, it definitely does not belong under the "Top Stories" section of the news website. She writes in detail of why this story does not, in her own words, "meet journalistic standards". So, overall, a very good and thorough review. The link to her media critique is listed below.

Cameron's Media Critique