Fake breaking news
The next television sweeps rating period starts in May, and it’s clear that WLOSers are priming us, getting us ready for all the breaking news that’s suddenly going to happen. They’re preparing us by doing things with putting Jon “Punnyman” Le on a fake breaking news story now, just to get him ready.
The lead story last night at 11 was about a mini-van that crashed on Azalea Road near the WNC Nature Center. Three people were injured. Le was posted at Mission Hospital like somebody was dead. But actually, the wreck had been cleared up more than an hour ago, and police hadn’t released anybody’s names or their conditions.
With no idea of who was hurt, how they were hurt (other than “minivan wreck”) or how badly they were hurt, Le was left with quoting some eyewitness who said he saw the van come around a curve, go off the road and hit a tree.
That was the fake breaking news. We can’t wait to see the real thing during sweeps.
A chase
The cops chased somebody down I-26 before the driver ditched the car near the Brevard Road exit and took off on foot. The driver left what appeared to be a 5- or 6-year-old behind in the car. The cops hadn’t caught the runner by TV time.
Life in prison
Adrienne Smith pleaded to life in prison without parole for her role in the death of brutal beating death of Black Mountain businessman Harry Papaspyrou. Smith was the girlfried of Harry’s son, Teddy Papaspryou, who also faces first degrfee murder charges in the death.
Oops
Diva Darcel had a little bit of rough time at 11 – she was reading news about a scheduled execution, but Cherokee casino video was running on the teevee box. So then the diva paused, then they stopped the tape and ripped the camera back to Darcel. Then Darcel had to resort to her script for a few seconds before everybody got back on track.
So, the casino news
The news about Harrah’s Cherokee Casino was actually pretty big, even though WLOS buried it. Seems the leader of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, Chief Michel Hicks, and Gov. Mike Easley got into a pissing match during negotiations about letting the tribe expand gambling operations.
The tribe desperately wants live card games. All they got now is video games, and for real gamblers, there’s just no comparison. It’s all about “live” gaming. So the tribe and the state have been negotiating. Then it all recently broke down. Why?
Hicks said it was because the state demanded that it get a $10 million cut. Hicks said that’s taxation on the reservation, and he won’t go for that. The state said things broke down because Hicks got his panties in a big ol’ wad. “It’s hard to negotiate with someone having a temper tantrum,” an Easley spokeswoman said. Ouch.
Big woman
There’s nothing sadder than a quarter-ton woman who can’t get the help she needs to lose weight and save her own life. And that’s what Carolyn “Little Red” Ryan’s story Thursday was all about.
Vena Curry lives in Mitchell County and weighs in at 570 pounds, according to Ryan. She recently experienced chest pains after a bad tooth got infected. Somebody got her to Spruce Pine Hospital, where they checked her out, then turned her away, saying they didn’t have bed big enough for her.
The hospital officials were all serious about how their beds weren’t manufactured to the right standards for a person so big. So they said see ya. Poor Vena went back home to bed, where she moaned about her fears of not getting the medical help she might need. Spruce Pine said they can take her to Mission if she’s ever in trouble.
She told Carolyn she knows she’s going to die if she doesn’t get gastric bypass surgery and she wants someone to help her. Where’s Richard Simmons when ya need him?
Cheap gas
Go to northcarolinagasprices.com to find cheap gas prices around the state and around the mountains.
Solid election reporting – not
Thank goodness WLOSers are helping educate us about this year’s upcoming elections. All across the mountains, there will be races for sheriff and county commissioner and state House and Senate. So WLOSers jumped in there and covered a candidates’ forum for those running for Buncombe County sheriff. The event was sponsored by the local NAACP.
According to the report, the candidates talked about the need for more school resource officers, more officers on the street and tougher domestic violence laws.
There was only one problem – the report never named a single candidate, Democrat or Republican, seeking office. Nor did it offer a single quote from a candidate, or any specific information about each of the candidates, and there are several. Nice job.
3 Comments
Oh, "post-wlos," there’s plenty of room for everyone to take some of this blame.
Sometimes the problem is the reporters who don’t want to do a story and thus spend their day trying to make sure it doesn’t come through. Sometimes the problem is the producers and news managers who don’t listen on the rare occasions that the reporter isn’t just (take your pick): <ul><li>lazy, ticked off that somebody else is doing the story he/she suggested and thus he/she is stuck with the "lame" story idea <li>mad at being "stuck" in the 5pm instead of leading the all-powerful 6pm <li>mad that she/he has to work with a photographer she/he doesn’t like <li>still sore over being given the weekend or 11pm reporting slot that he/she deserves rather than the 6/11pm anchor job that he/she believes is his/her entitlement <li>upset that even after these years of hearing about it nearly every day, WLOS still doesn’t do things "the way we did in Macon" or wherever <li>etc.</ul>
The news coverage often sucks, but it’s rarely the fault of only one newsroom employee classification. It’s a team effort when it’s good, and it’s a team effort when it’s bad, despite the corniness of the "battery chargers vs. battery drainers" of Loebig’s philosophy.
One mistake in your otherwise fine summary, Ash. The dirtbag being chased on I-26 didn’t leave a child in the car. He hit another vehicle with a child in it and then left the scene. Hit and run.
The problem isn’t the reporters – it’s the producers and news managers who don’t listen to their people in the field.
Lots of times they’re told something isn’t a story – and don’t care.