The local news broadcast I taped to critique for this paper was the 5:00 News on Channel 5 which was shown on Monday, April 7, co-anchored by Joan Esposito, a 30ish white female, and Warren Saunders, a late 50's black male. I viewed a total of 13 stories which were comprised mainly of murder, weather and informational topics.

The "Top Story" was about a 7 year old girl who was murdered by a gang member while she was waiting in line to get ice cream. The story's time went for approximately 4 minutes and included 3 interviews of people, 3 different on-screen captions and a camera span of teddy bears on a fence.

The actual meaty parts of this story, that is, the facts, were fully given in this broadcast. However, interviews with crying persons of the gang members' families, and the little girl's school superintendent musing out loud on what this little girl could have become, was a total waste of time. Conversely, scanning the teddy bears was touching, but lent nothing to the telling of the tragic event that took this girl's life. I suppose the "powers that be" at the news station do not feel the public can feel on their own, thus we are constantly being given visual reminders of how sad a story is.

I can safely say that the Top Story of the majority of broadcasts that I view are murders. Based on that premise, the senseless murder of this child was an important story in Chicago that day. I do take exception, however, to the many visuals used to evoke emotion as the sadness of the story spoke for itself.

Apart from this story, the only remaining "news stories" consisted of a murder of a cab driver and two stories of missing persons. First, a 20 year old man was charged with the killing of a cab driver. The police were also looking for another suspect in connection with a different cab driver that was murdered last month. Then, there was a brief story of a 16 year old Caucasian girl from Woodstock who was missing, and finally, two boaters from northwest Indiana who had not been seen in 48 hours, presumably missing in the waters of Lake Michigan.

All of the above stories were accompanied by some sort of live footage, headline captions, still pictures, etc. Certainly, the "Top Story" of the day wins 1st prize on using all of these in an attempt to enhance its storytelling. Again, these kind of visuals may be pretty, but it reminds me of Sesame Street, flipping from one picture to another in order to keep a child's interest.

At the risk of sounding negative, as soon as I hear the word, murder, my mind tends to shut off. I believe the news station decides murders in the city are relevant and no matter what the circumstances, will broadcast them. The above stories were sad, but frankly, I don't believe we needed to hear them.

Interspersed throughout the broadcast were six informational stories that made up one-third of the total program. These "info bites" covered areas from a girl's puberty to a renter's rights when dealing with an uninhabitable home. Below are a few of these stories.

Story No. 1 entitled, "Music & the Mind," told of an educational study that had currently been done to show the correlation of good math and science grades for those students who are musically inclined. To substantiate their findings, a little boy who had exceptional math skills and played the piano was interviewed for this story.

This study appeared to have possible merit and upon further analysis, I think it was good information for parents as well as teachers. Hopefully, this story will prompt educators and parents alike to encourage their students/children to develop these skills.

Story No. 2 entitled, "Help for Homeowners," was tips for renters on their rights if their rental units became uninhabitable. If a rental unit becomes unlivable, it is suggested that you move out and pay no rent. Additionally, if repairs are not made, you then have the right to terminate the lease.

During the running of this story, a videotape of a male renter was shown moving his belongings out of his apartment. This footage certainly was not necessary, as the rights of renters stood for themselves. This story, on the other hand, was helpful for

renters. I also thought the timeliness of the piece was on target because of the storms and floods that accompany this season and leave many people without homes.

Story No. 3 entitled, "On-line Degree," was a story that told of an upcoming trend in receiving a college degree on-line. Videotape footage was shown of one woman, at her PC, who had received her degree this way through the University of Maryland.

I found this piece very interesting due to the fact that I am taking a college course on-line. I do not believe the newscasters did this story justice, however, as too little information was given. With the Internet becoming such a big part of many peoples lives, I felt an elaboration of this story was in order. This is an example of a story I really feel news stations should broadcast; a piece that is informative and relevant to the majority of the general public.

I would like to make one point. If there are not many murders for the day, does the news station keep tapes of filler stories on hand, like the above, so they are not caught with empty air space? I believe they do. I do not think Channel 5 is the only station who can be accused of, what I like to tag, mindless banter. But it is disheartening to me that we are being fed this drivel day after day by a small majority of people who think that is what the general public wants.

Finally, the last story broadcast was about a California angler who hooked a 350 lb. tuna in his boat off the Gulf of Mexico. It took six people to help the angler bring this tuna in.

Coincidentally enough, I think an analogy of this last story is in order. I believe the general viewing public is "hooked in" every day when tuning into the news, whether it be on at 5:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. We are so used to this pablum we are viewing, that we become apathetic to what true journalism is all about which is, the hard facts, and nothing but the facts. In my opinion, reading the daily newspapers, although not entirely ideal, is a sure bet in getting a substantial, well informed, news story. Tune into your local TV news station only if you want pure entertainment and you have nothing to do.