Excessive Coverage of Edmond Fire

[drumsncode]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't need 40 minutes of coverage from 7pm to 7:40pm of an apartment fire that is burning an unoccupied building!

The firefighters had it surrounded, no one's life was threatened, it was just a big bonfire when all is said and done. Leave it to KOCO to turn a bonfire into a nuclear holocaust. They preempted the #1 ABC show for 40 minutes to drag out their excessive, sensationalized, overly dramatic coverage of a story which should have take no more than 3 minutes to tell.

Our local news media has lost its mind, and it has degraded to the point where coverage of any event which can generate spectacular pictures (like a big fire) becomes a pissing contest to see who can stay on-air the longest.

Congratulations KOCO, you pissed on everyone, including thousands of viewers who wanted to watch their favorite show.

[Midtowner]

To call them "news media" is an undeserved complement. Aside from running stories about what they read in the Oklahoman, TV news people don't actually know how to do real journalism. They just read from prompters, from newswire scripts, or they write 75 words to surround a couple of sound bites from a local police department's PIO.

[metro]

Agreed, only it wasn't KOCO, it was all 3 news networks with nearly non-stop coverage. Drove me nuts so I decided to clean house instead. They care more about local ratings than the serious ad money they preempted from their prime time slots that pays for their jobs to overhype trivial stuff.

Here's an audition tape for local news tryouts:

[Turanacus]

f'n ridiculous.

[smooth]

f'n ridiculous.

I disagree. That fire was the largest apartment fire I have ever seen in the Oklahoma City metro. Millions in damage and at least 6 hours to knock it down. I'm not sure, but I bet it went network.

[drumsncode]

I disagree. That fire was the largest apartment fire I have ever seen in the Oklahoma City metro. Millions in damage and at least 6 hours to knock it down. I'm not sure, but I bet it went network.

Yes, it was a big fire, exactly the kind of thing that makes KOCO salivate all down its own chin. But, it was just a fire, a big, stinking, bonfire at a construction site.

In one week, NO ONE will care. It was just sheer, gratuitous broadcasting, totally misguided without any consideration for the reason the viewers tuned in at 7pm.

Edmond did not change forever because of last night's fire. I drove around Edmond today, running errands. There was no nuclear holocaust, no dead bodies lying in the ditches, businesses were open as usual. It was "just another day". Somehow, the world went on unscathed, despite KOCO's heroic attempt to convince us that the world was coming to an end.

[Matt]

All this because you missed forty minutes of a two-hour show featuring celebrities dancing?

[venture]

I think the news stations were waiting (hoping) for the winds to spread the fire and make it a bigger story.

[duckman]

ABC.com - Dancing With The Stars - Home
Watch the full episodes and get over it.

[gmwise]

Hell who needs the locals, go to the websites and watch it on the net!!

KWTV went on with regular programming at 730pm, the trade off was listening to a Ogle till then.

[drumsncode]

All this because you missed forty minutes of a two-hour show featuring celebrities dancing?

That's right. I tuned in to see the #1 show in America and I was forced to watch a bonfire for 40 minutes with anchors repeating two-minutes worth of information 20 times over.

If a fire broke out during a televised OU game, how would all the OU fans like it? Do you think Sooner fans would throw a fit missing the first half of the game, or better yet, the last half?

The entire point is not what it covered up, but the fact that it was a ridiculous choice on the part of management.

KOCO has an extra channel, they could use it either to broadcast the regular show, or to broadcast their cheap theatrics. I believe they did something like this during some basketball playoffs. Why? Because they knew the station would suffer riots if they didn't.

Stations have lost touch with the desires of the viewers.

[smooth]

[QUOTE=drumsncode;264046]Yes, it was a big fire, exactly the kind of thing that makes KOCO salivate all down its own chin. But, it was just a fire, a big, stinking, bonfire at a construction site.

In one week, NO ONE will care. It was just sheer, gratuitous broadcasting, totally misguided without any consideration for the reason the viewers tuned in at 7pm.

Edmond did not change forever because of last night's fire. I drove around Edmond today, running errands. There was no nuclear holocaust, no dead bodies lying in the ditches, businesses were open as usual. It was "just another day". Somehow, the world went on unscathed, despite KOCO's heroic attempt to convince us that the world was coming to an end.[/QUOTE

There are a LOT of people who will care. The owners of the place, the people who possibly had leases presigned, the people who drive by, the families of the girls hit by the SUV, the surrounding businesses that may have lost business (not permanantly, but it cuts into revenue), the city of Edmond, Oklahoma County, people with compassion (it's sad that is not as common now), passers by who see the rubble...

That's a LOT of people. Plus, one of the first things a journaism student learns is "if it bleeds, it leads'" Moreover, it stopped traffic for hours. The families of the people in the traffic need to know.

If you don't like the coverage, Cox has, how many channels to choose from? What is it?... 300? Change the channel.]

[gmwise]

The problem is it is on Publicly owned airwaves, there's digital and damn marquee scrolls..let them report it that way till its time for a local news cast.
The passerbys are rubber necks who stall and cause traffic problems, just like some damn storm chasers or some arsonists.
They feed off this type of crap.
MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, GO HOME !!

[Matt]

If a fire broke out during a televised OU game, how would all the OU fans like it? Do you think Sooner fans would throw a fit missing the first half of the game, or better yet, the last half?

I'd think that watching a disaster like an apartment fire would be a refreshing change of pace for most Sooner fans--at least this season, anyway.

I hear what you're saying, though, DNC. I'd be irked if it happened during one of my favorite shows, too. And it has.

But still--it's celebrities. Dancing.

[venture]

That's right. I tuned in to see the #1 show in America...

But NCIS isn't on until tonight?
Nielsen Television TV Ratings for Network Primetime Series - Zap2it

:-P I kid I kid.

[kevinpate]

> I was forced to watch a bonfire for 40 minutes with
> anchors repeating two-minutes worth of information
> 20 times over.

Did you call the policia? I woulda fought free and called the policia if some tv station ninjas burst into my house, and tied me up and forced me to watch their newcasts. No way, no how does anyone force me to watch anything in my own home. I am king of my domain and I call the shots, well, at least when the cat's asleep and the lovely doesn't ahve a show she wants to watch.

You oughta sue those freaks for forcing you to watch an apartment fire.
Unless of course, you really mean the remote was on the other side of the room and it was a really big room and the end of a long day.
;^)

btw, if it helps ease the pain, the laddies and the lasses with the great skills danced their hearts out,a nd the celebs tried to keep up, just like any other week.

[mugofbeer]

It reminded me of a time when I was at OU when there was a large apartment fire similar to this one that one of the local stations was covering during the 10PM broadcast. The anchor headlined the story with spectacular nighttime scenes of flames leaping 30-40 feet into the dark sky, then turned it over to the field reporter who loudly started her report, "Right now, the fire is contained only to the buildings that are burning!"

[gmwise]

"Right now, the fire is contained only to the buildings that are burning!"

Complete idiots!!
let me guess an Ogle?

[mugofbeer]

I wish I could remember but I am pretty sure it was a woman who is long gone - 30 years ago literally. It was such an idiotic lead to the nights major story, I've always remembered it and still laugh about it.

[drum4no1]

Its the herd mentality, one station does it so Ill be damned if we dont air it.

Truth be told, if the stations didnt cover it, more people would of complained that they arent covering local news and keeping citizens aware of danger.

I think a simple crawl alerting people to avoid the area would of been a nice compromise.

[mugofbeer]

Cover it, fine. But not for 40 minutes! Cover it for 1 or 2 and then maybe another minute later one until news time.

[Steve]

I've got to wonder if the tv news folks will ever realize that with the advent of digital tv they have the option of doing such live coverage on their secondary channels (KOCO, KFOR and KWTV all have them) and keeping viewers happy by maintaining normal content on the regular channels.
If I had to guess, these folks are creatures of habit and just haven't really figured this all out yet.
I miss the days when we got real news on tv, but I can't agree with the statement there are NO real tv news folks left. Alex Cameron, Gan Matthews, Kelly Ogle and Linda Cavanaugh all have had distinguished careers and I treat them as serious competition on any story. And there are several camera guys (Richard at KOCO in particular) who could kick my butt getting the scoop on a breaking crime or disaster story.

[drumsncode]

Some of you guys really miss the point, but I like the insights I'm reading from others.

And it's not about switching away from coverage I did not want to see, it's about being prevented from watching a show I wanted to see!

I really wish we could put pressure on stations to use their extra digital channel(s) in a useful way; that would solve a multitude of problems. Maybe stations are afraid to give us the option, because they might find out just how much we hate their ridiculously excessive coverage of so many unimportant things.

And I cannot possibly be the only one in the state infuriated by this. Surely the phones lit up at KOCO, and their InBox filled up with complaints.

And this all reminds me of the time that Frank Johnson (I think that's the weatherman's name) of KOCO covered up all but 10 minutes of an LPGA golf tournament just because of scary looking clouds, clouds which yielded no storms at all! I looked forward to that tournament all week, and I got a stupid guy lecturing about clouds for 2 hours.

[smooth]

Some of you guys really miss the point, but I like the insights I'm reading from others.

And it's not about switching away from coverage I did not want to see, it's about being prevented from watching a show I wanted to see!

I really wish we could put pressure on stations to use their extra digital channel(s) in a useful way; that would solve a multitude of problems. Maybe stations are afraid to give us the option, because they might find out just how much we hate their ridiculously excessive coverage of so many unimportant things.

And I cannot possibly be the only one in the state infuriated by this. Surely the phones lit up at KOCO, and their InBox filled up with complaints.

And this all reminds me of the time that Frank Johnson (I think that's the weatherman's name) of KOCO covered up all but 10 minutes of an LPGA golf tournament just because of scary looking clouds, clouds which yielded no storms at all! I looked forward to that tournament all week, and I got a stupid guy lecturing about clouds for 2 hours.

Most, if not all stations, are rebroadcasting the programs. You can always record them and watch them at another time. Major news is VERY important, at any cost. BTW. I did not miss your point. You missed ours.

[drumsncode]

Most, if not all stations, are rebroadcasting the programs. You can always record them and watch them at another time. Major news is VERY important, at any cost. BTW. I did not miss your point. You missed ours.

I didn't catch any signs that KOCO was willing to rebroadcast the show. Major news is VERY important --- yes it is. A bonfire of an unoccupied building shown for 40 minutes is not major news. KOCO was more interested in the cool looking promo they could generate from it, which they did within one day of the event.

And trust me, a couple of people missed the point. I don't want to attack anyone's views too directly; I'd like to maintain at least a shred of civility on this board. (You may have seen the days when there was very little on here!)

The most important thing is now that the big three stations all have extra channels, there's no excuse for not giving us the option to watch the network feed. I'm glad someone reminded me of that, and actually, it made me even more furious when I realized they could have shown the normal show on channel 5.2. The bottom line is that there is simply no excuse for not giving us the choice any more.