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TRENDS
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Channel
30 Connects with Viewers By “Bringing News Home”
By Laurie Burstein
What began as a “major news experiment” last May is now a successful
weekly feature on KDNL-TV, ABC Channel 30. “Bringing News Home,”
is an unusual segment where the news is broadcast from a different
family’s home each Thursday.
During the 5 p.m. news, Anchors Rick Edlund or Gina Kurre can be
found talking to a family from their living rooms about the news
of the day and getting that family’s perspective on hot topics and
important issues ranging from school violence to traffic.
The object of the broadcast is to be innovative and interactive,
says Channel 30 News Director Jeff Alan, who came up with the concept.
“We want our viewers to have a say. We are giving people a forum
and by doing so, we learn first-hand what’s on the audiences’ minds,”
he says.
Alan points to an example when Anchor Patrick Emory spoke with the
Witherspoon family. While being interviewed in their north St. Louis
home, one of the concerns raised by Marvin Witherspoon was the funding
of a new ballpark with taxpayer money. Witherspoon also mentioned
the price of concessions. The next day, Channel 30 interviewed Cardinal
President Mark Lamping who addressed the concerns of the family
by letting them know that the Cardinals plan to keep tickets affordable
and that the Cardinals’ policy has always permitted fans to bring
their own food into the ballpark. This is a prime example of interactive
TV Alan explains.
Another point of the broadcast is to get a broad cross section of
families and viewpoints from throughout the St. Louis region. Families
are selected from recommendations by school districts and include
every income level, ethnicity and background. Grandparents raising
children, an almost homeless family, and a family with a disabled
child have been among those featured. Alan says he is not aware
of any other station locally or nationally broadcasting from viewers’
homes on a regular basis.
“It is refreshing to get out and let people express their viewpoints,
“Edlund says, who has been doing the broadcast since October. “People
are eager to respond and have a lot to say. And, they get two to
three minutes of airtime, which is very rare in our business of
10-second soundbites,” he adds. Edlund has talked with families
about a wide variety of topics from charter schools to rescuing
greyhounds.
Alan adds that people have an impact on what the station covers.
“This is a lesson for us as news people. We can learn from our viewers
about what’s important to them.”
Talking to everyday people about real issues during the news is
working on Channel 30 and the station plans to continue airing the
interactive news feature on a regular basis.
Laurie Burstein is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer
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