Milwaukee Journal Sentinel TV critic Duane Dudek watched the first 10 minutes of his local stations’ newscasts then broke each down into five categories of what they reported: violent crime, other crime, weather and accidents.
All stations aired variations of the same stories Monday night, but in different order and with different running times. All stations’ lead story involved the night’s frisky storm front and footage of a Nebraska tornado. Other stories included discovery of human remains at N. 13th St. and W. Juneau Ave.; increased police presence after a shooting at a convenience store, and interviews with the young girl injured in the shooting; and several traffic accidents.
The stations came out heavily weighted towards violent crime. According to Dudek, FOX affiliate WITI won the night and also led the other stations in violent crime reporting with 50.5 percent of its first ten minutes devoted to the subject. Connection? Who knows. Interesting? You bet.
WDJT-TV (Channel 58)
Violent crime: 45.6%
Other crime: 11.8%
Weather: 11.1%
Accidents: 6.8%
Other: 23.8%
Followed by: 2-minute, 44-second weather segment
Story no one else had: School drug-testing policy
Lead story after weather: Human remains found
See the other stations after the jump.
WISN-TV (Channel 12)
Violent crime: 40.5%
Other crime: 9.0%
Weather: 23.6%
Accidents: 7.5%
Other: 19.3%
Followed by: 4-minute, 9-second weather segment
Story no one else had: Summer camp weather drills
Lead story after weather: Human remains found
WITI-TV (Channel 6)
Violent crime: 50.5%
Weather: 16.3%
Accidents: 9.0%
Other: 22.6%
Followed by: 3-minute, 40-second weather segment
Story no one else had: Racine group’s anti-crime initiative
Lead story after weather: See above
WTMJ-TV (Channel 4)
Violent crime: 42.6%
Weather: 12%
Accidents: 6.1%
Nonviolent crime: 38.8%
Followed by: 2-minute, 38-second weather segment
Story no one else had: Reporter on drive-along with police
Lead story after weather: Security footage in convenience store shooting