Monday, August 24, 2009

Make Death Advertise for YOU!

I don't know what the hell I was thinking watching this television channel for the late news, but DAMN...
ABC 22 News SUCKS.
They showed more shots of this craft store's owner, interior of the store, and frankly I learned more about this woman's involvement with this store and a California company she made displays for, than I did about the poor woman herself.

I saw a pic of her daughter, learned she was a runner and was 40, and that she was recently a grandmother.
I then saw the silver SUV that ran her down, and a picture of her in a runners line.

Then I learned about the craft shop,what she bought and what the shop's interior looked like. I got to see what she bought for halloween,what the displays she made for the window looked like. They showed the blog she wrote about with the crafting she did (apparently, according to this story, she was so busy crafting here and running there that her daughter must have raised herself)...oh, and only a quick blurb about 'gushing' over her husband on the blog (note, this is the ONLY mention of her husband)....fuuuuuuck...just plain fuuuuuuck...
and the woman at the craft shop shamelessly, and with little remorse in her eyes, seemed to plug her shop and the dead woman's involvement in her place as a quick blip-vert...just ouch. I will not shop a SINGLE craft store in beavercreek on the off chance this bitch might get some of my money.
This was NOT a story about the woman who was run down, this was an insensitive attempt to fill time that resulted in the cold-hearted delivery of a bad ad in the guise of a barely tolerable eulogy.

And thus my email to the channel...


"I was just subjected to a rather disturbing story for the 11pm news (Aug 24th 2009).
I am trying to sort out why the handling of a woman's unfortunate and early demise was reminiscent of an advertisement?
If you review your story relating to the beavercreek jogger's death, you might realize that it appeared to be more an interest story in a craft hobby shop.
The proprietor discusses 'halloween scrapbook' purchases in the piece, and the fact she's known the woman for less than a year (or so it was intimated).
Instead of coming off as short and ill-researched with desperate filler to seem topical, maybe a more accurate, if terse, story with a more in depth follow up tomorrow would have been more appropriate.
Think of the cold and calculated feel a story like this may have on your audience?

Between this, and poor editing involving regular interruptions leading up to it with bad blip-verts for your own news (overlapping on at least two commercials for movies I was curious about) I am beginning to think the limited time I spend in front of the Television may better be served with a different station.

Please evaluate how you deliver your stories a little less cursorily in the future...it may serve to fool the public into thinking you are more concerned about the story than the commercials."

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