As CJR notes, the study's claim that "hard news with high journalistic standards attracts viewers" doesn't take into account the cost of quality journalism, which may outweigh the benefit in audience size. Also, there is the correlation versus causation conundrum that (ironically!!!) bedevils pretty much all local tv "reporting" on "health" and "science." Like, maybe networks with large audiences and therefore high revenue can afford to do more and better reporting! And if their ratings drop they cut the budget and then can not longer afford real reporting.

But the Project for Excellence in Journalism wishes very much that there was actually a market for Excellence in Journalism. Maybe there is! People always say they want better news. People also say they hate negative campaign ads. People also say they're totally going to eat better and work out.

[Complex Blog]

“I’m kind of relying, my client is relying, on just the inner workings of that station,” said [Brent Williams, account supervisor at Karsh/Hagan, the advertising agency that arranged the deal]. “Not that editorial would ever give a heads-up to sales or be expected to give a heads-up to sales, but these are professionals. They do realize that some businesses’ brands, some businesses’ reputations, could be at stake in terms of how commerce and news are interacting here.”

Setting aside how the deal complicates reporting on certain topics, one also can't help but note how it highlights those parts of the news operation already considered journalistically weakest. For the Las Vegas station, the second part of the morning newscast can be sold for product placement, but not the first, since... the first contains the real, actual, trustworthy journalism? At other stations mentioned in the Times story, the entire morning newscast is marked off this way.

The stations are moving forward with the product placements despite the fact that the national news divisions ABC, NBC and CBS have ruled out such practices as misleading. It's almost enough to make one wonder if the local affiliates care more about ratings than presenting a balanced, helpful newscast.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take a break from all this journalistic hand-wringing and enjoy a crisp, cool Miller High Life. It is truly the champagne of beers!

[Times]

[Via The Big Lead]

At EveryBlock (now available for Chicago, San Francisco, and New York). I can get news from the whole city, a neighborhood, a zip code, or a specific block. I can see crime reports, Craigslist ads, zoning news, Yelp reviews, and Flickr photos.

I can see local news, which really should be the site's big draw, but I have a feeling there's much more out there than what EveryBlock aggregates. My neighborhood (SF's Mission District) has a local paper that doesn't show up, and I expected more info from the city's several alt weeklies. The promise of a site like EveryBlock is that it could win back the online readers who abandoned local papers for news sources like Drudge and blogs. This is the same problem others tried to solve with "citizen journalism" — but EveryBlock recognizes that the real journalists are still out there. They just need a modern delivery system.

The real scandal here, of course, is the total lack of Christian charity exhibited by the rest of the Big Apple's TelePrompTer mafia—it's past time someone calls them out for refusing to offer Tong shelter even as they berate us night after night with feel-good tales about 10-year-old soup-kitchen volunteers, or the rat droppings found at our favorite delis, or sports bloopers. Understandably, Kaity's Channel 11 colleagues shouldn't be counted on for much: co-anchor Jim Watkins is a vapid, vacuous shell of a haircut; man–boy correspondent Arthur Chi'en is a potty-mouthed lunatic; and ageless meteorologist Mr. (O.) G.'s nightly flapping of his bizarrely winglike left elbow suggests deep psychological trauma of his own.

But the silence from the other stations' "personalities" is pretty close to unconscionable. Surely, Channel 4's Chuck Scarborough, now riding high with his own 7 P.M. newscast that is almost, almost like making it to the Network big leagues, has a guest room or two to spare for a toxic mold refugee? And what of Channel 5's Ernie Anastos, Kaity's TV husband from 1984 to 1986, who's in the middle of a $10 million deal to host a whiz-bang 10-o'clock broadcast that takes at least two good doses of Dramamine to get through? No need to rely on the males, either: Channel 2's Dana Tyler, so shamelessly shacking it up with Phil Collins, must have an open pied-à-terre to lend the Tong–Callahans.

Oh, more names can be named: Sue Simmons; Diana Williams; Bill Ritter: gravitas begins at home, folks, and Kaity Tong is without one! Shameful! Anchors without moral anchor: Bill Beutel would have never stood for this.

I can confirm that "Dr." Max Gomez, Joe Avellar and Jane Hanson all got the boot from WNBC today.

Earlier: 'GMA': No One Really Wanted to Hear Hillary Anyway
Dexter Filkins Ain't Got Nothing on Local San Diego

INFAMOUS COLD CASE HELD U.S. IN ITS GRIP [NYP]
A killing like none I'd ever seen [NYDN]
Poll [NYN]

Feds Investigate Ex-NYPD Commisioner Kerik [FOXNews]
Bernard Kerik Mug Shot [TSG]

Earlier: Howard Safir Went to the Oscars and All I Got Was My Name Taken Off That Lousy Jail

Ask and ye shall receive: A kind soul sent us the video of Jodi Applegate's on-screen freakout, and it's every bit as enjoyable as we expected. At this point we feel any further comment would be superfluous; just watch and enjoy.

Earlier: The One Time We Should Have Been Watching Fox...

Right before I turned off my t.v. to go into work, I witnessed Jody Applegate from Fox 5 in the morning go absolutely ape over a stunt to guys pulled on camera. They were supposed to be promoting some movie they made about how easy it is to steal bicycles in the city, and they were using some sort of electric saw to cut through a lock when one guy starts acting like he's being cut by the saw. It was totally fake and completely lame, but Applegate freaked out, lectured them on camera, and then felt it necessary to apologize to the viewing audience after the commercial break, denouncing the pair as jerks.

Keep in mind, this is all after she has been on air trying to convince every male anchorman/weatherman in a 50 mile radius to take their clothes off....She even offered to strip down on t.v. herself.

...two guys that had just shot an indie flick about bike stealing in NYC were on demonstrating how easy it is to cut through most bike locks.

They were using an electric circular saw to cut the lock when suddenly one guy jerked and pretended to cut the other, who exploded a ketchup packet in his shirt. Needless to say, the Fox crew had no idea what was going on, and talking bobble head Jody Applegate totally lost her shit. She starting screaming at the guys to stop and yelling into the camera . . . breaking her "little miss sunshine" persona.

But one of the guys started to use an electrical saw on a piece of railing whilst the other guy fell on the floor screaming and grabbing his neck like he was choking.

Cut to Jodie Applegate flipping out and telling them to stop and that kids were watching the show and telling viewers that Good Day had gotten burned by theses "jerks" etc etc. It went on for a good 45 seconds and then cut to a commercial. When they came back to the studio Applegate was STILL raving. I couldn't believe it!!

I'm not sure if you guys would know anything about it, but when I turned on my TV this morning a little before eight I heard Jodi Applegate on Fox's 'Good Day New York' make the following statement coming back from a traffic report (transcribed from memory, so forgive innacuracy):

"We apologize to our viewers: we know that a lot of people don't like to see that sort of thing and most people don't like to see blood and carnage and gore at any time, let alone this early in the morning. Just know that we at Fox had nothing to do with planning that, we didn't know they were going to do it, and if we knew we wouldn't have had them on. They burned us. They burned us and we're never having them on again and if they're selling something on the internet you should not buy it."

Interesting fact about these submissions: Each one came with some variation of the line, "I'm ashamed to admit that I watch it, but on today's 'Good Day, New York'..."

Get us that video, kids.

Even more impressively, Len Berman's coverage of the Tour de France included the caveat that despite current leader Landis' avascular necrosis, "Floyd may have a bad hip, but, remember: Lance just had one nut."

Region Recovers From Harsh Weather [WNBC]