Bencredible

I was a wee bit disappointed at our local news stations in Minnesota. Every year we have the Minnesota State Fair which has the highest daily attendance of any state fair in the country. This is where the Minnesotans are, this is what Minnesotans care about.

While a local news station isn’t required to broadcast from the fair, I would expect that the people reporting on my community and telling me what is relevant in my community would be in the largest event the community hosts. If they don’t even understand that little bit, how can they even begin to deliver news that I would want to watch, that I would feel is relevant?

Sure, you can broadcast the same news stories from anywhere, but it is nice to see a station go to the extra effort to be with the people they are trying to connect with. This year was a huge dissapointment from almost all the stations. Here are some pics taken between 10:00pm and 10:30pm Friday, August 29th.

KARE’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

WCCO’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

KMSP’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

KSTP’s 10:00pm news program at the state fair:

KSTP - Channel 5 Eyewitness News was the *only* station that had a full broadcast going on at the state fair. Taking a look at the pictures you can see that it draws quite a crowd and I would fully expect their ratings to climb because of this.

Television news shouldn’t be about just reporting on fires, shootings and other depressing stories. Local news can be about bringing communities together, reporting on stories that people care about and making a difference in the community to which they serve. I’m impressed with KSTP (even if they are not HD yet, slackers) and very disappointed in KARE, WCCO and KMSP. Frankly this is out of character for KARE who usually tries to immerse themselves in the community. Maybe they are losing their touch and the new king will be KSTP?

Dunno, but kudos to KSTP for caring enough to actually make the effort, unlike your competition.