Local TV stations notice that something happened downtown

posted at 11:55 am on April 16, 2009 by MadisonConservative
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There are two Madison-based TV networks, WKOW 27, and Channel 3000. Over the last few years, I’ve come to the conclusion that between them, the latter tends to be less biased, largely due to 3000′s tendency to cover slip-ups by Governor Jim Doyle, whereas 27 will more often ignore such missteps completely. In all fairness, they kept up their reputation.

Local news stories on WKOW 27 are typically 2-3 minutes in length. Yesterday, they included such riveting topics as tips for taking care of your heart, why extended warranties may be a bad shopping decision, and that a Madison company is working on a component for the International Space Station(with plenty of focus on the fact that it would be named after Stephen Colbert). Oh yeah, and they had a 45-second snippet about something with a bunch of nuts at the Capitol.

Channel 3000 paid them a bit more attention, giving them a standard 2+ minute segment. They made sure to keep perspective on the numbers at the rally. There was a counter-protest by three people claiming we aren’t taxed enough. Yes, three people. No, really. So, in the interest of fairness, two protesters were interviewed, and one counter-protester was interviewed. That fits the ratio of three counter-protesters to the Capitol Police’s estimate of 8,000, right?

I was a little befuddled by the fact that neither network mentioned Melika Willoughby, the high-school speaker who elicited as much or more of a reaction from the crowd than any of the others. Typically the media loves to focus on young women making their mark in politics. It must have been an oversight.

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