African Americans (and Friends) Against Mainstream Media release 2012 4th quarter television ratings for Minnesota

This post has already been read 487 times!

“Will Minnesota’s Mainstream Media ever get it?”(photo: http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com)

African Americans (and Friends) Against Mainstream Media have released their 2012 4th quarter Twin Cities television ratings. AAAMM is an ad hoc group of editors, bloggers, business owners and community members that are concerned about the level of news produced and aired in and about communities of color.

by Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/OurBlackNews and Chairman of African Americans (and Friends) against Mainstream Media – join us on Facebook by clicking here.

African Americans (and Friends) Against Mainstream Media – Minnesota Television Ratings (4th Quarter 2012)
FOX 9 News                  A
KARE 11 News             F
KSTP 5 News               D
WCCO 4 News              D-
MTN (16, 17, 75)          A

Twin Cities (IBNN NEWS/Television Ratings/January 15, 2012)…At the quarterly meeting of African Americans (and Friends) Against Mainstream Media held at Hamline University’s Bush Library on January 4, 2012. A decision was made to launch campaigns to boycott WCCO-4 and KARE-11 News in regards to concerns about coverage of communities of color. We invite people interested in becoming part of the television news think-tank to contact us by sending an email to ibnnnews@gmail.com with your contact information. AAAMM will alert you to the next meetings. Below are the fourth-quarter ratings (2012) for metro television stations in the opinion of the group African-Americans (and Friends) Against Mainstream Media.

Fox 9 News Rating: Channel 9, KMSP has one of the best morning shows with Alix Kendall, Dawn Steven and Minnesota’s #1 weatherman on television news, Sir Keith Marler. Let’s not forget Jason Matheson who puts the “flare” in the morning programming. The Fox 9 Morning News is consistent and fun while providing information about weather, news and traffic that tops the list of local television stations. A Rating.

Minneapolis Television Network (MTN): Nobody beats community access! MTN remains A rating – we just have to get R.T. Rybak and the city of Minneapolis to stop taking money granted by Comcast for MTN and using it for other purposes.

WCCO Channel 4 News: While WCCO’s partnership with the Star Tribune and the City of Minneapolis has tainted news reporting – especially in reports on the Black community, channel 4 still holds strong and has raised from the F rating to successfully garner a D-. Remembering that WCCO does have Angela Davis and Reg Chapman who are accessible to community members to voice concerns over WCCO’s coverage or lack there of on reports concerning Minnesota’s minority ethnic population. Thinking “inside of the box” for the city of Minneapolis and the Star Tribune might drive WCCO-TV’s ratings back to an F. D- rating

KSTP Channel 5: Well, what can I say? Every city needs a television station skewed to viewers 65+. I don’t know what Stanley Hubbard, Jr. is doing over there, but whatever it is, its not working. Channel 5 stays the same, a D rating.

KARE-11 News : A local television news reporter at KARE-11 told me that he couldn’t watch his own channel. He said, ”The station has gotten so White, I have to put on sunglasses when I tune in.” This says a lot about the local “white-bread” television station that totally misses the mark when reporting on communities of color. It is our opinion KARE 11 reporters are lazy. They take half-baked reports from MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) about many topics and run with them like it’s news. (Remember Minnesota Public Radio is rated F for their lack of correct coverage in the Black community.)

Overall, local news stations, especially KARE-11 and KSTP channel 5 need to do a better job at covering the real issues in the metro’s communities of color. The superficial “everything’s fine” type of coverage will not work. If stations that are missing the mark did hard-core investigative reports on just a few incidents, the “whisper campaign” would start and the ratings would soar. Until then, people of color will continue to be “white-washed” when it comes to local news.