KSAT disappointed me. (Bowie, New Deal, Morgan: fit in, loan, houses)

[ryneone]

So i watch the 6 o'clock news and KSAT ran a story about the housing crisis. But the way they lead into the was saying the federal government can bail out Bear Stearns but not help the citizens suffering in the housing crisis. WTF are you kidding me. Do they not realize that they gave JP Morgan Chase a loan to complete the buy out. When a reporter asked the Fed is american tax payers where going to get the money back he said yes with interest. When they give our tax dollars to ignorant investors and people buying houses they were not able to afford will i ever see it again? KSAT was very one sided in there presentation of this story and it was inappropriate. So lately it seems to get the whole news story i have to watch FOX and CNN and then pick in chose the information to take in. I am young i know so i would like to hear if i am just having a naive view on KSAT or are my facts wrong?

[the_dimwit]

This is simply a ratings ploy by local and national news to "pluck the heartstrings" of its viewers. Of course it's beyond the purview of the Federal Government to "bail out" every homeowner who has financial troubles. There are too many variables to draw a line in the sand. For example:

What will the age of the loan be? Should a homeowner who got his loan in 1998 qualify because he is having problems "making ends meet?"

How will a homeowner's finances play into the qualification criteria? If she has a 450k house, a 45k car, 1k in monthly "expenses," and can't afford to pay her mortgage, will the government require a reduction in monthly expenses in order to qualify? (This would fit into the area of "reducing risk" to the lender/government.)

That's just two things right off the bat. This isn't a "New Deal" situation, IMHO. By-and-large, the majority of American homeowners are making payments--perhaps things are tighter, but hard times require hard choices. If my car is making things riskier by bringing me right to the line of not being able to afford my mortgage, then I will have to sell the car. I shouldn't expect the Fed to "bail me out" because I can't make a logical financial decision...

--Dim

[Bo]

OP, you need to understand that local news stories are mostly written by people in their early to mid-20s who have little perspective on national stories. They need a story to fill a certain amount of time in their newscast, and that amount of time may only be enough to show one side of the story.

[CelesteDF]

Local TV news coverage is almost always shallow, typically with some blatant sensationalist angle for promotion on the teasers that attempt to snare viewers and ratings. While I'm sure that there are many well-meaning and earnest TV reporters out there, the fact is that many more TV "reporters" are in it for the eventual fame and glory, while print reporters tend to join the profession to be "journalists" who are more concerned about real coverage of real news. Granted the state of modern media is abysmal, regardless of the medium, but print will generally give you better coverage that is more accurate, complete and less sensationalized. Well, except for the NY Daily News, anyway.

Here's another thread on how WOAI got their coverage of a local story wrong, while the print media (Express-News) covered the issue correctly and in more depth. //www.city-data.com/forum/san-a...riving-sa.html

[Paka]

Never watch local news...and for reasons just like this. Other than when there is severe weather in the area, they are really a waste of time.

[traveler guy]

Yeah you shouldn't always trust the local news cause they can only give you so much info one one topic. and it's never enough to give you a good idea of what's going on. Sometime they leave some out cause of time span and sometimes they have to edit and cut some details out.

[Bo]

I was disappointed with KENS 10:00PM news coverage of the shooting in Stone Oak. I think the story got no more than 2 minutes total, since at least 3/4 of the news hole in that newscast was devoted to Final Four festivities. I can imagine the same thing would happen during Fiesta. Heaven forbid that any spot news stories should interrupt coverage of a big party downtown.

[googie2525]

Originally Posted by Bowie

OP, you need to understand that local news stories are mostly written by people in their early to mid-20s who have little perspective on national stories. They need a story to fill a certain amount of time in their newscast, and that amount of time may only be enough to show one side of the story.

I can vouch for this firsthand, I worked there while in my mid-20's, and it really was just a bunch of 20ish "producers" banging out stories under intense deadlines (it didn't help matters that they all partied all night and had to be at work at 4:30 AM!). A lot of them were fresh out of school with no experience, as they had a serious employee turnover problem there (being they paid so low...think Bill Miller starting hourly pay.)

If you want real news, read the New York Times.