Poll: Chicago viewers split over media coverage of crime

Cook County State’s Attorney blasts Nexstar’s WGN-TV over poll A poll released by Nexstar-owned independent WGN-TV on Tuesday showed how Chicago-area residents felt about their local political leadership and pressing issues like crime. And let me tell you – it wasn’t pretty as people seem to have it in for Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, […]

May sweeps sees declines for local news

Ratings are down for local news – but not out [Editor’s Note: This post was updated on June 1.]  If you’ve noticed, ratings are down across-the-board for just about everything on linear TV these days.  And yes, that includes local news. As reported by Robert Feder Friday, three Chicago news stations: ABC-owned WLS-TV, NBC-owned WMAQ-TV and Nexstar independent WGN-TV, all […]

The Think Tank: Lightfoot’s decision on journalists forces discussion on racial diversity

Lightfoot’s decision to exclude white journalists sets off firestorm. But it’s a conversation long overdue The latest dustup between the Chicago media and minority communities is unusual because the person behind it happens to be the Mayor of Chicago. On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot – the first Black woman to be elected to the position in the city’s history, decided […]

“You’ve got the wrong house!” – CBS 2 investigation proves journalists’ worth

Nothing fake about this investigative report as investigative journalism proves its worth  The next time someone yammers about “fake news”, there was another reminder this week on how journalists play an important role in our society. On Monday during its 10 p.m. newscast, CBS 2 – CBS-owned WBBM-TV here in Chicago – aired an eight-minute report and showed an exclusive […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Voters lose as networks schedule dueling town halls

  ABC and NBC schedule Presidential town halls opposite each other as ratings dictate decisions instead of common sense   NBC’s decision to schedule a President Trump town hall opposite Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is so ridiculous, it’s hard to explain. A second Presidential debate was supposed to take place tonight between Trump and Biden. But Trump tested positive for […]

Chicago media criticized for looting, vandalism coverage

Chicago’s news media under fire for coverage of African-American communities Even though a Tribune article published Friday fell short in describing the tense relationship between the local news media and the Black community, it did bring up valid points needing to be addressed.  In a sub-headline titled “Black Chicagoans, white media at odds”, writer Christen Johnson reported on the frail […]

Chicagoans stunned by a new round of looting, vandalism (updated)

Local stations right in the thick of it [Editor’s Note: This is a new version of a story posted earlier Monday.] Just like on Survivor when an unsuspecting contestant is blindsided at Tribal Council, Chicagoans were caught off-guard after a night of looting and vandalism in downtown Chicago and River North areas early Monday morning, and some of the mayhem […]

Chicago “City So Real” documentary heads to NatGeo

Sundance favorite on 2019 Chicago Mayoral race to be featured Six years after CNN’s inane Chicagoland documentary premiered and turned out to be a colossal flop, another made-in-Chicago documentary – this time about the most recent mayoral race, will soon have a linear TV premiere. Earlier this week, the National Geographic Channel – better known as NatGeo, bought the rights […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Fox News: Chicago is our kind of town…for crime

Chicago crime grabs more airtime than Covid-19 pandemic as the city continues to grab global headlines for gun violence  You’d think in a middle of a national health pandemic, cable news channels would focus on the issues at hand when more than 150,000 people have died from Covid-19, right? Of course not – especially when it comes to Fox News.  […]

Rewinding 2019 in media

  Disney Plus made the biggest splash of the year 2019 saw the end of several institutions, big media battles, and disappointing sports teams. Let’s start with the huge changes in big media, as Disney closed on its purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and Viacom reuniting with CBS again with a new name (ViacomCBS) as the race […]

Networks drop E-Cig advertising as anti-vaping fever heats up

Local TV stations already shunning ads; Juul halts all advertising  (Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on September 22 and has been updated.) With complaints from viewers increasing on social media and users being hospitalized (including a few in the Chicago area), three major media companies announced they were no longer accepting advertising for vaping products and e-cigarettes. WarnerMedia, […]

Lori Lightfoot to address city’s financial issues in prime-time address

Local stations to carry speech In what has to be a first in recent memory, a sitting Chicago Mayor will address the city’s financial problems in a prime-time speech. Mayor Lori Lightfoot will address those concerns Thursday night in a speech airing on most of the Chicago area’s media outlets, including TV and radio stations. Even though some have billed […]

Indianapolis TV station sale makes history

First African-American owner in Indianapolis media; buys Nexstar stations A week after Lori Lightfoot made political history as being the first African-American woman and the first openly gay person to be elected mayor, there was history made in Indianapolis – in media. Nexstar announced Monday it sold CW affiliate WISH and My Network TV affiliate WNDY to Circle City Broadcasting […]

Lori Lightfoot becomes Chicago’s next Mayor

Although Chicago TV viewers skipped out on election coverage, history was made Tuesday night After numerous debates (too many in this person’s opinion), and enough rhetoric to keep Chicagoans engaged (or repelled), history was made Tuesday as Lori Lightfoot was elected Chicago’s first African-American female mayor. Lightfoot faced current Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election for […]