WCIA-TV 2007: Breaking News?

An example of questionable "breaking news" and whether it is worth titling as such. WCIA-TV in Champaign, IL did 3 "Breaking News" updates during their 10PM newscast to show live tower cam pictures of an abandoned barn fire. Unfortunately they only show flames in the distance during the first update, and then nothing in the second update. The director obviously is scrambling to try and find something other than the moon or a streetlight on tower cam the second time, and when they realize the fire "could be out" they decide to use tape of the flames from earlier for their third update. Just make sure to un-pause the tape before you go to it. Apparently you can't see the flames on tower cam because they are now "moving through the field" and not shooing into the sky.

It seems the rule of thumb regarding tower cams holds true here...if you want to show lightning or fires, they both stop when you go to tower cam, but at what point is a story worth labeling as "Breaking News"?

Do you think anchor Dave Benton was just as annoyed and bewildered as everyone watching that night?

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• WCIA
• TV
• BREAKING
• NEWS
• FIRE
• TOWER
• CAM

[dabestsinger]

I remember this..... I live on rising road

that's all we talked about on the school bus that day.

[indylre]

i would imagine it was much more impressive in person than what it looked like on TV.

[AaronApolloCamp]

WCIA rarely interrupts normal programming for breaking news or severe weather...on the other end of the spectrum, WAND-TV has been known to interrupt normal programming because a Dense Fog Advisory was in effect!

[RabidDawgClassic]

sadly, the term "Breaking news" no longer means anything since just about every story is labeled as such.

[MrNascarFan2011]

dude, a feild set on fire, thats not a terrorist attack, but where we live, its Breaking news. Heck, where we live, breaking news is a turtle crossing the road

[thillard72]

I've been to the tv station in person before

[thillard72]

Well I've been to Wcia 3 in preson before

[tigernike23]

Points for that comment!

[gfpd2722]

if the televised every shoting in decatur the news would be an hour long

[tigernike23]

Living in Decatur, we have shootings, meth addicts, rapes... and WCIA is covering a barn fire. I stopped watching them after 2004, when they were last to cover the Formosa plant blowing up.

[whysoserious89]

this is true.

[NASCARfan22k]

WCIA is nothing more than University of Illinois propaganda.