Q13 News Gets the Scoop

Local Fox affiliate Q13 has become my new favorite local news team. Last night I watched with some interest as they described the driving conditions after the 3rd devastating snowstorm of the season.

They sent 3 on-air personalities to stand out in the cold at different locations around town telling the viewers how cold it was. That makes them a good channel. What makes them a great channel is that they interrupt the breathless snow coverage with this breathless BREAKING NEWS:

Sources tell us that something may have happened at Martha Lake in Snohomish
County this evening. There may be a police presence there--or maybe
not--nothing has been confirmed at this time. We’ll let you know when we
find out what’s happening. Back to our regular news.

To the casual viewer is seems like an extremely uninformed and unnecessary interruption. They ‘re missing most of the 5 Ws of good journalism: What, Why, Where, Who, & When--and were pretty vague on the rest.

But when you look at it deeper, it’s clear that most local news teams wouldn’t have the broadcast cajones to direct the viewer’s attention to the fact that said local news team does not know what--if anything--is going on in local news.


That’s the Q13 difference.

Snowmaggedon! Snowpacalypse Now!

The city of Seattle shut down completely because of the Winter Storm of the Century. Again. Only a month after the previous Winter Storm of the Century. The 21st century just started and is already spoken for.

Local Fox News is the best at getting hysterical about the weather. Snow is everywhere! We’ve never seen anything like this, Bob! Drivers trapped in their cars for 9 hours!

I love how they send the Q13 news van out to interview stranded drivers—but then drive off so their anchorwoman can go stand somberly in front of a frozen water main.

A great follow-up story would be “Local Man Upset Over Callous News Team with 4-Wheel Drive”. Find out why at 11 -- exclusively on Q13.