Flynn's First Goodbye Is Most Moving

Taking a look at the headlines:

The Goodbye Girl: Of Channel 4 anchor Lisa Flynn’s twin goodbyes on her 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts Wednesday, I was more moved by the first one.

Perhaps because Flynn started crying at the end of the 5:30 p.m. newscast on Channel 4 as she talked about calling an end to her 24-year news career to raise her seven-year-old son, I almost started crying, too. OK, I admit it. I'm a hardened newsman but even I shed a few tears.

At the end of the 10 p.m. newscast on Lisa’s goodbye on WNLO-TV, her cute son Thomas held a cake (which amusingly almost dropped) as the on-air and behind-the-scenes staff surrounded Flynn.

It was a nice touch. It also made it seem more like a celebration than a reason to cry. Good luck to a great lady and solid journalist.

* Up to the Minute Speculation: If former Rochester TV anchor Lia Lando doesn’t want Flynn’s job, here’s another intriguing possibility. Emily Smith, a former WBEN-AM reporter who currently is an anchor on CBS’ overnight program “Up to the Minute,” certainly should be considered if she were interested in coming back home. Smith was back on WBEN in February talking with an anchor about how differently New York City residents deal with the snow than they do in Buffalo.

Lando, a mother of two, seems like the early favorite for the job if she wants it. Tonight is her first night on the newscasts.

Hairy Information: You know a blog is growing when readers respond to some queries and point out on-air mistakes.

After a blog in which I wondered whether Channel 7 reporter Jason Greunauer made history by starting his career sporting a goatee, Mark Twain responded: “I think I remembered Stefan Mychajliw sporting a goatee on the air at some point at Channel 7 or at Channel 2. And remember the weather guy that pre-dated Don Paul at 4? Something McNally. He had a full-blown beard.” Mike Randall (OK, it wasn’t exactly Twain) was referring to Lou McNally.

Another reader, Buffalo State College communications professor Nanette Tramont noted that Channel 2 anchor Maryalice Demler misspoke Wednesday and “referred to Elizabeth Edwards’ new cancer regime instead of regimen.”

I’m counting on sharp viewers (and readers) to point out amusing and not-so-amusing on-air errors if they attach their names to the emails. I can’t see everything.

Sex and the City, Part 3: Back when the Batavia woman , Suzanne M. Corona, was charged with adultery and held an impromptu press conference after a court appearance, I wrote that any lawyer would have told her to keep quiet. After that, she turned up on 97 Rock talking about the case.

Sure enough, she was back in court Wednesday with a lawyer who did all the talking for her when they met the media. Smart move. Finally.

Clever Opening: Channel 4 has come up with a new idea that wasn’t “borrowed” from Channel 2. It opens newscasts now with 4 stories you don’t want to miss on 4.

Extended Runway: I see Lifetime is extending “Project Runway” by 30 minutes to 90 minutes. In other words, it will seem longer than the latest “Sex and the City” movie and that didn’t seem possible.

Buffalo’s Sportsman of the Month: Jeff Glor, the Western New York native who is a rising star at CBS News, did a piece Wednesday night on LeBron James, the NBA’s most sought-after free agent. A little while ago before the World Cup, Glor did a piece on American soccer star Landon Donovan.

Supreme Joke: Elena Kagan faced some very serious questions at the confirmation hearings for her Supreme Court seat. But she had one line that would have made Jerry Seinfeld, Alan King and Billy Crystal proud. Asked where she was on Christmas Day, Kagan replied: “Like all Jews, probably at a Chinese restaurant.”

That’s all folks!

pergament@msn.com

Channel 2's Bailey Is Impressive

In honor of Larry King’s decision to end his CNN show this fall, here are some King-like opinions:

* Channel 2 anchor-reporter Marissa Bailey does impressive work no matter where the station uses her.

She reminds me why I shouldn’t be too critical when young people begin working in this market.

I wasn’t overly impressed when a nervous Bailey began hosting a weekend edition of Channel 2’s morning program “Daybreak.” But in a few months, she was smooth on the air.

Bailey no longer anchors the weekend “Daybreak” but, if anything, that has helped her career. She has shown her versatility and seems so comfortable on the air now that I can see her being snapped up by a bigger market if that’s what she wants.

* It looks like local TV news is going to soon look like YNN when it comes to reporters. Both Channel 4 (Nalina Shapiro) and Channel 7 (Jason Greunauer) have put reporters on the air a month after they graduated from college. One veteran reporter recently told me that the stations are so concerned about saving money on salaries that in a year or so local TV news “will look like a college station.”

* When King announced his fall exit from his nightly CNN show Tuesday night, CNN began running a crawl of comments from celebrities celebrating his 25-year run on the cable news channel. The funniest came from Jimmy Kimmel, who accused the 76-year-old of playing a joke on the audience.

* Speaking of Kimmel, since leaving the Buffalo News I stay up a lot later than I used to and catch his ABC late-night act more often. His show certainly is a lot more fun than Jay Leno's "Tonight Show." One of his more amusing bits lately is World Cup highlights, which usually illustrate how dull soccer can be.

And late last week, he and Tom Cruise did a high-wire act in search of fresh eggs for a recipe that Cruise supposedly was going to make. They went on the roof of the building where Kimmel’s show is taped and took a ride on a zip line across Hollywood Boulevard and back to get some eggs from a guy on the street. Funny – and scary – stuff. But, hey, we learned on “Entourage” last Sunday that Cruise likes to do his own stunts.

* The zip line bit certainly was funnier than anything in Cruise’s latest movie, “Knight and Day.” The poor opening weekend box office for the film is even more alarming when you consider that Cruise and co-star Cameron Diaz seemed to be everywhere promoting it. When I saw them during a bit on ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” I wrongly assumed it was a Disney film since Disney owns ESPN. However, it’s a 20th Century Fox film.

Some sports notes:

* “Oh, my” ESPN play-by-play man Dick Enberg keeps rolling along. His call Tuesday when Venus Williams was upset at Wimbledon was a reminder of how strong his enthusiasm level remains. “My, oh my,” said Enberg after the shocker ended. Of course, “oh, my” is his signature expression.

* Channel 2’s Ed Kilgore must not pay attention much to tennis. He said on Tuesday that he expected Venus would stay around to root on her sister Serena at Wimbledon. Actually, Venus had to stay until today anyway because the sisters were trying to defend their 2009 title in doubles. They were upset today in three sets in another Wimbledon shocker.

* MSG, the Sabres channel, also carries the New York Knicks games here. The Knicks games have been pretty tough to watch for several years. But tonight, Knick fans may stay up for midnight madness when MSG carries a special on the team’s free agency efforts to land LeBron James or some other big name.

pergament@msn.com

Channel 4 Staffers Playing Musical Chairs

Anchors and reporters at Channel 4 soon will be playing musical chairs.

According to sources, anchor-reporter Michele McClintick will be moving shortly to become a reporter on the CBS affiliate's popular morning show “Wake Up.”

McClintick just came off maternity leave so she undoubtedly is used to waking up early these days.

Jericka Duncan, who has been the “Wake Up” reporter, will take McClintick’s old job as anchor of “Weekend Wake Up” in addition to working three nights a week.

And 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekend anchor Mylous Hairston moves from being a dayside reporter on the other three days to working nights.

It is unclear if the staffers are happy with the changes at a station that also loses retiring anchor Lisa Flynn on Wednesday and is known for its stability.

* It is looking more and more like the local stations will replace veteran reporters by hiring young no-names who come cheap. But you’d expect the stations will at least allow them to use their names.

Which brings us to the most amusing moment of last weekend: Channel 7 had a newcomer anchor its sports report Saturday. He wasn’t even introduced before he gave the report. On Sunday, the station identified him as Jason Greunauer before he gave another sports report.

Greunauer may have made local TV news history when he began his local career. He’s the first anchor-reporter I remember that started sporting a goatee. (If you know otherwise, email me.)

Greunauer, who previously had done news reports for Channel 7, hasn’t yet made it on the station's website so his resume isn't available.

But according to sources, he doesn't have much of a resume anyway. He's from Lancaster and graduated from Syracuse University last month. In other words, he's getting the kind of on-the-job training that used to happen at YNN, Elmira or Erie, Pa. He's a little raw on the air now but has a promising future.

* I loved the promo for FX’s “Rescue Me” that features the Jay-Z song “Empire State of Mind” with the memorable “New York” lyrics. But I didn’t love the first four episodes sent for review as much. The destructive behavior of alcoholic lead character Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) is getting very, very old.

In fact, practically everything about the dark episodes seems like it has been done to death – including the scenes dealing with death. The show returns at 10 tonight on the basic cable channel that runs shows that break normal language standards.

There is almost as much symbolism about heaven and hell as there was in “Lost” and there’s even a “Lost” reference eventually. Like "Lost," "Rescue Me" also has announced its end date. The final 19 episodes have been filmed, with 10 airing this summer and the final nine in the summer of 2011.

Things improve noticeably in the third episode, when Peter Gallagher ("The O.C.") pops up as an irreverent priest (now there's an unusual phrase) who Tommy turns to eventually for guidance as he is overwhelmed by his own demons and the troubles of his wife and an alcoholic daughter. There also is one humorous scene in that episode about all of the celebrities who are humanitarians that is priceless. In other words, don't give up on Tommy or "Rescue Me" just yet. Rating: 3 stars out of 4

* After “Rescue Me,” FX premieres a new comedy, “Louie,” at 11 p.m. It stars standup comedian Louis C.K., who previously starred in a failed HBO comedy, "Lucky Louie."

This "Louie" fits in nicely with the “Rescue Me” attitude. “Louie” is a hybrid of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” that unfortunately isn’t nearly as funny as either of them.

The star even has a more pessimistic attitude about humanity that “Curb’s” Larry David. Recently divorced, Louie is always looking for the dark side.

“I know too much to have any optimism,” says Louie.

The opener at 11 p.m. tonight is an amiable introduction to Louie, a 42-year-old father of two who is clueless about dating after 14 years of marriage.

Next week’s episode opens with a funny, but offensive scene in which Louie and his friends get a lesson on the origin of the word “faggot” from the gay member of the poker group. Eventually, there’s a bigger lesson in that scene that may get people besides Louie to think about the power of offensive words.

Unlike Louie, I have a little optimism that this unlovable loser will improve and grow on viewers. 2 and a half stars

* I'm not surprised by the poor opening weekend box office for the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz movie "Knight and Day." As I said in last week's blog, it's not much of a movie. When I saw it, the audience didn't have any reaction at all on opening night after it ended. I suspect it is getting lousy word of mouth despite some surprising decent reviews.

pergament@msn.com

Flynn Explains Why She Is Leaving Channel 4

At the end of the 10 O’Clock News on CW-23 last Thursday, anchor Lisa Flynn (above with her seven-year-old son Thomas and husband Tom) announced something that stilltalkintv revealed weeks ago.

One of the inspirations for this blog is leaving WIVB-TV Channel 4 and its sister station, WNLO-TV.

“I got one email,” said Flynn in an interview Sunday night. “It is a good lesson. People do not hang in for the lottery numbers and the goodbye. Even Tom missed it.”

Flynn’s reason for leaving is simple: “To spend time with my son before his childhood slips away. It is completely my decision.”

“I can’t have at all at once,” added Flynn. “I could have it all but I couldn’t be good at everything and Thomas suffered as a result of the time commitment my career required.”

Flynn’s last newscast will be Wednesday night. She is preparing a two-minute goodbye piece dealing with the stories she has covered in her 20 years on local TV news – 14 years at Channel 4 and six years before that at Channel 7.

“When I tell people I worked at Channel 7, most people have no recollection,” said Flynn.

Starting Thursday, Flynn will be replaced at least temporarily at 5:30 p.m. weekdays on Channel 4 and at 10 p.m. on WNLO by a former Rochester TV anchor, Lia Lando. Lando was impressive when she anchored the weekend morning shows while Michele McClintick was on maternity leave. She is a Syracuse University graduate and has run her own public relations and marketing firm.

Lando is now believed to be the favorite for the job if she wants it. That has to be a blow to morning anchor Melissa Holmes, who sources said lobbied for the job. However, Lando has two young kids and commutes from Rochester and it isn’t clear if she would want a full-time job.

In a memo to the staff last Friday, Channel 4 News Director Joe Schlaerth said the station is conducting a national and internal search for Flynn’s replacement.

Flynn, 46, said she considered working part-time as a reporter but ultimately decided against even doing that.

“This business is still all-consuming,” said Flynn. “And even working two days a week I would still on my days off figuring out stories and trying to set up stories. And I need to focus on Thomas now. I would be miserable also going back to the street as a reporter.”

Of course, many people feel the message of the women’s movement has matured over the years to mean women shouldn't feel obligated to "have it all" by working and raising a family. It should be their choice if money isn't an issue and Flynn has made hers after years of thinking about it.

Flynn said that since Thomas went to kindergarten she has been confiding to Channel 4 anchor Jacquie Walker about the difficulties of balancing work and family. She said Walker told her she was able to do it because her husband stepped up and could work at home.

“My family dynamic is completely different,” said Flynn.

Her husband, attorney Thomas H. Burton, is a quadriplegic who has helped out as much as he can.

“It makes it much harder for him to pick up the slack,” said Flynn. “Tom really carried the bulk of this the last few years. I dumped bedtime on him. He wouldn’t get home until 7 p.m. because of work, then he had to get himself fed, Thomas showered and in bed and Tom does physical therapy four or five nights a week. And he never complained about it.”

She said that the reaction from her co-workers about her departure was a combination of “shock and sadness.”

“Several people have asked me to reconsider,” said Flynn. “Not one said you are making a mistake. They all have been supportive and understanding.”

She said her father, Wally Flynn, initially wanted her to keep working.

“My father is beside himself upset,” said Flynn, “because he won’t see his daughter on TV anymore.”

“Tom had a heart-to-heart with him and said ‘she’s doing this for your grandson.' So he did come around.”

pergament@msn.com

Sports on the Air: NHL Awards Were a Bad Joke

This is what I’m thinking:

* The NHL Awards from Las Vegas Wednesday were a pathetic, cheap attempt by the league to use musical acts like the Goo Goo Dolls and celebrity presenters to enhance the entertainment value of the telecast.

The celebrity presenters made a bad joke out of the two awards given to the Buffalo Sabres.

Presenter Mark Wahlberg said that Tie Domi was named rookie of the year instead of Tyler Myers and presenter Jamie Kennedy mispronounced the name of the goalie trophy (Vezina) won by Ryan Miller. Kennedy’s “mistake” seemed part of a painful comic bit with co-presenter D. B. Sweeney. If Wahlberg was trying to be funny, it didn't play that way.

There was one amusing filmed piece about two Anaheim Ducks, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan, who played for gold medal winning Team Canada and silver medal winning Team USA, respectively, in the Vancouver Olympics. The joke was that Bobby Ryan has been paying for USA’s loss all season long, even being nicknamed Silver by Getzlaf.

It was a funny bit. Otherwise, the NHL would have been better off playing it straight and giving the ceremonies a touch of class.

* I haven’t been a big fan of British play-by-play man Ian Darke during the World Cup because of his low enthusiasm level. But he had a strong game when the United States beat Algeria and raised his enthusiasm on Landon Donovan’s goal in the 91st minute so high that one wonders if ESPN officials asked him to amp the energy level. He also noted that even Hollywood wouldn't have written a script like that.

I still would have preferred having Mike Tirico or Chris Fowler doing play-by-play and Alexi Lalas doing game analysis. Lalas is ESPN’s star of the Cup, balancing praise and criticism and not giving in to the hype about what the U.S. win would mean to soccer's future in the States.

On Jim Rome’s radio show Friday heard locally on WGR-AM, Lalas said that even if the U.S. won the World Cup, it wouldn’t mean soccer would be viewed as a major sport in the country. He said that still would take some time.

* The historic Wimbledon fifth set that American John Isner won over France’s Nicolas Mahut, 70-68, cried out for somebody to tell ESPN announcers Hannah Storm, Patrick McEnroe and Brad Gilbert to shut up once in a while and allow some dead air. They never stopped talking about all the history being made amid mountains of statistics.

In his post-match interview, Mahut called it the greatest match ever.

Not really. It was the longest match ever, but the play validated every complaint there is about grass court tennis.

It wasn’t serve-and-volley tennis. It was serve and stay on the baseline tennis. Neither Isner or Mahut went to the net much, which undoubtedly prolonged the match.

I was a little confused when watching the match on ESPN because the time difference between England and the East Coast in the States was only a few hours. Turns out I was watching a replay and didn’t immediately realize it. Viewers should realize if the word “live” isn’t in the corner of the screen, then it isn’t live.

NBC's Wimbledon coverage often can be confusing when it comes to "live" and tape-delayed. The network carries tennis from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. However, there are no matches on Sunday at Wimbledon so that coverage will certainly be taped.

From Monday through Wednesday, NBC carries a combination of live and taped coverage from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The coverage of the ladies semifinals at noon Thursday and the men's semifinals at noon Friday also will combine live and taped matches.

The ladies final at 9 a.m. July 3 and the men's final at 9 a.m. on July 4 during "Breakfast at Wimbledon will be live as usual .

* The best way to watch the NBA draft is to save close to four hours and DVR it to watch later to hear the opinions about the selection of players a viewer is interested in.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas has apparently never seen a player he doesn’t like or doesn’t think will make it in the NBA. He was effusive in his praise of former Syracuse star Wesley Johnson, who will finally get to play with former SU guard Jonny Flynn in Minnesota. Johnson sat out a year in Syracuse and never played with Flynn there.

ESPN host Stuart Scott called Flynn "Nostradamus" because the former Niagara Falls star predicted weeks ago that Johnson would land with the T-Wolves after they qualified for the fourth pick.

Bilas also praised former Traditional star Lazar Hayward after he was selected with the last pick of the first round by the Washington Wizards (he was traded to Minnesota Friday). And host Stuart Scott amusingly noted that Hayward – who played at the Big East’s Marquette – was offered a scholarship at Syracuse “for rowing.”

The New York Knicks’ pick of former Syracuse star Andy Rautins early in the second round was a surprise only to those who hadn’t seen Rautins play in his senior season. Bilas called Rautins a player with NBA shooting skills, but questioned his defense and tendency to commit turnovers. Johnson probably will be a future NBA star, but Rautins was the Orange’s best all-around player and leader last season.

pergament@msn.com

"Entourage" Is Loaded with Celebrity Gold

Mark Wahlberg confused Tyler Myers when he presented the National Hockey League award Wednesday for rookie of the year by announcing the winner as Tie Domi instead of the Buffalo Sabres defenseman.

It was unclear whether the envelope Wahlberg was reading had the name of the retired Toronto Maple Leafs bad boy, the actor-producer misread the envelope or it was some kind of inside baseball joke.

It wouldn’t be surprising if many hockey fans around Western New York and the nation were asking “who the heck is Mark Wahlberg?”

He’s the guy whose celebrity life is loosely the basis of “Entourage,” the popular HBO series about an actor, Vinny Chase (Adrian Grenier, upper right in photo by HBO's Claudette Barius), living the dream in Hollywood with his half-brother Drama (Kevin Dillon) and two buddies from Queens, Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and his manager Eric (Kevin Connolly).

The show returns for its seventh season at 10:30 p.m. Sunday on the pay-cable channel with an amusing episode that name drops celebrities at a record level and revolves around Vinny’s quest to "man up" while shooting an action film.

Bad boy director Nick Cassavetes (upper left in photo) is in charge of Vinny’s latest movie and he wants the guy to do his own dangerous stunts.

Danger is not Vinny’s middle name and some of the dark comedy moments dealing with the past damage to actors when stunts have gone wrong makes his initial reluctance to give in perfectly understandable.

Cassavetes almost steals the episode playing a convincing macho director who knows how to appeal to an actor’s psyche. All a director or Vinny's friends have to do is name all the actors -- Robert DeNiro, Sean Penn and Tom Cruise in the just-released “Knight and Day” -- that have done their own stunts to guilt an actor into doing it.

Cassavetes also gets under the skin of super agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), who represents both the director and Vinny and now is the self-proclaimed “biggest agent in the world.”

It’s a rich Gold episode, which is always a good thing. It enables the foul-mouthed character played by Piven to steal another episode as an abusive agent who tries to balance his exhaustive political work needs with the needs of his wife.

The rest of the story lines about Vinny’s friends aren’t as involving. Turtle is again looking for love, Drama is looking for a TV acting role and Eric is looking to help out Vinny anyway he can while preparing to wed Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Unfortunately, there is too little of Sloan.

Next week, Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones has a cameo as Ari tries to convince him that the agent should negotiate the rights to the next NFL contact. When you’re looking to expand your audience, the name Jerry Jones doesn’t exactly spell ratings.

William Fichtner, the Cheektowaga actor, also is back as a TV producer who disappoints Drama. He gets the best inside baseball line of the half-hour, giving Drama his views on agents. “They are (expletive) deleted agents, they don’t believe in extra work,” says Fichtner’s character.

“Entourage” still works after all these years because viewers have gotten to know and love the characters, their quirks and their goals much better than Mark Wahlberg knows Tyler Myers.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

* Mini-review of “Knight and Day”: I caught the film on opening day Wednesday with my teen-age son to escape the heat and see the movie that co-stars Cruise and Cameron Diaz. I can hardly remember anything about it two days later. It isn’t much. My son and I much preferred the action scenes in “The A-Team,” which isn’t getting as much love from critics as “Knight and Day.”

Diaz doesn’t look so hot and Cruise’s comedy routine wears thin about halfway through the movie. The best Cruise lines were given away in the previews. I only recommend the movie on a rainy or very hot day. Otherwise, wait for the video.

Rating: 2 stars

* Remember former Channel 2 consumer reporter Mike Igoe. Since he took a buyout, he’s been teaching communications course at Buffalo State College and has drawn praise from the department head.

Now he’s going to teach in China. He will spend a year as assistant professor at the United International College, where students have English as a second language. He will teach two reporting classes and one on media law.

“It was a unique opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up,” said Igoe.

pergament@msn.com

No Shock Here: Quake Coverage Isn't Moderate

In one sense, it was earth-shattering news. An earthquake that was centered about 250 miles away in Canada shook portions of Western New York Wednesday afternoon.

In another sense, it wasn’t earth-shattering news. No one was hurt here and the buildings were fine.

The most predictable aspect of the unpredictable event was how local TV news would handle what was essentially a story about how little impact the quake that sent tremors through eight states had here.

Certainly, it was a story worth covering with a package of, say, about two minutes or three minutes tops.

The local stations seemed to think viewers needed two or three times that amount at the top of their early evening newscasts on what usually would be a slow summer news day.

In fairness, the stations restrained themselves from making the quake happenings here seem more catastrophic than they were. Channel 7’s Patrick Taney and Channel 4’s Rich Newberg emphasized it was a mild or moderate quake with no significant damage.

However, the sheer volume of the coverage contradicted the reporters’ moderation.

Of course, it would be really shocking – in the magnitude of a 6.0 quake – if the stations practiced moderation in their coverage.

Naturally and smartly, all three stations headed to the University at Buffalo earthquake specialist, Andre Filiatraut, who shined while having his day in the sun. He was the highlight of the serious coverage because he provided some much-needed insight.

But since no one got hurt, it was easier to laugh at some of the things said and done in the extended coverage.

I got the biggest laugh when hearing Channel 7 anchor Keith Radford note the quake woke people up from their afternoon naps. I guess that line was designed to appeal to the average age of a TV news viewer.

Inevitably, TV went to the dogs and the birds.

A couple of stations did amusing stories about the SPCA condor that was acting up before the quake hit, indicating it knew something was up before mere humans did.

A citizen journalist sent a picture of the family dog on the family couch, which illustrated the dog knew the quake was coming, too, because it never goes on the couch.

The scariest part of the coverage was seeing the impact that technology has in overplaying news like the quake that is bound to get people talking and filming.

Citizen journalists sent pictures, You Tube provided video of an Ottawa guy whose work out was disrupted by the quake and every station seemed determined to tell us that its phones rang off the hook and web traffic was high.

Duh.

Everyone in this You Tube world we live in believes his or her experiences are important and want everyone else to know that their dishes rattled and the floor shook.

The need to get viewers “involved” leads to things like hearing Channel 4’s Don Postles read aloud comments sent to the station’s website about mundane viewer experiences.

The trend is as lamentable as it is laughable. Who knew we’d ever long for the glory days when TV news only felt it needed to give us silly on-the-street interviews.

A real earth-shattering experience would be if the stations gave the story what it deserved based on its importance rather than milked it to satisfy viewers’ needs to feel important.

For some perspective, take a look at this morning’s Buffalo News. The quake story received only four paragraphs on the left side of the front-page and jumped inside to a lengthy story with the jump head “No reports of serious injury or damage.”

Admittedly, the quake news is a little old by this morning and that may have been part of the judgment involved in how to play the story.

By putting the story on the front page, the paper is telling its readers the quake story was an important, talked-about event. By giving it a one-column headline on the front page and only carrying four paragraphs before jumping to page 2, the paper is telling readers that it wasn’t that big a deal despite what you may have seen on TV Wednesday.

pergament@msn.com