WRITE TURNS
From Bill Foster, Vista: If you thought “Fox 5 News at 10” was horrifying (“Disaster 'News,' ” Outtakes, Aug. 11), watch “Fox 5 Morning News.” For traffic updates, it's Chrissy Russo in the parking lot standing on a highway map that looks like a third-grade art project. She's holding a flagman's “SLOW” paddle. I didn't know if I was watching the news or “Sesame Street.”
From M.F. Wendt, Chula Vista: If you think “Fox 5 News at 10” is bad, the morning team is worse.
From Mary Bradley, Del Cerro: We were looking forward to (anchor) Kathleen Bade's return, really missing her on (KFMB) Channel 8. Now, we can't stand to watch her on this so-called news program, which resembles a “Saturday Night Live” parody. We hope it can be fixed but, oh my, where to start?
From Linda Palmer, Tierrasanta: Thank you for the concise reporting on “Disaster 'News' ” Fox 5. What awful, awful (it needs repeating) news coverage we have here in San Diego. Send everyone back to broadcast school!
From Michael Anderson, Fallbrook: When I read “Disaster 'News,' ” I realized the comments had to be about snafus before Sunday night's (Aug. 10) mega-gaffe-fest. Wow! It was like a bad sitcom about a TV newsroom having a total meltdown – just too unbelievable to be funny. But it was true.
From Al and Susie Cohen, Vista: You certainly got “Disasater 'News' ” right. We wrote to the station pointing out the lack of and/or terrible attempt of its closed captioning. We asked for a response and haven't heard back. As we told them, we're hearing-impaired and aren't able to see or enjoy the programs we used to watch on Channel 6. Please tell us, what is their problem? We, too, are ready to say “goodbye” unless they can get it together.
From Alan McCornack, Fletcher Hills: The news on TV (pick the channel) is almost universally bad. It's the same tired intro music, endless commercials, 10-second blurbs on how wonderful they are, etc. “Coming up next” means you have to wait until five seconds before the sign-off. The only decent news on TV is the BBC. It doesn't treat you like a moron and delivers a whole lot more real news without the time-wasting digital effects and shameless self-promotion.
From Mark Mohr, Spokane, Wash.: I used to live in San Diego and worked in two local TV newsrooms there. As far as “Disaster 'News' ” goes, your use of the phrase “misused film” is somewhat misused itself. This is 2008. TV news departments haven't used film in more than 25 years. Heck, you can't even buy a film camera anymore, much less the film that would go in it. The breathless promise used to be “Film at 11!” and somehow the word “film” has never really disappeared from the public's lexicon. But it's videotape. Everybody these days shoots either digital tape or directly onto video discs. As painfully screwed up as the new Fox News department is, it can't “misuse film” anymore. It's not possible.
