BURKARD'S BLOG

1 JUN 03: LET'S TALK ABOUT ME

The Mass Media will watch Washington closely tomorrow. The Federal Communications Commission will vote on whether to allow TV networks to expand their ownership of media outlets. To get a head start on things: you can buy my blog today -- minimum bid $100,000.

Combined media ownership already is becoming a way of life in Columbus. For instance, WTVM and WXTX soon will be co-owned - and the way ABC's ratings are going, you may get to see the World Series and NFL games on "Fox-9" before long.

There also are "partnerships" between various news outlets in many cities. For instance, WTVM has one with Clear Channel radio - so if the radio news some mornings sounds suspiciously like what you read at WTVM.com, that's why.

WTVM also has a partnership with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer - but that's not as tight a relationship. Why, my station hasn't even bothered to ask for the phone number of that reporter in Iraq.

WRBL's Blaine Stewart did a lengthy two-part report on the upcoming F.C.C. vote this past week. He went to Tampa, where a TV station shares a "News Center" with the Tampa Tribune newspaper and a combined web site. Considering that same media conglomerate owns both WRBL and the Opelika-Auburn News, I can't wait to see their fancy new headquarters in the middle of Smiths Station.

The WRBL report on Tampa's "News Center" seemed to go three minutes, and featured an extensive slickly-produced interview with WFLA-TV News Director Forrest Carr. Hmmm - whose desk do you think will see THAT reporter's tape in the next few weeks?

By comparison, Blaine Stewart's interview with an Auburn University journalism professor didn't seem nearly as long - and included a clip of Stewart anchoring the news at his old station in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. If I wanted to read Stewart's life story, I'd click on "biographies" at the WRBL web site.

It turns out Blaine Stewart's entire news department in Mississippi lost their jobs a few years ago in a budget-cutting move. He implied Monday's F.C.C. vote could bring more of this. But I have an old ratings report for Hattiesburg - and from what I can tell, only a few dozen people noticed when that news staff was fired.

(What else could Blaine Stewart have been implying here? As I recall, his News Director in Hattiesburg is NOW his News Director at WRBL - so is he expecting history to repeat itself?)

If this was not enough, Blaine Stewart anchored the 11:00 p.m. news at WRBL Saturday night - and illustrated a report about cleaning up your computer by bringing HIS newsroom keyboard onto the set, to show it off! It's a good thing he didn't bring out his monitor, because it probably has mirrors attached for self-admiration.

But no, Blaine Stewart didn't stop there. Moments later, he reminded WRBL's viewers: "I am the Senior Consumer Investigator at News 3!" Next thing you know, we'll learn Stewart is related to the old Iraqi Information Minister.

The bottom line of all this: I suppose we should be worried about Big Media controlling more and more outlets - but I'm also a bit concerned about Big Egos thinking they control them as well.

(By the way, in all this speculation about media buying binges I've missed something. Who's trying to buy the Drudge Report?)

Now to play some catch-up from a busy late spring weekend....

+ At 10:45 a.m. Sunday, the Columbus Dunkin Donuts shop had a line stretching out the door. They simply did NOT make that new Cracker Barrel restaurant big enough, did they?

+ I had dinner Saturday night at a Subway shop - and I thanked the woman behind the counters for warning me about the olives. Right now the sign outside says, "Our olives have a hole in them." I certainly don't want to eat anything that's defective.

(What IS the point of the Subway signs lately - saying things such as, "Our tomatoes are round" ?! I've yet to see one grocery store with a tomato shaped like a pyramid.)

+ My six-game bowling coupon run ended with a not-half-bad-for-me 96 at Peach Bowl. But the center had quite a change between Sunday and Friday - as all the seats near the lanes were ripped out, with folding chairs in their place. Is this a special bowling edition of "Trading Spaces" or something?