December 5th, 5:00 PM Nightly News on CBS

On Wednesday, December 5th's nightly news on CBS at 5:00 PM, out of the 26 stories, only approximately 6 of them had to do with politics, whether state or local. Ofcourse, the news on December 5th was not typical, as it was the day of the "mall massacre" in Omaha, but I was shocked when the news began and it was not the first story. The first story had to do with shots being fired at Newark police, and this only goes to show that this is meant to be a local news program. Throughout the hour long newscast, they had the weather forecast 3 times, and the only other story they showed three times was to update the viewers on the situation in Omaha. 4 of the 6 more political stories occured during the first quarter of the news cast and included stories on the stock market rally, President Bush helping the mortgage crisis by freezing some interest rates, Bush and his reaction to the new releases about nuclear weapons in Iran, and whether or not America is ready for a mormon president. Towards the end of the program was a report on Princeton University subsidizing the price of birth control, since the price rose. The very last story which had to do a tiny bit with politics and the state of our country had to do with childhood obesity and its effects later in life. Although the last two stories arent overly political, they both have to do with some sort of health care in a way.

The end of the program really seemed to pour on the fluff in my opinion. For the last story, which was the health report on obesity and the flu, instead of being behind the newscaster's desk like normal, the two hosts of the program were sitting on comfy chairs, in more of a living room type setting. I found this to be almost comical because it was bringing a talk show aspect to the news. One of my favorites stories, even though it was complete fluff, had to do with the couple in California who got married and although began their first dance by slow dancing, the music suddenly stopped and Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back started playing and they broke out into a choreographed dance. Then, the videographers of their wedding asked if they could put it on youtube, which they thought was a great idea so the family members of theirs who could not attend the wedding would be able to see it on the computer. After it was posted, the video spread like wildfire and has become one of the most popular videos on youtube. Most of these stories were definitely aimed towards the local crowds, with the most important news coming first and the fluff coming towards the end.