Covering the Carnage
Dateline: Santa Monica, where eight people have died -- and countless more are injured-- after an elderly man drove his car through a crowded Farmer's Market next to the 3rd Street Promenade.
Scanning the TV news, Viacom's co-owned KCBS-2 and KCAL-9 were simulcasting their coverage throughout the afternoon, as the stations have recently during a number of major news events (including the recent small plane crash in the Fairfax district). What's odd is how Viacom is willing to blow out programming on both channels with the same newsfeed, even though it means the company is losing advertising revenue on both stations. Perhaps there's something to be gained by creating somewhat of a "roadblock"-- giving viewers twice the opportunity to sample their coverage-- but it still seems so redundant.
(News Corp.'s co-owned KTTV-11 and KCOP-13 took the opposite tact-- KTTV went all-news, while KCOP stuck with regular programming. KCOP, by the way, remains the only major local station with no news coverage on its website.)
Elsewhere, the L.A. Times quotes a KCAL-9 news reporter -- rather than someone from its own Tribune sibling KTLA-5 -- in its early website coverage. So much for synergy.
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