19 Action News and The War On Crime

Here in Cleveland we have the usual big four television stations. It is the local CBS post that has turned itself into a news story in itself. 19 Action news, honest, fair and everywhere is their tag line. The ratings were low and two or three years ago they did a complete overhaul. They have new fast paced action themed graphics, and a crazy hyper traffic reporter up in the sky. They have weather people that hype a little rain and make a sunny day seem like a boring proposition. The anchors use words like punk, thug, gang bangers, creep, and loser when describing the people in the news. They also insert their own opinions way to often.

They do outlandish investigative reports with a team of so called reporters now headed up by the Cleveland legend Carl Monday. That would be the same Carl Monday seen on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for his series on a teenager jerking it on a local library computer. The most well known anchor is the outspoken diva herself Sharon Reed. She is famous for her report on a local artist in town to do a nude picture of over a thousand people. She became part of this story and did her report naked on the late local news. While her dream of a regional Emmy was dashed, she was a guest on David Letterman and sassed him up when he flirted with her.

The station has been responsible for the last mayor Jane Campbell being voted out of office and they do not like the current mayor any more. They have represented everything that is wrong with todays journalism. Their current cause is however a much needed one. They have started a war on crime called taking back our streets. Sharon Reed was in Boston last week and Chicago this week. She talks to reformed gang leaders and black priests about what they did to slow violent crime in those cities. She does this in her trademark borderline ghetto fab style. They blast the city of Cleveland and the mayor for three hours a day. They are hosting a town hall meeting next week they know the mayor will not attend because of their reputation. The drive to impeach Frank Jackson has begun.