So, I had all three major network affiliates taped from 11am to 1pm. Only the major three, because they are typically the channels people in the Capital Region turn to, to receive their information. It is important to point out I had all intentions of taping FOX23 News’ coverage, however Sunday, not Monday, was taped from 11am to 1pm (because of human error). It is also important to note that my critiques are strictly from 11am on, so if the coverage started before 11am, which they all did, it was note taped, so I will not be critiquing it. And finally, my notes are strictly from the live coverage, not the evening newscasts or online coverage of the President’s visit.
CBS6 News:
CBS6 had their 5pm anchors Liz Bishop and Jerry Gretzinger anchor the coverage live from their Niskayuna studios, with many reporters live on location throughout the region. At the airport, CBS6 morning anchor Teresa Priolo was doing live reports, as the President arrived.

A little before noon, Jill Biden came onto the podium to introduce Obama, who then gave his speech. After the speech, around 12: 32 Jerry, alongside Liz, talked about how great it was to cover the President’s visit on channel 6 and then CBS6 went back to regular programming, which I didn’t think was a good idea, and never came back on until the 5pm newscasts, not covering the President’s departure live on air. Because they did this, CBS6 came in last, in my opinion, of how they covered Obama’s visit, on air. It is important to note that for the hour plus CBS6 was on air, their coverage was very comprehensive.
News10
(NOTE: unfortunately WTEN doesn’t have the time associated with their lower right hand corner logo, so, because I was watching it on tape, I can’t compare WTEN’s coverage with the other stations –based on the time)
News10’s Elisa Streeter and Annie Scholz, (who has been at WTEN, and presumably in the Capital Region, for less than a year –she started at WTEN in May, according to her online bio) were anchoring the coverage live from their Northern Blvd. studios.
Also on air live during the special report was evening anchor, Steve Ammerman; he was stationed at the airport (here it should be noted that the quality of the mic Steve had was very poor).

News10’s coverage basically consisted of Lydia, Annie, and Elisa having conversations live on News10, they also had no reporter at the motorcade, like WNYT did, they did have live video; as did all of the other stations. For most of their coverage, News10 used a two box/split screen format, with Annie and Elisa


The constant talking between the three (very talented) ladies was a little boring, and awkward because sometimes they would talk over each other. While ‘The News Stations’ live coverage was a little lax, they sort of made up for it on the latter newscasts; though one had to wonder if it was more important to have better coverage at 4pm or during the live special coverage? Also while watching, I wondered what it must have been like for Lydia to be working so close to her former co-anchor Jim Kambrich, still at NewsChannel 13 –because all of the media were corralled (as it seemed) into one area at HVCC.
NewsChannel 13
Abigail Bleck was along the motorcade route (NewsChannel 13 was the only station that had a reporter stationed in such a location). Jessica Layton, ‘Live at 11’ co-anchor, was stationed at the airport. Inside HVCC, Jim Kambrich. Outside of HVCC, in the parking lot, NewsChannel 13’s Sabrina Dhammi was stationed. When all of these reporters were on air, the reports were very shot and to the point, which was good because it is better then listening to reporters blab about nothing.
Because there was down time before the President spoke, Benita Zahn talked about every and anything related to the President’s visit with her three studio guests. She talked about the unemployment numbers with Hugh Johnson. She also asked Joe Bruno what he would talk about/ask the President, which I thought was a great question. She also asked Hugh Johnson about what he thought Obama had to say, dealing with the economic side of the speech. Then, 11:41am Benita Zahn asked the question “Why HVCC?”, she then explained with a sound bite and more details about HVCC, with aid of a graphic.
One of the best parts of NewsChannel 13’s coverage was their use of Twitter. The only other station do anything like this is CBS6; they use people’s comments from Liz and Jerry’s Facebook pages, during their 5:30pm newscast. I was really impressed with NewsChannel 13’s use of Twitter during their live, special report.
At 11:54am, Jill Biden introduced Obama, who then spoke. During Obama’s speech NewsChannel 13’s lower 3rds had quotes of what Obama said; which was a good idea.
After the speech, while CBS6 left coverage Sabrina Dhammi had live interviews with Ron Canestrari (D - Cohoes) Congressmen Paul Tonko (D - Amsterdam) in her HVCC parking lot location. They also went back to Jim K. in HVCC, and had more tweets from viewers. Interestingly, while the President was visiting, another major story broke. And at 12:43, NewsChannel 13 reported the breaking news, that three people were arrested in connection to Richard Bailey’s murder (News10 also reported this breaking news, I just can not give an exact time). A little before one, NewsChannel 13 Education reporter, Elaine Houston did a report about Obama’s tour of the campus. NewsChannel 13 also covered Obama’s departure, which CBS6 did not, live on air. Jessica Layton was stationed at the airport. Showing that she grew up in the Capital Region, Jess talked about how impressed she was that Obama mentioned Schenectady and all of the industries associated with the electric city.

So, what channel did you watch, and what did you think of the coverage of the President's visit? Or, did you only watch online? Or were you not able to watch at all?