observation on local television Christmas coverage

a little decoration for Christmas 2012 at Saint Casimir Cleveland O.

the last Christmas the altar saw was in 2008

Christmas Day has passed. I noticed the television news coverage in Cleveland, O.. Being a religious and business holiday, there was a reduction of broadcasts. The big story was the upcoming weather. A snowstorm is expected on the day after. Only the weather was competition for air time. Most work activities that generally produce 'news' were dormant.  But something had to fill time. It was not a Sunday, so there was no local football game. NHL hockey is on a lockout, and Cleveland is a very minor league hockey town.

after a woodcut by Fritz Eichenberg for The Catholic Worker

So, the news went to church stories. And apparently, there are only Catholic churches in town. There is a go to set of visits. I think all four [wkyc and woio share footage] stations had coverage of the basement of St. Augustine. St. Augustine feeds people every day. Many reporters new to Cleveland have gone to Augustine's on Thanksgiving and Christmas to see turkey and ham served. There is a painting on one of the walls of Christ of the Breadlines.  This year there was also mentioned St. Colman, and St. Mary of Elyria.

Christmas Eve the television is mostly about shopping and commerce. Since Rome, and Bethlehem are several hours ahead, film is available in the US. Time does not readily allow television to get the local Midnight Mass (which could begin earlier), and they do not often realise or think of getting an earlier vigil Mass.

Now, there are many Protestant churches that celebrate Christmas. Most Orthodox still use the old calendar (Julian), and are still in Advent. When Christmas comes the crews will come to the cathedral of St. Theodosius, or St. Vladimir. They go for color, atmosphere, and ranking. Now, the Anglican cathedral of Trinity is a far more impressive building than the Cleveland's Latin rite cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (the Greek rite cathedrals of St. Josaphat, and especially St. John the Baptist only confuses media); and the Anglicans can do ceremony well. The tendency is other Protestants to have less audio-visuals.

What was interesting is that both WEWS  (also here), and WJW gave a goodly view of historic Saint Casimir. There are two additional points here:

• Saint Casimir broke into the regular line up
• Both stations paired St. Casimir with the Cathedral

Now, in both pairings, the story of the Casimiri was superior. It is also dramatic that Richard Lennon (the bishop who did all he could to suppress St. Casimir) appeared in one of the cathedral stories.