The kiddies of Chicago had the day off today, thanks to the teachers’ strike. But the news professionals were not so lucky.
Market leader WLS has a giant “Chicago Teachers Strike” graphic on its website, and is prepping for its live 4 p.m. streaming newscast in a bit. The site also features video from Mayor Rahn Emanuel talking on the topic.
The station, like hundreds of others, premiered Katie at 3 p.m. today.
Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal took WLS to task on Twitter last night for promoting Katie Couric’s rookie show, presumably at the expense of strike coverage. He tweeted:
I like to think @katiecouric would be embarrassed @abc7chicago broke from teachers strike coverage to run a feature to hype her new gabfest
In addition to its local coverage, WMAQ has a national angle to the teachers’ strike on its Ward Room blog. Says presidential hopeful Mitt Romney:
President Obama has chosen his side in this fight, sending his Vice President last year to assure the nation’s largest teachers union that ‘you should have no doubt about my affection for you and the President’s commitment to you.’ I choose to side with the parents and students depending on public schools to give them the skills to succeed, and my plan for education reform will do exactly that.”
MyFoxChicago.com is also leading with Emanuel at 4:30 p.m. ET Monday, and looks at options for working parents–including the kids’ own schools, where they are free to hang out while, presumably, not learning anything as the teachers picket outside.
WBBM shares its site with the various CBS radio properties. A prominent red box is filled with strike-related links, including some archival footage of a similar strike in ‘87.
For its part, WGNTV.com has a wider array of stories on its home page than the strike, including several involving sensational crimes: Drew Peterson’s legal wranglings, a trial for a murder committed in 1957, and a mother charged in a baby’s bathtub drowning.
A click on WGN’s live stream offered up OJ Simpson’s mug, and a story about Johnny Cochran.
