As far as the general reference point, I grew up in Eden Prairie and moved to Plymouth, which is a suburb of minneapolis, everyone knows, though says Minneapolis as an address, so the same when I lived in Crystal. I now live in Buffalo, which is technically not part of the 7 or even newly expanded 9 county “metropolitan, or just metro area”, yet out where I am now is called “west metro”, or “west suburban”, though you see the difference in the wording makes the world of difference. Crystal is Crystal, not minneapolis, at least not minneapolis PROPER, though in crystal was “west broadway”, as you know, which leads through crystal, golden valley, minneapolis, not sure where else. I know they name the cross streets on the news for an accurate reference point, though, like I said, if a murder occured in columbia heights, would it be mentioned as columbia heights or n.e. minneapolis?

I know they are too broad, they are accurate to the point of exact location as in say 24th and park (for example), but lack in the reporting of separating city PROPER, from immediately outlying suburb to describe the area.

I live in Buffalo, which is the wright county seat, and yet, i don’t go to rockford and say there was a murder in south east buffalo, because that would then become an untrue statement. I know buffalo is nothing like minneapolis, it’s suburban-rural, but, it is the county seat and the largest main area, like minneapolis, though somehow n.e. minneapolis is not minneapolis, but rather columbia heights, or whatever.

I hope i caught what you were trying to say.

There was a time when nowhere had heard of Kandahar or Mosul but both are now known because the media chose to be specific rather than saying “in Afghanistan” or “in Northern Iraq.”

Since most of the news the local media covers falls within a handful of neighborhoods, it doesn’t seem like it would be that much of a burden for viewers to learn a few new terms. In the case of 24th & Elliot, that’s Ventura Village, as Ranty pointed out above.

I guess I’m asking for a specific answer in this case as to what people think would be better. What would you call 24th Street & Elliot? Understanding the fact that most viewers are not Minneapolis residents and don’t know the specific neighborhood names.

I get the emotional aspect of this that it feels like a dig on your neighborhood, and an overly broad description. But I frankly don’t see a better solution. If you use a specific neighborhood, people are going to be mad that it doesn’t describe their part of the neighborhood. A cross street won’t fit in a headline, generally. And if you said that out loud on TV, few people would know what you’re talking about.

Really, it is about time management, if the headline says ‘Disease ravages Great Lakes’…I go damn, where, because I’m worried about all my friends and family in the whole great lakes region. Then if I read for 20 minutes and finally find out it is some parasite in walleyes in Lake Ontario…I’m pissed and I want that 20 minutes of my life back.

Same with ‘Crime in So Mpls’, if it is in Nokomis, say so in the headline, if I care about knowing where in Nokomis, I’ll read on AND expect to see in the first paragraph or two a specific address or at least closer description of where the crime occurred.

It allows me to manage my time and RSS feeds more effectively, which increases my reader satisfaction and provider experience.

Seems reasonable to me and logical from the provider point of view, unless of course, I am misunderstanding the role of these media news providers and things like satisfactory experience doesn’t really matter to the provider.