Z on TV

"Occupiers" vs. "armed lawbreakers." "Protesters" vs. "thugs." "Uprising" vs. "riot." "Workplace violence" vs. "terrorist act."

From the death of Freddie Gray last year in Baltimore to the takeover of a federal building this month in Oregon, the language used in media to describe news events often becomes as controversial as the facts of what happened.

On Monday, U.S. Rep.

The first you-don't-want-to-miss program of the new year airs at 9 tonight on PBS.

Frontline’s "Netanyahu at War" opens with a bang: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu’s address in March to Congress denouncing President Barack Obama's proposed nuclear deal with Iran.

The Fox broadcast team gave viewers a good half of a telecast Sunday in the Ravens’ season-ending 24-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. And then they got a little goofy and almost as sloppy as the play on the field in the second half.

I can’t say I blame the team of Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis and Tony Siragusa, which became one of my favorites this year.

TV cameras are nothing new for Baltimore medical institutions.

In 2000, ABC News filmed a landmark documentary, “Hopkins 24/7,” at Johns Hopkins  Hospital. The network followed up in 2008 with the docu-series, “Hopkins.”

In 2012, the Discovery Health Channel presented “NICU,” a docu-series about the neonatal intensive care unit at Mercy Medical Center.

In a game as exciting as the Ravens’ 20-17 upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the broadcast team doesn’t matter that much as long as it avoids major mistakes.

The crew of Greg Gumbel, Trent Green and Jamie Erdahl mainly stayed out of the way Sunday and let the play on the field speak for itself.

From the moment the first citizen video of the arrest of Freddie Gray surfaced in April, I have been focused on images of Baltimore like never before in more than two decades on this beat. My adopted hometown was being sliced, diced and redefined this year on network, cable, streamed TV and social media, sometimes 24 hours a day.