Friday, April 07, 2006
WNEP aired fake video news release as real news
This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, given the low standards of northeastern Pennsylvania journalism. But WNEP was cited by a national group studying use of unlabeled video news releases as an offender. If you want to see one, watch the local TV noon news today. Or any other day.
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9 comments:
Wow! But hey, WVIA-FM does this all the time in the form of audio "news releases." How the hell else do they get those "soundbites" from Santorum or Specter or Kanjorski, etc. And then neglect to tell their sleepy listeners the source of the crap?
And how about WVIA's Pamela Talbot, a true blue newsreader? What a fantastic job she does reading the AP's Eastern PA briefs! Wow.
Would the CV have published this if is was WBRE or WYOU- one of their alliance?
We should all take this as a lesson. I know other media use press releases without properly attributing it. WNEP just happens to be the one who was caught this time.
It's interesting that someone mentions WVIA-FM. I am always irritated at the number of inane central Pennsylvania news items. New dean at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove. House fire in Sunbury. Grant for the Lewisburg Fire Department. Does the station director live down there? I go days without hearing a Scranton or Wilkes-Barre news item.
That said, there's a difference between reading AP briefs and broadcasting packages that are the product of an advertiser, business or someone else with a buck to make or an axe to grind.
A final thought: It's a shame that WVIA doesn't have a news department or more substantial local programming. The rip-n-read "local news segments" during Morning Edition and ATC are a joke. And most local programming is Ken Burns lite, nostalgia for mining days. Vigorous local programming would make a real difference in the local news scene.
And no, I don't think the CV would have published that VNR item if it had been a news alliance partner. That's not a shot against the reporters there; I can easily see a mealy-mouthed mid-level editor, one who deals with those stations regularly, saying, "well, it's not really that important, the other stations do it too (which I am sure they do), it's not fair."
It may not be fair, but it is news.
WVIA's generous use of the "central PA" briefs only points out that media within that region are doing a better job of getting stories to the AP (either in Pitt. or Philly) than are AP members in the eastern PA region.
An addendum: Let us not forget WVIA's supposed "local" stories. One recent item, about the white elephant tax-dollar drain in Hazleton, the Markle Building, sounded like a chamber of commerce news release, gushing over with enthusiasm while ignoring critics.
Who's printing "news" releases almost verbatim? Try the Times News of Lehighton. And the Standard-Speaker and Pottsville Republican are right in there too, slugging it out to see just who can waste the greatest number of column inches on crap fed to readers on supposed "news" pages.
WVIA FM has translators in Central PA, so there is a market for that news. A couple stations in CPA do a great job contributing to AP.
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