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Local News Anchor Feels Pain from Afar
In times when Clear Channel makes up "local news" reports from central studios and broadcasts them over radio stations around the country, it's worth asking the question: when does it cross the line into deception?
WBZ Boston is owned by Infinity Radio, WTTK Boston is owned by Greater Media... it's not just ClearChannel, everybody's doing it.
This is an excellent example of how easy it is to dupe the public into believing something that is not entirely factual. It also drives home the importance of our taking what we hear on radio/TV and what we read in the newspapers with a very big grain of salt.
just like when they pretend to have a "live" interview with a sports celebrity - but the answers were pre-recorded hours in advance. or when the presidents "live" broadcast starts to skip ..
these days its hard to believe anything you see on tv.
Clearchannel has been doing this for years. They even have a hand pick^H^H^H^H counted localized top 10 songs lists with the guy's voice from TRL.
They call it "enhanced broadcasting technology." I call it decieving people into spending more money on the artificially "popular" music.
Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
...it must not be funny for Boston area residents that listen to him every morning. People tend to develop sort of an emotional linkage with their routine, and a news anchor is definitely part of the daily routine for many. I usually listen to music instead of live radio when I commute, but I know I'd be pissed off if it were me listening.
The revolution will not be televised.
a /. story with only one link? :)
Hasn't hell frozen over yet?
The IT section color scheme sucks.
The "local" DJs on most small town radio stations are "voice tracking" from bigger cities, but acting like they're broadcasting from downtown.
So I don't think they'd have any problems decieving you where you local television personality is broadcasting from. And I'm not sure it is a problem. I've lived all over, from Youngstown, OH to Boston to Los Angeles, and it doesn't matter where you are, because the local news always sucks.
As a side note, CC has gotten into some trouble with consolidated contests on radio, where they make it seem like your local station is giving away a million dollars, when in reality, it's every station they own giving away the million dollars, so when you call in, you're competing with a whole country worth of callers.
I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem
Weapons of Mass destruction? Nada... Step up the warining level every few months? Sure? Biological Attacks warranting duct tape and plastic sales? Nope... Recent bombings and terrorist attacks other than our own government? Still nothing.. With headlines like these, does it really matter if the newsanchors arent where they say they are? Not like anyone was expecting this "honesty" from them to begin with...
~~ Please keep your arms, legs, and outright stupidity inside the ride at all times. Thank You ~~
Diane Simmons: Well, Tom, I just plain don't like black people.
Director: Uh, guys, we're still on in Boston.
"When he's talking about how cold it is, that's not news, it's entertainment. It's cosmetic," Harrison added.
That sounds like a lot of so-called "news organizations." Their #1 purpose is to entertain, lest they lose a large chunk of their audience. Actual news content is secondary.
"It's no more a lie than putting makeup on a TV anchor to make them look younger. The main thing is that his information does not deceive the public."
One more step in virtualizing the whole world. How soon can we have virtual war, where nobody dies?
Who submitted the dealie?
A blog like any other.
WBZ's weather reporters never experience our weather either. Gary is the main anchor, he always gets his weather information from an AccuWeather personality, and AccuWeather is centered in PA.
There is another major weather-radio service called Weather Services Corp. That's based out of the Boston area, which like AccuWeather provides weather forcasts delivered by personalties who don't ever actually visit the station's studios, but they never use a national-trademark brand, and they will call their studio anything the station wants them too, such as the "Kiss-FM WeatherDesk".
So, this has actually been going on for decades, it's just that nobody has noticed...
Of course he's in Boston during his broadcasts. I saw it on TV.
So who, exactly is he harming? He's telecommuting - and he's not claiming to investigate these things. It's not like those journalists who fake stories that happen in places they've never been. He's just reading a weather report off a computer, which every radio news anchor does, anyway - it's not as if he's claiming to be out there with a thermometer. And to say things like "when do we get a break" does not constitute lying - it's not as if he said "I'm here in Boston, reporting on blah-blah-blah".
I have many issues with ClearChannel, but frankly, this isn't one of them.
it is not India....yet.
I mean really, does it?
I've wrestled with reality for 35 years and I'm happy to say, I finally won out - Elwood P. Dowd
I doubt anyone really cares in the end, but his actions do lack integrity, and he could win points by admitting his wrongs and conducting his broadcasts appropriately. Basically, just stop pretending, because now that the cat is out of the bag, everyone will just think he's a retard when they see him "freezing".
"Where he's reporting from is irrelevant. I'm not wasting my airtime to tell people where Gary is."
I a standard my mom taught me probably would let him know: if you can't admit what you are doing, then you probably aren't doing the right thing.
In the article they make statements like "location doesn't affect reporting," and "the DJ never actually says he's shivering."
OK. If you don't think it makes a difference, take two seconds to say "my name is John Deaux, and I'm coming to you from Northern Florida. In Where-ever-you-are, USA, it's a bone-chilling five degrees..." If you are afraid to make that little disclosure, then you are implicitly admitting that it does make a difference.
Of course, I've been thinking that Clear Channel is evil for a while now, for totally different reasons.
"It's just one of the nice little things the station has done for me," said the 61-year-old newsman.
... I don't know ... make the station better?
Really? Who is paying for this then? Is there money that the station is spending to send you there? Or to set up your studio there? When that money could be used to
I understand that he may be good, and that by having him at all, it may improve the station... but really, how much is this "two studio" thing costing?
It must be a slow news day... because this has to be one of the most pointless stories around, whether on slashdot or any other news site.
--Wow some guy broadcasts a news show from home...big freaking deal- The former prime-minister of Canada had a vacation house in Florida as well, and he managed to "run the country" while he was away.
Look at the logo: News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.
Someone enlighten me, why should anyone care?
Whats the big deal, are you going to get pissed off the next time you visit a web site that shows your locat temperature even though the server is located in india?
I really don't see what the problem is, its not like the station is trying to scam its listeners.
...and how much is enough to be providing accurate information honestly.
This will happen more and more - the recent financial industry news about dishonesty in companies, mutual funds, is just the beginning. As it becomes easier to do things virtually (ie, they have the capability now to edit live braodcasts, and the capability to replace existing ads with digital ones (see Spider-Man)), guideliness will have to be drawn up to make sure that what people see is actually real. If it's not actually real, people should be informed so that they can make decisions based on actual facts, not supposed ones.
libertarianswag.com
so how long will it be until a remote radio personality makes a slip up similar to the traveling musician? Something like this:
Band Member #1, near the end of a concert: Thank you Detroit! We love you!!!
[crowd goes into surprised silence]
Band Member #2, whispering to #1: Hey bro, Detroit's tomorrow.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
This isn't actually relevant, but it amused me.
On friday cnn.com was running an article about the upcoming Iowa democratic primary. Attatched to this was a photo, labelled as being Dean supporters busing to Iowa from another state, of four or five people standing on a bus and a big guy asleep in one of the seats with a "DEAN FOR PRESIDENT" t-shirt.
Also that day, cnn.com was running an article about how republican supporters were busing into the areas of democratic primaries to hold pro-Bush rallies in an attempt to blunt the effect of the media attention the democratic primaries drew. Attatched to this article was a picture labelled as the pro-Bush supporters busing in. The picture was the exact same one as from the other story, but with the guy in the "DEAN FOR PRESIDENT" t-shirt cropped out.
I found this funny.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Its also worth asking whether forcing fewer and more poorly trained journalists to cover increased territories and issues is good or bad journalism.
Individual journalists may not intentionally set out to deceive audiences, but how competent a job can they do under the operating conditions described in the article? Piss poor.
Journalists have the only profession important enough to be specifically protected by the bill of rights. But their current situation resources are starved to point of circus pathos.
Its ironic that the trend (documented by Ben Bagdikian since the 80s in multiple editionis of Media Monopoly) is promoted under the banner of efficiency. What is good for shareholders' retirement income does not always harmonize with the public interest.
I'm laughing at clouds.
Um...Rush Limbaugh does occassionaly mention that his studio is in Florida. So he's not hiding it.
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
It saves travel time and fossil fuels. Why would anyone object?
The latest Slashdot meme.
TV and radio news lie all the time and cover up all sorts of dirty stories. Why don't we worry about lies that actually make a difference?
it has become common practice for on-air personalities across the industry -- such as Rush Limbaugh -- to anchor programs remotely.
Umm, I'm the last person you'll ever meet that would stand up and defened Rush Limbaugh, but isn't what he does known as <fingerquotes>syndication</fingerquotes>?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Using the 1992 presidential election as his springboard, documentary filmmaker Brian Springer captures the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of politicians and newscasters in the early 1990s. Pat Robertson banters about "homos," Al Gore learns how to avoid abortion questions, George Bush talks to Larry King about halcyon -- all presuming they're off camera. Composed of 100% unauthorized satellite footage, Spin is a surreal expose of media-constructed reality.
(588 MB download)
www.illegal-art.org/video/vcd/Spin_1.mpg
Aren't there more constructive ways of spending energy than complaining about a guy who is lucky enough to be able to work from his vacation home?
Yeeesh.
P.S. What does Clear Channel have to do with this, anyway?
Just a quick question. Since there is absolutely nothing in the linked article about Clear Channel or anyone else making up news from central studios, would you care to post us a link to THAT story too? It sounds like a good one.
do not read this line twice.
if an autocue says "brr its chilly" the presenter says "brr its chilly" whether he/she thinks so or not. as a lot of presenters just read of autocue's is it any more lying to read off an autocue somewhere hot than somewhere cold, i don't think so (btw i don't know whether he uses an autocue or not, but some do, which i think is enough to justify my opinion)
Clear Channel uses *real people* in their broadcasts?!
Wake up, people.
"Toxic Sludge Is Good For You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry"
"There's no money for real journalism, just play that PR video and we'll slap on one of our local newscasters to bookend the piece. No one will know the difference."
"But Boss, how is this different from a commercial -- this tape is from freaking Pfizer!"
"Do you ever want Rupert Murdoch to even know who you are?"
To overcome the lies you have to read a lot, come to your own conclusions, and THINK!
Point taken. I have read other material that indicates that Clear Channel participates in this practice.
Further, in 2003, several Clear Channel morning programs advocated violence against cyclists. There was limited response at the corporate level. It occurred over a several month period. Happening in one market is an anomaly. Two, and it could be that they didn't spread the word. After that, though, and it's really a question of why the corporate parent didn't say, "knock it off all of you!"
I have real non-made up reasons.
It's simple, journalists must broadcast verifyable facts and speak the truth. Or else they are columnists and should identify themselves as such.
I'd recommend everyone to watch the movie Shattered Glass, it's a good thriller about a reporter who gets caught on a minor error and then sees his house of cards he built by going further and further by inserting false facts and bogus stories into the magazine he wrote for, untill his fall. He was eventually fired on the spot. It's based on a true story.
Here in Columbus, (one of) our ClearChannel stations, WTVN, has a morning weatherman, Pat Pagano, who comes to us from... New York City or thereabouts. The morning jock, Bob Connors, also seems to have daily talks with this or that ABC News reporter. I've known about Pat being in New York for many years now; Mr. Connors has always been in Columbus. I consider it a matter of using the available talent that you have, wherever they may be./p
Always look on the briight side of life! (whistle, whistle)
When does michael's paranoia cross the line into just plain annoying?
Oh, wait, it already has, hasn't it.
Guess it's time to go play with the story filters. Either that, or we can get an RFID chip stuck on him, and convince him he needs to live in a lead-lined room for the rest of his life.
As ghastly as it might seem, this issue has been tested in court. When Akre and Wilson sued Fox in Florida under the Whistleblower act, for altering an rbgd story, after initially winning a $425K judgment, they lost an appeal because the Whistleblower Act only protects people resisting employer crime, and it was deemed that distorting the news, and falsifying news stories is not a crime.
u ff .cfm
It seems to me that pretending to be local is a far lesser offense.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbgh/moreakrest
http://www.foxbghsuit.com/release022803.htm
Cheers,
--Stewart
But wait until the networks realize it's incredibly cheaper to pay for an Indian with a newly localized accent to do the same thing. You can bet the Indian guy won't have a problem with any of those pesky ethics.
it's a matter of credibility
People develop 'relationships' with their radio personalities. Listeners get a lot of information from the radio, sure it may just be weather or traffic, but what happens when more important stories are covered? I know listeners have to be more sceptical of what they hear on the radio, but the media should strive to uphold an honest relationship with their listeners.
- "It's really cold out here" yeah right, how's the line for Space Mountain?
A few years back I took a tour of KDGE here in dallas. The Edge is probably one of the biggest stations in the DFW metroplex, and there are a few other stations based out of the same offices.
Well, as we went into the booth for the 'oldies' station the DJ started talking to us and mentioned that he was recording the morning show for Phoenix that would air tomorrow. He also said that he was the voice for something like 6 other stations, just with different names, personas, etc.
Also, back in my small hometown the local Clear Channel station ditched the local morning guys and decided to go with some syndicated bullshit that is generic for ANY market; Think of them saying "Man, it sure is cold!" "Hell yeah!" and of course all of the call-in stuff is BS to the extreme. Call the number, give the `DJ` your request and it may be considered by the CC people if its requested in enough numbers.
You know what's a lot more satisfying? What lets you listen to the song a bunch of times, even on your iPod? Fucking KaZaa. Download music. Why would you request something then wait 4 hours for it to come on the radio?
I don't care where the anchors are reporting from. As long as the news is actually news and not made up, its all good.
Would you object to reading a newspaper that reported on your town's local news every day but was layed out and printed in some other city before it came to you?
The point is - someone in your city reported the news before it came to that anchor's attention.
I really dont see what your or Michael's problem is.
Those who say differently are lying, guessing, or wishing.
Other companies have their own policies. But that's how we do it at CC.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
wow. Michael, you're such a left-wing conspiracy theorist.
Corporation = evil (always)
Republican = evil (always)
America = imperialistic/ignorant (always)
Read this quick, folks, cuz the 14 year-old mods are gonna mod this down in a heartbeat.
Well, I don't find this particularly compelling either, but it is sort of interesting. It's about how media companies can use technology (affordable studios in the homes of remote "journalists" and newsreaders) to (arguably) mislead listeners and viewers.
Used to be that you actually had to be in the studio, or you'd have to phone in a report, which would sound distinctly different (read: crappy) than the in-studio hosts, so they'd pretty much fess up that this was a remote phone-in update right away. Now they can have anyone anywhere with very low lag and almost identical quality.
So, obviously, the fun for the discussion is to think about and discuss (1) what ways this is happening that we don't really know about, (2) what possible future advances will allow, and (3) where we draw the line between "using technology to give better reporting" and "utter fraud". It's interesting in that sense, at least to me.
For example, if they start using really advanced blue-screen technology and CGI to replace the typical reporter-outside-during-the-hurricane with a fake version of one dry and safe in the studio, but it looks perfectly realistic, and he says "I'm standing out at the pier now Bill, and I tell you the winds and rain are out of control . . . . just amazing!", etc. is it OK? Technically, if they have a screen behind him showing the raw footage they'll morph him into later in post-production, they're technically not lying. But to me, they are lying "technically" when they go that far. It's wrong, but I'm not sure how to stop it (other than people turning the channel), and I definitely don't want too much gummint regulation going on here. So, see, as a seed for thought (if you've got fertile ground ready -- perhaps not) this is pretty decent fodder on a slow news day.
But in this case, no one actually said the guy was freezing his ass off in Boston, but the quotes I read definitely implied that. And, while it doesn't really invalidate his comments (yes, it is cold here), or really hurt anyone, it is slimy. On the other hand, do they have to come out and say where everyone is reporting from? (Seems like they used to, almost as an issue of pride -- "look at how many remotes we can affort to cull from for you!"). Look, there's another interesting line of thought, to some.
The other interseting point (again, to me) is about "local" newscasts and such being post-processed national versions with local references edited in, such as "We'll be out at the mall today giving out T-shirts" is edited to insert town names and custom copies are distributed nationwide to dozens of "local" stations that actually have no local anything other than a transmitter run by computers. I think that's slimy too, but I can also see how it makes good business sense (highly cost-effective) . . . unless people actually backlash because of the sliminess.
So, I guess, besides those points for discussion, what I'm saying is STFU and stop threadcrapping. If you don't like it don't read it. And definitely don't post about it -- no one wants your complaints, just your insight and interesting discussion, which you are clearly lacking in this case.
everything in moderation
I have mod points, I want to mod this story down negative 4 for "uninteresting, boring, lame, and trollish"..
I don't even see how it is even relevent to Michael.
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
It's not a very exciting story, but it's fair comment about how many of you really believe that the *man on the box* is your truthfull friend and informant?
... whats new?!? :-D
Hey the media lie to us
Worst
It's deceptive when a report pretends to be local but isn't. ClearChannel aren't the only media company that does this, of course, nor is radio the only medium that does this. Ever wonder how three nightly news reports on three different channels manage to have precisely the same background image for a "live" report from [insert news hotspot here]?
Here is Washington we have a turd of a DJ named Jon Ballard on local cock rock station DC101 and one day when I was visiting Detroit on a business trip I heard him there too. WTF?!
The Detroit Free Press has a story about it Not so much that he's on two stations, just that he's such bad DJ that the world gets cursed at least twice with his presence.
Corporate Radio Sucks...Listen to this instead
If you ring up a radio station and make a request, the DJ has to equate the value of a song that one person wants to hear (you) vs the song that their intelligence says that their entire listnership is most likely to want to hear next. With the exception of really good DJs and request shows, you never get requests on commercial radio.
What you do get is your soundbite recorded, because 9/10 times you're requesting something that's coming up soon (something in the top 10 perhaps?) - so when they next play the song you wanted in their schedule, they play the "Hi, can I hear this new song please?" sound bite before it and it sounds like someone requested the song, the station played it, and they are doing what their audience want. Couldn't be farther from the truth.
I feel pain every time I watch the Local News Anchor. Does this count as the same thing?
"Would you believe it's 5 below zero right now, back in Boston?"
"The only thing worse than the actual temperature where you are right now is having the wind chill factored in."
"It doesn't get any worse than this, when do we get a break from temperatures in the low 60's?"
Happens all the time in politics -
"I did not have sex with Ms Lewinsky, if we're not counting that oral stuff."
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most conventional lethal weapons ever devised."
With apologies to Mr. Cronkite -
And that's the way it is - according to news feeds, the internet, and my web cam.
This is an excellent example of how easy it is to dupe the public into believing something that is not entirely factual. It also drives home the importance of our taking what we hear on radio/TV and what we read in the newspapers with a very big grain of salt.
I think what irritates people such much about this is that this time it was the PRESS in a BLATANT attempt at disception. People like to believe that even though commericals are filled with lies and deceipt and politicans' televised speeches are full of fabrications that somehow the press is above all this and has a responsiblity to be as open and honest with their audience as possible. Now, you and I and most slashdotters know better. But the average person really trusts the media to keep them informed. Sure, this is a relatively small breech of trust. "Who cares?" you might be tempted to ask. And, yes, the actual location of some TV personality doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. However, the very idea that this station is involved in deception and, when caught, claim there is nothing wrong with what they are doing is what upsets people so much.
GMD
watch this
How soon can we have virtual war, where nobody dies?
Not Soon Enough!
Since nearly all media are controlled by private entities under capitalism, and since my theory is that free markets will result in oligopolies and monopolies, I think it is fair to say that this is just the start of the takeover of "news" by corporations. If you ever thought the media was responsible for the truth, you are sadly mistaken. The media has never had anything to do with the truth. In the past, the government controlled media* was nothing more than a propaganda outlet for the--you guessed it--government.
Nowadays, the media is nothing more than the propaganda arm of the corporations. Don't get me wrong. The government still has massive influence. One just needs to look at how the US government has manipulated television, movie studios, or print media since 9/11. At least 40% of what came out of US media in the last 2 years have been disinformation. Anyone wonder why the majority of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein was an Al-Qaida member? Ever wonder why no one bothers to find out WHO cooked up the fake documents relating to plutonium in Niger? And best of all, ever wonder what happened to the Anthrax Assasin? Yes folks, the Anthrax Assasin, who incidentally killed more innocent Americans than Saddam Hussein, has dissapeared. And it does not stop with USA. I mean, just pick your favourite country and see how the media manipulates information. One needs to look no further than France and how the French government is manipulating the recent ban on religious ornaments as passing it off as liberalism. Clearly, this has nothing to do with liberalism. After all, liberalism is consistent with multiculturalism and banning things takes society even further away. Yet the French government is claiming it is the liberals who wanted it (this is kind of interesting given that Jacques Chirac is a right winger (Gaullist I think)). Of course, if you want the ultimate book on how the people's opinions are shaped, you can check out the highly acclaimed Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky. Or you can check out some books by Nazis (they were the ultimate propagandists).
Now, my comment is about capitalism. There have been countless stories that were not aired, or countless people who were fired, for simply telling the truth that had a potential to damage their parent corporations. Next time you watch NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, or National Geographic, and notice how it never criticizes G.E., you know why. This is just a tame example (clearly organizations like Fox News and Washington Post are more propagandist). You don't need me to tell you that. Just look around and you'll see. Something like 11 companies control 90% of all media in USA. For the smaller countries, it's even worse (2 or 3 companies control 95% of the media).
It doesn't get any better. People in "liberal" societies think that their news is diverse and comes from many sources. Oh, how mistaken they are. The vast majority of news (probably 80%+) comes from two sources (in North America): Reuters and Associated Press. Sure, there are hundreads of newspapers. Flip through them and you'll see that most news comes from AP and Reuters. Needless to say, AP and Reuters are for-profit entities who only care about making money.
All of this will just get worse and worse. The only thing keeping some of these media companies from merging with each other creating even larger multinational corporations are anti-trust laws and nationalistic laws (eg. laws preventing foreign ownership). Once those legislation are weakened (capitalism calls for the elimination of them), the final stage will be complete. Rest assured. Unless you lead a high-risk lifestyle, it will likely happen within your lifetime.
Welcome to the future world... where all news comes from the Associated World News Network (with its 'your only news source' slogan) versus FuX News Network (with its sloga
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
Meta-territory here, but was there a vote on bleating-acceptance I missed, or...? Didn't Nirvana's "here we are now, entertain us" attitude end a decade ago?
..you know, the opposite of wanting to be spoonfed?
Part of the problem could stem from casting oneself as "the audience". An audience passively consumes what it is served. I don't know, but shouldn't (being part of creating what is) Slashdot, be
668.5
Dont forget, Bill of Rights - freedom of the press to be owned by people with certain interests and party affiliations and freedom of the press to _not_ report certain things. Im not saying its bad, im just saying that they are free to say or not say what they like.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Forgot all the angels on pins arguments, all the quibbling about telecommuting and whether or not everybody is doing it. Forget ALL that. Cut to the chase.
Both the anchor and the radio station don't want the audience to know. Therefore they know they are being deceptive and that it is wrong.
Infuriate left and right
The article states that he anchors from Florida "for two weeks in the fall and two weeks each month in the winter". That's half the entire Boston winter and then some.
Does this post actually qaulify as news for nerds? Does it really matter? I think no on both points.
Don't Vote for Norm Dicks! http://www.nodicks2008.com Another nutless dirtbag that voted for the FISA bill!
"I don't think it's being disingenuous," he said. "I'm not lying to anybody."
The definition of a lie . Merriam-Webster has a more detailed definition, but no direct links.
So yes, jackass, you are lying to your listeners. That's all it boils down to.
Of course, some people ( of which I am one ) would argue that almost all media has been lying to us for quite some time.
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
I don't know why but that article made me chuckle "heh, Boston outsources its news/weather reporting to Florida". It's reminds me of how Indian phone center workers are sometimes trained in different regional US accents to create the illusion that they're local to the US customer.
>> Michael just wants to bitch about Clear Channel and big evil corporations.
Sadly enough, I think Mr. AC hit it on the head here.
There is a reference to Clear Channel in the article text but absolutely no connection to it in the linked article whatsoever. Why is it there? What could it possibly have to do with some guy telecommuting to Florida? How could the linked article, in any reality, be considered 'News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters'?
It's there because somebody has an axe to grind, that's why. Is this not a perfect example of the need for the 'troll -1' moderation?
He's not freezing his ass off like the rest of us dumb-asses. I applaud his choice of weather..
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
We can look at the tobacco lawsuits filed by states in attempts to recover medical expenses as evidence of the negative externalities resulting from people "not hurting anyone else."
Get off my launchpad!
Read your parent post. If the anchor and radio station don't want the truth out, if it embarasses them, then they themselves know it is wrong. It is deceptive. They don't want the audience to know. If they had nothing to hide, then it would not be wrong.
If the perpetrators themselves think it is wrong, is that not good enough evidence for you?
Infuriate left and right
How is this anymore phony then when a TV news anchor is seen reporting from the depths of some jungle, when in reality it's nothing more than a blue screen? Perhaps I should post an article to Slashdot about the repeated gaffs of journalistic integrity at the "Old Gray Lady". Undoubtedly the best source for such an article would be the NY Times itself, thus not being trustworthy and requiring that dreaded registration.
Fox columnist exposes shoddy sourcing behind paper's story network paid singer
The suspended New York Times reporter insists--wrongly--that everybody does it
A story about Jayson Blair
Oh, and let us not forget the historians like Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Each is accused of lifting the work of others.
On a last note, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Rick Bragg are both Pulitzer Prize winners. So, I'm hardly shocked or worried that some radio morning personality (hardly a true journalist) is being raked over the coals for broadcasting remotely.
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
First, I have to admit that I browse at +1 with the show-nested-comments-on-main-page thingy set to +3, and I browse highest scores first. So I don't read very many low-rated posts.
:gasp: karma for it, but somebody has to do it!" But in reality he's just saying the exact same thing that every single other poster on the entire site has been saying since the beginning of time.
Do posts with phrases like "I'm sure to lose karma" or "I'm sure I'll be modded down for this, but..." ever actually get modded down? I'm utterly sick of reading this phrase. It inevitably is in a post whose opinion is against "the public"'s opinion but is perfectly aligned with what all of the slashbots think. So of course it will get modded up, because it contributes to the great groupthink project. However, the poster has to imagine persecution. Even though all of his friends and everyone on this site agrees with what he's saying, he puts in a little persecution complex. "It hurts to bear the truth, and I'll lose
Sigh. I guess I'll go take my meds and relax now.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Episode: "A Taste of Armageddon"
Provides your virtual war without the inconvenience of actual weapons. Casualties are much less messy, too.
Maybe CC et al could create "virtual markets" to broadcast their "virtual entertainment" into, eliminating the messy audience satisfaction surveys. Personally, I despise the homogenous nature of the broadcasters (radio and TV.) Why do I need more than one channel if they're all the same?
Local News Feels Pain from Anchor
Er wait...
My hyperlinks aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
Clear Channel's relationship with their affiliates is sort of like that between the Mafia and the businesses that they're "protecting." Clear Channel would never demand that certain songs not be played, they would simply make suggestions that the affiliates can follow or, alternately, choose not to follow. Of course, those station managers that choose not to follow the advice of their superiors may find that those promotions don't come like they used to, or perhaps they may find themselves cut out due to a budget crunch.
So, yeah, sure CCE "NEVER dictates what songs [affiliates] play," but you and I both know what's really going on.
-Waldo Jaquith
Many media conglomerates do the same thing with traffic reports. Here in Memphis, one company handles traffic for all of the CBS/Viacom/Infinity radio stations, and even has a live TV studio set up in their building so they can give traffic reports to the NBC TV station.
No, I don't understand why NBC and CBS are working together in this regard, there's something weird going on. The contact info for one local radio station gives @cbs.com email addresses, but check the postal address, 1960 Union Ave. They broadcast from the same building as the local NBC affiliate.
The ClearChannel stations have their own competing alternative called the Total Traffic Network. All of the CC stations have the same guy/gal reporting the traffic each day.
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Yeah, I pretend to send some of my e-mail from Nigeria.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I stopped listening to the tripe commerical radio some time ago, two or three years anyway. One of the few good things I get for the taxes is a decent public radio service via CBC. It's sometimes got a bit too much of a leftist bent for me at times, but that's probably a reflection of the local nature of the radio shows. That's right - real local radio for a few HOURS in the morning, in addition to good science programs (Quirks and Quarks!) and national news programs. Need I mention that there are no commericals to be heard anywhere.
The shows are all downloadable off the web (archives.cbc.ca) so you can burn them and take them with you on long trips, and time-shift the best programs like the aforementioned Quirks and Quarks.
Neat concept. If you get a shortwave radio from Radio Shack, you can get the BBC and others. Just stop listening to the crap. Spread the theme. Clear Channel will wise up eventually, or it really will be a clear channel. Heh.
What of the micro-station FM initiatives in the US, too?
..don't panic
That's nothing... It's the naming thing that gets to me. Just a few weeks ago I was talking to a phone-support person with a deep, scratchy voice. The name given was (no joke) "Emily".
What was just as funny, was hearing "Emily" freeze for about 15 seconds when I asked for her to spell it.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Me stupid.
:->
Sorry about that.
Opps.
Never happen again.
Local news is created by local news reporters. If an Evil Giant Corporation actually has reporters working in your town, then the location of the guy in the studio isn't of consequence.
Likewise, if your local Wholesome Mom and Pop Radio Station can't afford to hire reporters, then they're ripping and reading news from the same wire services the big guys use.
If you're offended because some disk jockey pretends to be in your city, that's another story.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Honest mistake, no big deal.
...do you know where your DJ is?
You must think in Russian.
Similarly, guns serve a purpose other then to kill people and the election analogy is just idiocy at its finest. Drugs ARE legal when prescribed by a doctor and under medical watch. (Morphine, etc.) The war on drugs gets rid of drugs which serve no purpose but a purpose which would break the law. Which is also why owning child porn is illegal. Does it serve any purpose besides the purpose which breaks a law? Nope.
Which brings up the interesting question... should child porn be legal? I mean really... if a 14 year old girl decides to do that and her parents are fine with it, who is anyone hurting?
This is something that has been addressed before again and again. The point is people don't really care. The only people who do are the smaller local broadcasters. I can sympathize with their plight trying to make a buck when the big guys are making it difficult for them. This does not excuse the libelous comments alleging made up news. I'm hopping someone at clear channels takes note of this and helps to lighten the load of slashdot editors like this.
" . . . with the advancement of technology, it has become common practice for on-air personalities across the industry -- such as Rush Limbaugh -- to anchor programs remotely . . ."
And just what technology might that be - Pharmacology?
. . . but seriously folks . . .
This reminds me of the movie Quiz Show from 1994. After people find out that certain charasmatic contestants have been supplied with the questions before the show, an executive from the program testifies before Congress. His statement in the movie goes something like: "Hey - we never said is was factual, we only said it was entertaining.". Here is some testimony from what I believe is the actual 1950's hearing.
As far as radio goes, disco was bad enough, now that it's all pre-packaged and rotated - I'll stick to playing my guitar with my friends. However, for actual entertainment, and a counter-voice to Limbaugh (et. al.), I'm eagerly anticipating the new channel and programming involving Al Franken
May the Universe continue to bless itself - through You!
Stuff that matters.
Back when I had cable here in Seattle, I would watch Mariners games on Fox Sports Northwest. For the postgame, these two (rather annoying) sportscasters (can't remember the names, it was a couple years ago) would come on, either ecstatic that the Mariners had won, or disappointed that they had lost. So, I go visit the inlaws' in Detroit, catch a Tigers game on Fox Sports (whatever it is in Detroit), and for the postgame, it's the same two guys, and these same two sportscasters are bummed out by the Tigers' poor showing (go figure)! So, what gives? I'm now picturing a couple guys sitting in a studio down in LA, doing sports for all of the various "local" sports programs across the country. I guess this is an efficient way of doing sports broadcasting, but it seems dishonest and unethical. Can anyone verify that my suspicions are true, or is it possible that these two guys got demoted to covering Detroit sports?
"...when does it cross the line into deception?"
When the producer or director or editor decides to present some things and not others, and decides how those things are to be presented.
Plain old "editorial discretion" is deception, because it presents a bias, whether of omission or commission. When they pretend that a golf tournament deserves as much air time as, say, a suicide bombing, they're already playing a role that goes way, way beyond pretending they're in a certain location.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Our local radio stations here will tape weekend news & DJ banter then play it over the weekend as if live. This was the explanation when they could not broadcast an emergency weather condition and someone was fatally struck by lightning during the sudden storm.
We do not have the same emergency broadcast system like in the US. I believe the weather service can cut in and broadcast these developments.
Sage Francis and the Non-Prophets are going on a Fuck Clear Channel tour this year, so if you want to stick it to the man and listen to some damn good music at the same time, I highly suggest you hit it up.
I belong to the ______ generation.
For over a year the US administration has been deceiving the public about Iraq, and now you are whining because some reporter talked about the weather outside without actually beeing there ???
Get a grip woman !!! This is peanuts compared to other things that have been going on.
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
I can't find my copy at the moment to check the wordng, but there is a section in Larry King's book "Tell it to the King" that has a section that reads exactly like this. I guess two people can report the same thing with words so very similar, but somehow I think being attributed to Neal Stephenson can't be right.
Lets see, how about #53217, just below
"Does the light stay on in the fridge when the door is closed?"
Come on people, get a life.
Who gives a fsck whether the guy phones in a few reports now and then?
How many of the people who are so concerned at this 'deception' were willing to be 'understanding' when they found out GWB invaded a country and killed thousands of innocent people based on a pack of lis about WMDs?
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
It's publicly owned by the city, so it's free of the usual garbage from the likes of ClearChannel. It's mostly a classical music station, but it also has news and weather, and some other stuff (e.g. religious programming on sunday mornings, if you're into that sort of thing). They also cover Dallas events, such as the July 4 TrinityFest fireworks show.
In addition, they also sell some CDs in their online store, which I've also seen in various music stores around Dallas.
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
This guy lied. He was pretending to be there. He wasn't just saying, "definitely got Boston in the deep freeze today." He was saying it like he was there. Not admitting it or not announcing a disclaimer is not the same as being deliberately deceptive. Paint it any way you want, pretend it doesn't matter, he deceived his listeners. It's not like telecommuting. If your boss knows you're telecommuting, you're fine. If you're telecommuting pretending to be in the office, you're fired.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Your examples demonstrate the "natural monopoly" of a universal healthcare insurer. It should be no-questions-asked, and spread across the largest base of similarly risk-constrained people. Like OHIP in Ontario, where everyone's taxes pay to indemnify the health risks while living under the same laws. If everyone is free to choose to smoke or not, everyone should pay to fix the health of broken smokers. Health insurance is one area with reduced "moral hazard", where insurance encourages risky behavior, because the experience of being broken and then fixed is more prohibitive than any financial costs. Illegal risks, like breaking a leg while trespassing, or driving on the wrong side of the road, might be excluded from indemnification. It's a tidy way for populations to protect themselves from risks and their consequences.
--
make install -not war
When I asked Slashdot about a user (subscriber?) moderated story submissions queue, their reply (thanks!) was that such participation causes "social problems". They're experts, but I'd like to see a way to experiment with that social dynamic, so we can solve the social problems, instead of avoiding them. Sure, we could hack user moderation into the Slashcode story submission queue, and launch "OpenSlashdot (TM)", but without the large experienced community, the experiment won't work so well. Meanwhile, many story submissions disappear into an unaccountable black hole, while many other reposts appear weekly.
--
make install -not war
I work in television media. I know Canada also allows a corporation to own serveral types of media, but yet I don't see this ClearChannel effect going on up there (at least to my eye, I could be wrong though). Have us Americans become that greedy about money that we are cutting every corner to make the most money? No wonder were the laughing stock of the world, we have become jerks like England was to us in 1776!
I've read "In the Beginning Was the Command Line", and I recall that anecdote. The attribution is correct.
Yes.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
How does this differ from call centers where someone pretends to be from several companies?
This is not a turnip.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
I wasnt saying its not in the it, but rather, its not original...
Geraldo Rivera claimed to be in Kandahar, while "phoning it in" from Tora Bora. Phesheya Dube, radio broadcaster in Swaziland, claimed to be broadcasting from Iraq, but really never left home. So much reporting on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is synthetic, that we should never trust what we hear, unless we corroborate from multiple sources. Even then, we must remain skeptical until we see where the money flows. Authentication of news requires interaction from consumers, which is why so many of us mine the Internet for information, and expect only entertainment from broadcasters.
--
make install -not war
Manufacturing Consent [800mb~]
something tells me hes like michael moore[5meg~] and wont care if people pirate his things.
he has the exact same idea about it that I do but hes famous and im not. which is just as well because i dont want people going thru my trash any more than they already do.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
Is it a slow news day or something? Don't you have anything else to bitch about? I thought I was going to read a "Wag the Dog" type article, but this guy's not making thing's up, it was cold in Boston and he reported that it was cold in Boston.
Move on, nothing to see here...
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
when does it cross the line into deception?
It crosses the line into deception when the announcer says things that are intended to deceive the listeners. Referring to the weather, the announcer says "When do we get a break?" so that listeners will think that he's there in Boston. And it's downright lying when he says "it's 5 degrees outside," because it's NOT five degrees outside, it's 50. Indeed, the ONLY reason to say those things is to tell the listeners that he's in Boston.
"...The main thing is that his information does not deceive the public."
Oh, but it DOES deceive the public. Do most of the listeners believe that LaPierre is in Boston? If yes, then by definition they've been deceived. You can make all the excuses for it that you want. You can tell yourself that it doesn't really matter that you lie to the audience. But that doesn't change the fact that you're a lying liar.
If someone asked you, other than beingannoyed at wasting your time, you wouldn't be embarassed to say where it was hosted. These people are. Both the management and the anchor don't want their audience to know. That means they think it is deceptive and wrong.
Infuriate left and right
I do a news-commentary-wild half-baked rant show on a community station in Toronto twice a week. A few months ago, the station's transmitter burned out on a Sunday night. My first show is early Monday morning.
Upon arriving at the control room, I found a note on the console informing the next hosts that the station had been silent since at least 9:30 pm the previous night. Naturally, the paid staff generally don't work on the weekend, especially on a Sunday evening, so no one actually called the Monday morning hosts, myself included. Since I wasn't sure if we were broadcasting again[0], I went through with the show I planned anyway, even after a couple people called wondering where the hell the signal was. I did this, despite the probability that no one could listen, because there was no way for me to be sure that we had no audience at all. A prof with decades of experience in radio taught us to never say anything near a mic that we would not want anyone to hear on-air[1] [2], and I've taken this to heart.
ObOnTopicComment: Not only am I straight about where I'm broadcasting from, I'm quite open about the editorial slant that will be broadcast[3] and encourage the listeners to confirm what I spew with other, probably more reputable sources.
[0] The low-power backup came online before the next show, and we finally got back to full power a couple weeks later once repairs were completed.
[1] And provided some graphic examples of what happens when on-air people don't watch their mouths.
[2] I've made this mistake a couple times, once with the mic on. Nothing major or offensive, just dumb. Still, I learned my lesson.
[3] "Libertarian socialist", if it matters. I figure it's better to be open about my political views and admit I'm as biased as the next person, than to claim objectivity and get called on it when my personal bias creeps in anyway. I don't fudge the facts, and I correct my mistakes on-air. I'm not a journalist, but I know better than to fake things I can be called on, which apparently this station did not.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
They have a point. They're called "news readers" in the UK, and "radio personalities" in the US.. Talking heads. They're not journalists.
That whole job can be automated anyway. Check out Ananova. A few more years of improvement, and we'll be able to ditch most TV celebrities.
Well, kuro5hin did run a story calling Bin Laden a (misunderstood) "freedom fighter" and his war against the US a "strategic move".
If that's the kind of stories user moderation results in then I'd say user moderation sucks.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
I'm really surprised you /.ers care where he broadcasts from. He's a radio presenter, not a TV journalist. Some of your points might be interesting if it was TV journalist standing in front of a Gainsville, FL courthouse claiming to be "live at the [Boston suburb] courthouse..."
What if he was in a suburban studio just outside of Boston, would that be okay? What about a studio in New York City?
What if he's in his usual downtown Boston studio and presenting the weather and temps for a distant suburb? Is that deceitful?
So, what is the allowed mileage range before it becomes deceitful?
BTW: Atlanta local TV news has the opposite problem. They feel compelled to send a reporter and camera crew to every damn street corner for LIVE UDPATES about EVERY SINGLE lame story they cover. On the 6am news I have to watch some poor sap freezing his ass off so he can report "LIVE from the Atlanta Fulton County government building that won't be open for another 3 hours anyways" "Behind me you can see the steps that so-n-so will be walking up when they arrive for their hearing 8 DAYS from now."
This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
You apparently don't know much about the newspaper business. It's not uncommon for rural newspapers to be printed in a larger city where the economies of scale allow for better equipment. In some cases, the rural papers are even owned by the big-city paper, and maintain a token local editorial and reportage presence, as well as the ad sales force.
I think you need to re-read what I said.
I never said that this doesnt happen, nor did I express any objections to that practice. I was making an analogy so that the original poster could see that such practices are common and have no reason to be not accepted.
TV news crossed the line into deception a long time ago.
The agendas of the corporate monoliths who run the media in the United States are stinking and obvious in every little "human interest" story. It wouldn't matter anyway if the "local stories that aren't" were actually local; the end result is the same.
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
I don't care that he got a blowjob. I do care that he lied about it. It is a matter of credibility. He lied about that, what else did he lie about? What else was he willing to lie about?
He shouldn't have been put in a position where he had to lie about it.
He shouldn't have put himself in a position where he had to lie about it. I'm sorry, but Clinton isn't a stupid man. He should have known the consequences of his actions. He knew his position would cause him to be under scrutiny and should have avoided the whole situation.
The Clear Channel talk station here in Los Angeles has an excellent news division. They have local hosts and reporters and are the only local news that is truly independant from our non-locally owned monopoly newspaper. (Can't say anything about their weather coverage, we don't have any weather here). Outsourcing can help smaller media (radio and TV) compete against newspapers to produce independant local news.
I would love it if the radio station would partner with an independant TV station and open a competing newspaper. But then the new group would own a newspaper, TV station, and radio station, and that is not allowed under the old FCC rules because we need more media diversity.
I think if I lived in Boston, I would probably feel a little deceived. However, I don't think what this guy's doing is a huge deal. I mean he's in Boston for most of the year and in the winter he flies south for 2 weeks out of the month.
However, I have a huge problem with companies like Sinclair Broadcasting. Most of your local TV news probably comes from them. And then you get ultra-conservative jackasses like Mark Hyman injected into your local news. He's the VP of Corporate Relations for Sinclair, and this apparently entitles him to a 2 minute spot (The Point) every night, on TVs nationwide.
Someone else said it better.
(Yes, it's a cover, but it still tells the truth better than you or your colleagues ever did.)
Read, L
I reread the article, and don't see it saying that he says he's in Boston, he just says things like "It's 5 degrees outside [in Boston]" and "can't we [in Boston] get a break?". He says he doesn't lie, and I don't find anything in the article to contradict. But then I've never listened to the station.
Mencken had it right. So glad that's old news.
Saddam's Chicks? Lied? Please. What a pathetic attempt to smear these women, for exercising their right, nay, responsibility, to express their opinion about the so-called leaders of this country. Care to justify your statement?
And what about the thousands of rednecks who were saying "Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. Why don't we carpet-bomb the whole country and kill all those damn ragheads!!" Now those are people who truly "know nothing about foreign policy" and "babble" anyway.
So what if Dan Rather, instead of traveling to the middle of a hurricane to report live, just used a blue screen and a wind machine, and had someone off screen throw a tree branch or two at him? Is that ok too?
This happened in Australia just recently to do with the Iraq war. A current affairs reporter claimed to be in Iraq, and was saying shit such as "Look us anywhere we want. We are in a truck which could be filled with weapons and no one has stopped us." I also heard (didn't see all of it) that he claimed they were being fired at by Iraqi's.
It was later exposed he had just been going thru the Australian outback, and the few shots that looked like they were from Iraq, were. But they weren't shot by him, they were added in later from other news broadcasts.
Here are some great sources for news online:
Financial Times - FT a good example of actual "news reporting" (as opposed to "news creating" exhibited by most companies). As a result of the commercial influence in all aspects of society nowadays, it makes perfect sense that some of the financial news sources may now be the most objective source of information. Check out this wonderful site and newspaper.
PR Watch - This site is run by the Center for Media & Democracy is a nonprofit, public interest organization funded by individuals and nonprofit foundations and dedicated to investigative reporting on the public relations industry. The Center serves citizens, journalists and researchers seeking to recognize and combat manipulative and misleading PR practices. There is an excellent weekly newsletter you can subscribe to from this site which summarizes news stories and special issues where media coverage was manipulated.
Disinfopedia - a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. More than 2500 articles outlining information and credentials on key individuals and entities involved with public policy and other areas. This is a great resource to look up the history of people in the news.
Link TV - The first national network offering a global perspective on news, current events and culture, presenting viewpoints seldom covered in the U.S. media. We present first-run documentaries on global issues, current affairs series, international news, classic foreign feature films, and the best of world music. Link TV's programming, combined with innovative use of two-way digital link-ups and our participatory web site, deepens audience engagement and encourages active participation. If you have DirecTV, this network is channel 375 - ask your cable provider if they do not make this network available - it's worth it!
Democratic Underground - What has turned out to be a polarized web site has become a watchdog for the mainstream media, the Democratic Underground exposes the hypocrisy and sleaziness in the media. Check this site out folks -- with references (something you do not find on conservative sites)
CorpWatch - A great site for information on the nefarious activities of multinational corporations. Want to find out who's paid off whom? Which governments are under the influence of which corporations? Little-known corporate relationships that explain unusual social or political events? This is the site to check.
Adbusters - In our society it has become increasingly difficult to separate editorial from advertising and many argue there is no longer a distinction. This site addresses the social changes in how people are educated by addressing the impact of news and the advertising media and exposes the propaganda campaigns. Very good reading, and in many cases, shockingly thought-provoking!
Common Dreams News Center - Billed as "Breaking news & views for the Progressive community",
this site endeavors to carry stories that the mainstream media may either not be reporting, or not telling all sides.
Canadian Broadcast Corporation - Canada's state-owned news service is widely regarded as one of the most objective sources of information.
Independent Media Center - A good source for news stories that the mainstream doesn't pick up. This site is particularly sensitive to the influence corporate America has over what is and is
Holy crap, it just keeps getting worse! Michael can't keep his irrational politics out of what is supposed to be a "news" story. If slashdot is that hard up for editors, I'll volunteer. Seems to me there's plenty of good stuff going into the queue that michael doesn't need to dig up and mischaracterize issues just to get his own two cents in sideways.
News for nerds indeed. News for uptight leftist wannabes.
So... is Bush's lie about Yellow Cake more severe, in you opinion? Why or why not?
No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
I find it amusing that the Boston Globe is covering this when they didn't seem to care when one of their columnists implied attending a conference, but clearly had not.
An interesting quote from the article: "Ethics specialists argue that LaPierre is breaching an unspoken contract of honesty between journalist and listener."
If there really was a contract between journalists and the listener (or reader), why wouldn't they do more work to uncover the governments and corporation's lies? It really isn't too difficult to do, and in times like these I think that the American government needs to be as informed as possible.
SIGFAULT
Not sure if this is a Clear Channel station or not, but I'm in Santa Maria, where Michael Jackson was arraigned the other day. Well, I just heard a news report on a LOCAL station that says he was arraigned in the usually sleepy town of Santa MONICA. Christ, this is the biggest local story in YEARS, and yet they still just read some newswire story complete with the name of the wrong town. Do you think these people even know what town they're reporting "from"?
If what this person is doing is ethical, what's to keep reporters from claiming that they're on the scene in Baghdad -- or Kabul -- when in fact they're safe in the US?
Radio is all about getting your audience to imagine things. If you saw how ugly most radio hosts are, or what disgusting studios that they have to do their shows from, you'd think they were lying all the time.
Radio is called "Theater of the Mind." Radio hosts are actors. They're creating visuals in your mind. Of course they use technology and special effects.
For example, in Los Angeles, in the old days the top 2 news radio channels had sound effects of teletype machines running in the background. Just about every radio station in a major market has an Eventide Harminizor, a made for radio effects box which has a "traffic helicopter" effect preset.
Don't confuse making good radio with making cheap radio. The latter is when an Infinity or CC fires 90% of the local staff and has a central studio do voice tracking for 10 different stations in 10 different cities.
Next we'll be slagging Howard Stern for not telling the whole truth all the time!
Although nobody was making up stories here, it is reasonable to me that this potends a slippery slope. The whole point? Save money. Nobody notices the early stages of sending production - of whatever sort - to a cheaper or more central location. Naturally, other broadcasters will want to save money too. At some point, who's left to do the actual local news gathering? AP? Don't assume market forces will handle it, because ownership of local affiliates has been getting very concentrated (Thanks, Mr. Powell, et al). In addition, with the centralized studios, how is - or is - one going to present faces that represent the varous communities?
I can just see it, news for Hawaii, featuring a crew with maybe one Asian face, and none of which can pronounce 'Aiea'.
Luke, help me take this mask off
Since was does working at home constitute a Republican conspiracy involving Clear channel. Innuendo in this case is not effective. I work at home very effectively. The basic premise of the author is flawed.
Yo stop dissing people... Posting as an anonymous coward, and claiming someone else is stupid without any justification just makes YOU look stupid...
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
A lot of long time radio show hosts are allowed to do there shows from Florida. I know of a few other actually. I think its a right you have earned, if you have been there a long time. I wish they would be more upfront about it is all.
So, obviously, the fun for the discussion is to think about and discuss (1) what ways this is happening that we don't really know about
Morning radio often interviews all sorts of famous people. They are carrying on as if the famous person were right there, but often I suspect that this is not the case, the famous person is in a studio elsewhere.
Gary is one of the longest-running news anchors in the business. He came to WBZ in 1964, and the very first story he covered was the Beatles' arrival in Boston. He's been working nonstop ever since, most of that time as morning news anchor, hauling himself into the station at 4 every morning. (I remember asking him, when I started on the shift, how long it took to get used to the hours - his answer was, "You don't.")
There's nobody on the radio in Boston right now, IMHO, who knows the city, the region and its people as well as Gary does.
He's been threatening to retire since the days when I worked there, and the opportunity to work from his vacation home in Florida was offered to him a few years ago as a perk to get him to re-up for a few more years (WBZ's morning drive is by far the top-rated broadcast in Boston, so the station had a big incentive not to lose Gary's services.)
Everyone in Boston radio has known for years that Gary does a few weeks a year from Florida, and he's never denied it when anyone's asked him. Only the Globe, which has some of the worst coverage of radio in American newspaperdom, was apparently surprised to find out this was going on. (And, as usual, the paper didn't even get all the facts right, starting with Gary's shift, which is NOT "5:30-9.")
What Gary does is to anchor the top- and bottom-of-the-hour newscasts, of which he writes about half himself and has the other half written by a newswriter (though he then proceeds to rewrite the material himself much of the time!). He hasn't done reporting from the field on a daily basis for years. The station has a crew of field reporters, as well as in-house writer/reporters and editors, who are always back in Boston when Gary's in Florida. (It also draws heavily on the resources of its sister TV station.)
So what we have here is a guy whose job is to synthesize the information that's coming into him from his editor, from the reporters in the field, from the newswires and from the TV side and to make it all make sense to listeners in Boston. There's no part of that job description, it seems to me, that requires him to be tied to a desk in Boston at all times. Someone downthread had it just right: he's telecommuting, something that would have been impossible in radio news as recently as my own days at the station.
I draw a distinction between "broadcast telecommuting" by veteran broadcasters like Gary (or Paul Harvey, or Don Imus, or Rick Dees, or even Rush Limbaugh, all of whom broadcast at least part-time from home studios at their vacation residences) and the more insidious practice of having "local" news and talk provided, in its entirety, by distant and often inexperienced voices who've barely set foot in the community they're presuming to serve.
The worst case, at the moment, has nothing to do with Clear Channel (or Viacom, which owns WBZ). Sinclair Broadcasting runs an operation called "News Central," based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, that supplies news and "local" weather to about a dozen of its stations around the country.
Here in Rochester NY, the arrival of "News Central" meant that Sinclair's local Fox affiliate unceremoniously ditched most of its (already small and relatively green) local news staff, leaving behind only a skeleton crew of reporters and anchors to gather local news headlines. Each night at 10, the local anchor alternates news segments with national news "from News Central." The Maryland-based anchor is sitting on an identical set to the Rochester anchor, and viewers are never told that half the newscast doesn't come from here - or that the weather (which is very important here in the frozen tundra) is coming from Maryland. And the weather forecaster makes frequent references to "here" and "us," even though she's never set
Even then you can't protect yourself from it fully. Which is why I stopped even paying attention or caring. I get pretty good news source delivered to me (being Navy Intel) but even that has to be read with a skeptical eye.
Basically my point here is to NEVER EVER believe anything you hear or read unless you can compare at least 3 or 4 other sources against it, and even then try to extract all of the hidden agenda out of it. We place far too much trust into what the media is delivering to us. It is not wise because most of it is total propaganda and 'spin' (yes, even Bill O'Reilly is full of it folks).
It's sad that things have to be this way, but that's how our country is setup. That's how capitalism works. Our media is an industry, and therefore it must make a profit to survive (well in theory). This alone flaws it. Instead of caring about keeping the citizens of this country informed and educated on matters that do concern them, we choose to allow ourselves to blind each other in order to make a dollar.
Just one more step on the road to eventual self-destruction.
All your base are belong to Google.
The guy is apparently a Boston native (39 years of local broadcasting) and still technically lives there; leave the guy alone and let him have his perk "migrations". Sheesh!
(still offtopic)
I call for vendor support several times a week and am routed to India. My favorite engineer introduced himself as "Ronald McDonald." Although he had an amusing and obviously non-Indian name, he was a very qualified engineer. He spoke pretty good English too.
I can't make this stuff up!
Those who say differently are lying, guessing, or wishing.
Ah, cult logic.
How refreshing.
Read, L
I do make a habit of calling local and even national news offices. I will not be an 'audience'. There was one news report at breakfast time in which the news anchors discussed how a murderer preferred to canablize his victim with asparigus. This was during breakfast with children present. I called the local station and complained directly to the producers. Just becuase they say they say you are an audience doesn't mean you have to act like sheep.
Think global, act loco
I think that the important thing that we can all gather from this story, is that no one wants to actually live in Boston. Damn that Ted Kennedy. :)
Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
They're idiots.
Anyone who wants to cover local news from a distance is insane. There are major setbacks to doing it, but living in the environment and seeing what is going on with your own eyes is ESSENTIAL.
This will all soon sort itself out.
No one will listen to local news set far away when they have local news from real locals sitting right next to them on the dial. It is only a matter of time before the people will realize this when they say something wrong on the air repeatedly, and then the other guys will be at the big event news when it happens across the street. The public just assumes that you are local when covering local news. The public will notice this soon enough, and when it does, they will lose market share that will not make up for the cost losses.
This is a new thing. I predict it will not be a very long thing. It will be over in a year and a half when the corporate nimrods bong-rip ideas like "we could do local news cheaper across the country!" die a horrible, horrible death.
News is exteremely competitive. They just replaced their personal insight with a phone call. This is NOT a smart move.
Just wait till some personable people from China and India come along without accents. Even radio jobs will get outsourced overseas. As all the techies have learned, I you have a job that can be done from anywhere, the lowest bidder on the planet will get it.
On Los Angeles's local rock station, KROQ, the morning show has been done by two guys named Kevin Ryder and Gene (Bean) Baxter for about 11 or 12 years now. They've got a few cohosts (Lisa May, traffic; Ralph Garman, entertainmnet news; Money, sports; Doc, news), but for the most part, Kevin and Bean do most of the talking.
Three or four years ago, Bean moved to Seattle from Los Angeles. He made a deal with the station where he would set up a broadcasting booth in his house, and continue working the show from there. Kevin and Bean have never been secretive about it; they bring it up all the time (mostly to make fun of Bean and his numerous pets). And Bean does sometimes come down to L.A. for special events and is actually in the studio. But a new listener who wasn't aware of this might go on for some weeks without clueing in to the fact that Bean's not actually in the studio, but is in reality 1,200 miles away in Seattle. There's no deliberate misrepresentation going on here, but I thought it was at least somewhat relevant.
(The other tricky part is that Kevin and Bean sound almost exactly alike, so that can be a bit confusing.)
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Really? I guess stupidity is in the eye of the beholder :)
;) I guess you must be old...
What's wrong with "yo stop dissing people". Too juvenile for you? Too hip for you? Too modern for you?
Using ellipses is correct because I was posting two thoughts that are not connect to each other. A period would mean that the sentences are related to each other...
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
The Globe article seems to center around a radio news anchor working out of his home four weeks a year. This is news? What, the Globe got tired of talking about the democrat caucus?
So, the article isn't about much of anything, and the slashdot report of the article tries to make it into something it's not. Thank you. I'll be more cautious about believing what I read here in the future.
Ron
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
What? You mean there isn't a little man inside the radio? How misleading!