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Local News Anchor Feels Pain from Afar

Posted by michael on from the brrrr dept.

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?

39 of 549 comments (clear)

  1. No Clear Channel stations mentioned in story... by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Informative

    WBZ Boston is owned by Infinity Radio, WTTK Boston is owned by Greater Media... it's not just ClearChannel, everybody's doing it.

    1. Re:No Clear Channel stations mentioned in story... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      it's not just ClearChannel, everybody's doing it.

      That doesn't mean it's ethical - or the right thing to do.

    2. Re:No Clear Channel stations mentioned in story... by Bryan+Gividen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Everybody's doing it. Which is why it is also okay to do drugs, jump of cliffs, and buy Windows XP.

    3. Re:No Clear Channel stations mentioned in story... by Frisky070802 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      True, but the ethics here aren't that questionable. He never says he's in Boston, he only implies it. Hmm, maybe he and Bill Clinton took the same ethics class?

      NB: I'm a fan of Clinton in most respects, just not how he handled a certain affair. This isn't flamebait, only a joke :)

      --
      Mencken had it right. So glad that's old news.
    4. Re:No Clear Channel stations mentioned in story... by c1ay · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sure they are. Look at Darl McBride, not once has he informed us that he's reporting from the asylum. He still found a mountain of code, copied line by line from Unixware and he has the Linux developers trapped in their tanks retreating from the battle. What difference does it make where he says it from, he's still a nutcase either way.

      --

    5. Re:No Clear Channel stations mentioned in story... by router · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm sure the news broadcaster industry will be up in arms when the radio networks outsource their broadcasts to India tho. Don't they see the handwriting on the wall?

      andy

  2. An Excellent Example by MissMarvel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:An Excellent Example by conradp · · Score: 5, Insightful
      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.

      Exactly. Sort of like making the audience that believe that they're about to read an article about Clear Channel making up facts for local news broadcasts, only to find a link to an article about some guy who likes to vacation in Florida for a few weeks a year.

      --
      "To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it." -- Olin Miller
    2. Re:An Excellent Example by glesga_kiss · · Score: 5, Insightful
      This is an excellent example of how easy it is to dupe the public into believing something that is not entirely factual.

      Bollocks. Has anyone posting here actually read the article? (stupid question).

      The guy is tele-commuting!, that's about all this story is. For two weeks per month in the winter, and two weeks over the summer, he works from home.

      How may people here do the exact same thing? What would be a better /. story would be "technology advances make it possible to record professional TV shows at home" or something along the lines of how this is done.

      And where is this grand deception? He made a "brrr it's cold remark", while he was in warmer climbs? That's it? Fuck me, call the A-Team!! Frankly, I'm more worried that the news networks feel it's neccessary to put bullshit fluff like that on the news in the first place.

      He's a news anchor. He turns up, looks "nice", reads someone elses story in a news-caster voice. That's all they do and it's hardly a secret. We know they aren't pounding the streets for stories themselves.

    3. Re:An Excellent Example by catbutt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So what if Dan Rather, instead of travelling 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?

    4. Re:An Excellent Example by Sivaram_Velauthapill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      No one has a problem with people tele-commuting. But people DO have a problem when you LIE. That is exactly what this guy did. I don't care where you are. But if you say you are this or that, and you are not, then I DO care. Why does he have to lie? Why is he lying? Well, the answer is pretty simple. He is trying to manipulate people. If he is lying about such a little thing, maybe he is lying about all sorts of other things. You just don't know--and that's the point! He lost ALL his CREDIBILITY with that lie. I don't know who this guy is and I don't care about the weather. BUT can *I* be sure that he isn't going to lie and say that a medicine is safe because he took it (when in fact he didn't)? Or when he says that you cannot be charged for speeding less than 10km/h over the speed limit (when in fact he may be wrong)?

      It's just unfortunate that you still give him the credibility that you do. I think it would be better if you became a little more sceptical. No wonder the majority of people fall for politician's lies. If people didn't fall for it, politics would be 100x better.

      Sivaram Velauthapillai

      --
      Sivaram Velauthapillai
      Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places ;)
    5. Re:An Excellent Example by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 5, Funny

      Only if they hit him with the tree branch ;)

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    6. Re:An Excellent Example by alphaseven · · Score: 4, Informative
      So what if Dan Rather, instead of travelling 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?

      Cokie Roberts tried something similar (putting on a coat and reporting in front of a blue sceen of Capitol Hill) years ago and got reprimanded for it. I think she may have made a remark about the weather there too. If she got reprimanded I think the radio reporter should too.

      And funny you should mention Dan Rather, he got in a controversy too for reporting in front of a digitaly altered Times Sqaure, link.

  3. Radio Contests by stealie72 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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
  4. Great family guy moment... by shiafu · · Score: 5, Funny
    Tom Tucker: In other news, an accident caused the Quahog cable television transmitter to be knocked out, which will prevent broadcasting to the entire city. Actually, no can hear this, so it doesn't really matter what I say. I'm the lord Jesus Christ. I think I'm going to get drunk and beat up some hookers. How about you, Diane?

    Diane Simmons: Well, Tom, I just plain don't like black people.

    Director: Uh, guys, we're still on in Boston.

  5. the meat of the article is towards the end by ChipMonk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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?

    1. Re:the meat of the article is towards the end by Sivaram_Velauthapill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      One more step in virtualizing the whole world. How soon can we have virtual war, where nobody dies?

      Well, if you go with the US media, the Iraqi war is pretty much a virtual war. Sure, you hear about some death here and there but it is all virtual. No one has seen any video of a dead person. No one has seen blood. No one has seen victims without legs, arms, loved ones. No one has seen the soldiers that are crippled for life. It's pretty virtual it seems...

      :(

      Sivaram Velauthapillai

      --
      Sivaram Velauthapillai
      Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places ;)
  6. WBZ 1030's entire weather staff lives in PA... by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...

  7. This story is total bullshit by defile · · Score: 4, Funny

    Of course he's in Boston during his broadcasts. I saw it on TV.

  8. At least ... by mistert2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    it is not India....yet.

  9. Does it really matter? by sfbanutt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Does it really matter? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I mean really, does it?

      Nope. Gary's rarely in the same room with most of the reporters he talks with on his morning show, the sports reporter works in another room in the same building, the traffic reporter is somewhere accross town, the weatherperson is from AccuWeather in PA, and any field reporters are of course out in the field.

      The content decisions are still being made by editors in Boston... and there's no need to hand pieces of paper to the lead anchor anyway because it's all done on computers anyway. The technology exists to push all of the "data on his desk" to Florida, and for him to send back his voice in high quality...

  10. What my Mom Taught me by iCharles · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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.

    1. Re:What my Mom Taught me by iCharles · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think there are three things.

      First, there has been much concern about media conglomeration. More stations in the hands of fewer people means that fewer views are presented, less choice, more homogenization. Further, if something does become a problem (say, DJ's advocating violence against cyclists), then it is in fewer hands to try to do something about it. So long as it doesn't cause the FCC to investigate, those few hands don't have to. Likewise, the lack of music choice that is often lamented (hey! It's Britney Spears Clone #192!) is part of the problem The practice described in the article is both a symptom of this problem as well as a way for it to be masked.

      Second, I think there is the inherent dishonesty. You're right, on the Great Scale of Things to Worry About, it probably isn't that great (though, on \., I've seen far more trivial matters argued in great detail). However, there is a sense that implying you are "local" when you are in a different timezone just isn't fair.

      Further, creating this "generic" show just strikes me of corporate disrespect. I read another article about this practice, and it describes how one DJ does a dozen morning shows from one control booth. He creates this illusion that he is local with little tweaks.

      I think there is an expectation (mostly through historical means) that the person they listen to on the radio is like them--actually go to the same places, had to deal with the same conditions on the way in, etc. I know when, growing up in southwest Louisiana, you could even hear hints of the areas accent and slang. By making the radio generic, you lose that connection.

  11. Not quite relevant by mcc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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
  12. Ronalg Reagan in the Cryptonomicon by axolotl_farmer · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is apparently nothing new.In "In the Beginning was the Command Line" by Neal Stephenson is this passage on Ronald Reagan pretending to report live from ballgames in the 30s!

    When Ronald Reagan was a radio announcer, he used to call baseball games by reading the terse descriptions that trickled in over the telegraph wire and were printed out on a paper tape. He would sit there, all by himself in a padded room with a microphone, and the paper tape would eke out of the machine and crawl over the palm of his hand printed with cryptic abbreviations. If the count went to three and two, Reagan would describe the scene as he saw it in his mind's eye: "The brawny left-hander steps out of the batter's box to wipe the sweat from his brow. The umpire steps forward to sweep the dirt from home plate." and so on. When the cryptogram on the paper tape announced a base hit, he would whack the edge of the table with a pencil, creating a little sound effect, and describe the arc of the ball as if he could actually see it. His listeners, many of whom presumably thought that Reagan was actually at the ballpark watching the game, would reconstruct the scene in their minds according to his descriptions.
  13. Come on now... by Henry+Stern · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?

  14. Re:hard to believe anything by kfg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Of course this process can also be intentionally manipulated for comedic effect:

    John Cameron Swasey: Laybird, I understand you are a great student of history. Tell me, what were the first words the Indians spoke to the Pilgrims as they landed on our shores.

    Ladybird Johnson: Welcome to the LBJ Ranch!

    That's one's always been one of my favorites.

    Of course in retrospect some of these early comedic manipulations of live interviews can take on a sad irony.

    JCS: Bobby, it's rumored that your brother Ted is going to run for president. How do you feel about that?

    Bobby Kennedy: Well, if he wants to join me where I'm going, I'd be glad to have him along.

    That was pretty funny circa 1965.

    I remember sitting in front of a little B&W television all day watching reporters talk about the assasination attempt and the, ultimately futile, attempts to save Mr. Kennedey's life.

    There were reporters sitting in the studio talking to reporters outside the hospital where the surgery was taking place. I always knew which were which. There was never some guy standing in front of a blue screen in the studio while a picture of the hospital was added behind him to simulate on the spot reporting.

    Maybe I'm just turning into an old fart, but yes, I think that sort of thing is when you start going too far, even if you haven't "lied." It is still an intentional deception.

    Knock it off.

    KFG

  15. Tour of the station by mrpuffypants · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

  16. Re:what?? by prockcore · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hasn't hell frozen over yet? :)

    Yes it has. I'm reporting live from hell, and I can tell you that it's might cold out there! Brr!

  17. Re:Clear Channel music isn't centralized by Monx · · Score: 5, Interesting

    the company NEVER dictates which songs we play. Period.

    What about the refusal to play "Imagine" for a while after 9/11? Or the ban on playing the Dixie Chicks.

  18. *cough* "baa..." *cough* by janbjurstrom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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?

    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 ..you know, the opposite of wanting to be spoonfed?

    --
    668.5
    1. Re:*cough* "baa..." *cough* by Tim+C · · Score: 5, Insightful

      An audience passively consumes what it is served.

      So tell me, how much input do you get on which articles get posted and which rejected?

      We passively consume the articles, occasionally getting our suggestions accepted. But the real active part only comes *after* the article is posted, and we get to discuss it. Even if the vast majority of us agreed that an article was crap, and should never have been posted, we couldn't change it one iota.

      --
      It's official. Most of you are morons.
  19. Of COURSE this is wrong by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
  20. Re:Clear Channel music isn't centralized by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Informative

    Clear Channel never put out a "Banned Songs List" from corperate. What sparked that rumor was the fact that local PDs started contributing song names on a "Songs that it would be a bad idea to play right now..." thread that formed on their intranet message boards. That thread circulated as PDs were rushing to reprogram their computers to avoid playing songs that would either be too depressing or had gained a second meaning because of 9/11. A parellel list of songs that were better to play also got spread arround, and some instant-hits such as a remix of Enya's Only Time with news quotes inserted got created and spread as a result.

    There wasn't any order from corperate as much as there was an online groupthink session among the people who had all been tasked with the same responsiblity.

    The "ban" on playing the Dixie Chicks was requested by their own fans. See, they lost a lot of fans when their lead singer made a dumb comment in Europe that got reported stateside. Requests and album sales plumeted immedately, and as a result of those drops, they started falling off of radio playlists. You can't be on a Top 40 station if there are 40 songs more popular than you...

  21. Re:Outsourcing by evilviper · · Score: 4, Funny
    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.

    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
  22. Re:Clear Channel music isn't centralized by kitzilla · · Score: 4, Informative
    You are referring to an informal, non-binding, and rather oddball list circulated by a few CC programmers shortly after 9-11. It had no weight at all, was not issued by the company, and was rather ignored by virtually all CC PDs (including me).

    In any case, al lot of folks sort of lost their minds after 9-11. I don't fault the PDs who made up the list. They were really trying their best no to rub salt into listeners' wounds.

    As for the Dixie Chicks, Clear Channel NEVER banned them as a company. Many stations pulled their records after getting hundreds or thousands of listener complains. My stations chose to keep playing them, but we've backed off in recent months. The music research comes back looking horrible. But that's the decision of our listeners, not Clear Channel.

    I can think of at least one radio company which *did* officially ban the Chicks: Cumulus Media. Go picket THEM.

    --
    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.
  23. Re:Bin Laden != freedom fighter by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm a New Yorker, and I'd flay bin Laden alive if I had the chance. That deluded story posted to kuro5hin would give me a chance to say so to the poster, as well as other commentors. As well as a chance to distinguish my personal interest from a proper US government policy and strategy for fighting terrorism. If it had been suppressed, that chance would have been lost. So posting it doesn't seem to be a problem, unless the system had been somehow gamed to post it contrary to the expressed decisions of the moderators. Or unless actual reality is subservient to expressions on websites, justifying supression of expression to control real events.

    You might say that the k5 moderators suck, in which case you could participate and influence to change things for the better. Controversy is not a social problem, unless it's an unmanageable din, or freedom of expression is constrained. What actual "social problems" have k5 people experienced?

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  24. Re:Facts in journalism by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Correct, and if he says "it's 20 below outside the WBZ studios" and it really is, he's telling the truth. One might think that the only way for him to know that exact number is to be at the studios, but they're flat-out wrong... anybody who can download WeatherBug can get the realtime temperature reading from a unit installed outside of the WBZ studios.

    I'd think he was well aware to not use "here in Boston" phrase constructions when he was broadcasting from his house in Florida. Technically, he's almost always wrong when he says "here in Boston" because WBZ's main studios are actually in the community of Allston, MA... and their transmitter is actually in Hull, MA. The station is actually licensed to serve the community of Boston, but a radio station doesn't actually have to be located in it's city of licensed, just close enough so that it covers its city with a "city grade" signal quality.