| In a TV news show, commercials are supposed to be | | | | "research" to back it up. Viewers WANT flash and |
| shown in between news segments. | | | | trash, he insists. Journalism is boring! No one watches |
| Of, if only that were so! | | | | PBS, don't kid yourself. |
| What many viewers do not realize is that the "news | | | | He was quite confident in his position. There was no |
| segments" are often just as commercial as the | | | | way WSMV was going to do real journalism anymore. |
| commercials. | | | | Doing journalism was for fools. |
| TV News has been so polluted by corporate | | | | We as employees did not have a choice. If we |
| commercialism that it is worse than worthless. I say | | | | wanted to keep our jobs, we had to do as our |
| worse than worthless because many people still turn | | | | supreme commander insisted. |
| to TV news as a source of quality information and | | | | One subject I had liked covering was predatory lending. |
| that is not what they are getting. So they remain | | | | Predatory lending was fairly new and it APPALLED |
| grossly uninformed but are under the impression they | | | | me. (This was early 2000) Banking laws were taken |
| are informed. That's a dangerous combo. | | | | from Fast Buck Freddy's playbook. Banks and lending |
| I am here to tell you that the current financial collapse | | | | institutions were able to get away with pure theft. |
| has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that TV News | | | | Loan contracts, written by high priced lawyers, were |
| has been overtaken by public relations lies. | | | | designed to rip unsuspecting customers off. |
| Public relations copy is often the basis for what you | | | | This was LEGAL? I could not believe it. I met |
| hear on the TV news. It may get re-written a little bit, | | | | customers who had been paying their mortgages |
| but it is still biased toward the company it was originally | | | | faithfully, on-time for years yet they owed more than |
| written for. THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL AN | | | | their original principal balance! |
| ADVERTISEMENT, NOT NEWS. Press releases flood | | | | Customers were being charged up to 400% APR. |
| newsrooms across America everyday. Press | | | | What? How is this legal? Well, come to find out that |
| releases are NOT a source of quality unbiased | | | | lawmakers all over the country, local, state and federal, |
| information, but they are treated as such. | | | | democrat and republican, were allowing it to happen. |
| No one likes a Tattle Tale | | | | Customer protection laws were thrown out the |
| The TV station owners do not want real news. Real | | | | window. New laws were written that allowed banks to |
| news is usually an unpleasant truth. Someone is ripping | | | | become nothing more than loan sharks. |
| someone off or breaking the law in some way. Few | | | | Predatory lending stories were stopped by the new |
| people want such unpleasant truths exposed. Certainly | | | | "No Journalism" rule. Banks and Predatory Lending |
| not the lawbreaker. If the lawbreaker happens to be | | | | institutions were paying customers after all! We can't |
| an advertiser at the TV station, you can bet that the | | | | embarrass advertisers by calling them crooks! |
| sales department does not want the news | | | | Today's financial collapse is one result of this |
| department blabbing on the air that their customer is a | | | | moratorium on predatory lending stories. Predatory |
| crook. | | | | lending became so common, but you never heard |
| News flash! Your friendly local car dealer is selling | | | | about it on the news! If you did hear about it, you got |
| wrecked cars duct taped together, but we can't tell | | | | the bank's PR version of the story. Customers are |
| you that because they'll cancel their huge advertising | | | | wanting bad loans! Customers are MAKING us do this! |
| contract. | | | | We're the good guys! |
| Back when I worked in TV news, it became common | | | | Bullshit. |
| for the general manager to walk up to a reporter and | | | | If TV news did a good job, this financial collapse and all |
| say, "My client called me and said you were snooping | | | | the shenanigans surrounding it never could have |
| around. I don't think you need to be doing that." | | | | happened. I do not believe for one minute that financial |
| End of that crook story. | | | | networks truly did not know what was going on. They |
| Or, the sales department would want the news | | | | did. They just didn't report on it. They took the |
| department to do a nice puff piece on the client and | | | | corporations side and only presented the glossed over |
| what a wonderful service they offered. It became | | | | "truth." |
| common practice for the sales department to include | | | | I finally left TV news because I would rather shovel |
| a puff news piece in with their package of | | | | poo at the zoo than shovel PR poo on TV. |
| commercials! | | | | My only recourse was to do a You Tube video |
| When I first got into TV news in the early 80's, I | | | | parody on predatory lending. It is a take-off on a |
| worked for WSMV-TV in Nashville, TN and they were | | | | commercial that was run constantly on the station |
| a bastion of real journalism. They company that | | | | where I used to work. |
| owned the station encouraged journalism. They hired | | | | So instead of being warned by journalists, people are |
| managers who were fearless, dedicated journalists. | | | | manipulated by corporate PR. And we all know the |
| The station's award winning investigative reporting | | | | result. Economic collapse and TV "experts" like Jim |
| went so far as to bring down a governor, Ray Blanton, | | | | Cramer telling Jon Stewart that "Nobody could have |
| who ended up in the federal pen for illegally selling | | | | seen this coming!" |
| prison pardons. Doing that not only took reporting skills, | | | | Bull. I saw it coming for years. Everybody else would |
| it also took courage to stand up to power. It took | | | | have seen it too if I had been allowed to do my job as |
| money and patience to discover the truth and triple | | | | a TV JOURNALIST. Instead, all you get is my You |
| check it. No reporter can do this sort of thing unless | | | | Tube parody! Sorry. I really am. But I did the best I |
| they have owners and managers who back them up | | | | could. I stood up to the bozo boss at the meeting and |
| and are willing to take the heat. | | | | all the employees applauded. It didn't make any |
| No one likes a tattle tale. | | | | difference. I just got labeled a know-it-all nerd who |
| Flash forward 20 years and the same station is | | | | didn't know how to be a team player! |
| owned by out-of-town corporate owners. We're | | | | Thanks for reading Video Production Tips |
| having a big station-wide meeting. The corporate news | | | | Please do yourself a favor and stop believing that TV |
| director is laughing at the station's journalistic heritage. | | | | news has any real information for you. |
| "Journalism does not work!" he proclaims. He has | | | | |