The skinny on Austin news
You heard it here first.
This morning, I wrote to the four network affiliates in Austin, KEYE, KVUE, KTBS and KXAN.
I was pleased to get almost immediate responses from three of those four, who were eager to make it crystal clear to me that they do not use video news releases produced by the government under any circumstances.
Frank Volpicella, news director at KVUE (ABC) for five years, says that he has never received any VNRs. 'If we were ever to receive such a tape, our policy is that we would not air it,' he said in via email today.
KEYE, a CBS affiliate, and home of R.L. Turner alumna Elizabeth Dannheim, also stated unequivocally that they did not air VNR's, and wrote that editorial scrutiny there would prevent from this ever happening.
Bruce Whiteaker, news director at KXAN (the NBC affiliate), categorically declared that they do not air video news releases. Further, he wrote that such VNR's have not been clearly labelled in the past, and admitted that they had only avoided airing the spots by luck. The controversy over VNR's has led to a change in practice at CNN and NBC feed services, who now label the spots clearly. The networks still leave it up to the affiliates to decide whether to air such pieces, but KXAN chooses not to.
Whiteaker went on to explain, 'They almost always have an agenda, something to sell--or at the very least have product placement throughout the "story" so that somebody can push that product or agenda. I believe that has a negative impact on our credibility--to pass that information along to you, the viewer, as though it were legitimate news. '
This particular news director seemed passionate about the subject. 'To us, our news content time is too precious and valuable to use it to sell a product or push a government agenda, hidden or not,' he wrote.
At the present time, no reply has been received from KTBC, the Fox affiliate in Austin. If and when they do reply, that information will be posted here. Watch this space.
This morning, I wrote to the four network affiliates in Austin, KEYE, KVUE, KTBS and KXAN.
I was pleased to get almost immediate responses from three of those four, who were eager to make it crystal clear to me that they do not use video news releases produced by the government under any circumstances.
Frank Volpicella, news director at KVUE (ABC) for five years, says that he has never received any VNRs. 'If we were ever to receive such a tape, our policy is that we would not air it,' he said in via email today.
KEYE, a CBS affiliate, and home of R.L. Turner alumna Elizabeth Dannheim, also stated unequivocally that they did not air VNR's, and wrote that editorial scrutiny there would prevent from this ever happening.
Bruce Whiteaker, news director at KXAN (the NBC affiliate), categorically declared that they do not air video news releases. Further, he wrote that such VNR's have not been clearly labelled in the past, and admitted that they had only avoided airing the spots by luck. The controversy over VNR's has led to a change in practice at CNN and NBC feed services, who now label the spots clearly. The networks still leave it up to the affiliates to decide whether to air such pieces, but KXAN chooses not to.
Whiteaker went on to explain, 'They almost always have an agenda, something to sell--or at the very least have product placement throughout the "story" so that somebody can push that product or agenda. I believe that has a negative impact on our credibility--to pass that information along to you, the viewer, as though it were legitimate news. '
This particular news director seemed passionate about the subject. 'To us, our news content time is too precious and valuable to use it to sell a product or push a government agenda, hidden or not,' he wrote.
At the present time, no reply has been received from KTBC, the Fox affiliate in Austin. If and when they do reply, that information will be posted here. Watch this space.
posted by Matthew at 4:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home