TV: Editorializing is a risky business

[helderheid]

TV: Editorializing is a risky business
By Vince Horiuchi
Tribune TV Writer
Article Last Updated: 02/11/2007 11:25:53 PM MST


A wise former editor of mine once told me that - given our human genes - the public never should expect journalists to be objective. But the public should, he said, expect journalists to be fair.

In the era of Fox News, citizen journalists on the Internet, "The Daily Show" and television pundits like Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann, the line between news and commentary is blithely crossed every day.

For the most part, Utah has seemed immune from such ethical lapses and blatantly sensationalistic news presentations.
Until last week.

KTVX Channel 4 news anchor Terry Wood reported on thousands of comments the public had sent the station about the Divine Strake proposal, which would involve detonating a 7,000-megaton bomb in the Nevada desert.

Wood set out to deliver the comments to the Department of Energy. He drove to DOE headquarters in Las Vegas, where he was stopped by government guards. He gave them the stack of letters and left.

Here's the kicker: After the report, Wood was live in the studio, where he launched into a commentary (labeled as such at the bottom of the screen) about the station's stance against the bomb test, saying it would create a nuclear mist that would shroud Utah.

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http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5209679

[Astrad]

1. The problem with the 'both sides' argument

is that it ends up equalizing rational positions with insane ones. So in this case covering Salt Lake City in a 'fine nuclear mist' deserves equal time. Nuts. Really nuts.