Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Everybody Doesn’t Like Something . . .

by Paul Giacobbe

Terrence McCarthy of South Kingstown who, I suspect, is going to provide fodder for a lot of these blog postings, emails that he was troubled when an NBC10 anchor commented “That is an amazing story,” at the end of a recent report.  He likens the remark to the frequent comment by anchors that “this is (or that was) interesting.“
If a story weren’t interesting, he suggests, it wouldn’t have been chosen for the limited time available on a nightly news broadcast.  Why is it, he writes, necessary to reinforce – or to try and convince a viewer –  that a story is interesting?

I agree, but as I told Mr. McCarthy, a running critique of the NBC10 news shows is not the function of the Viewers Voice/ombudsman.  The ombudsman position was created more than ten years ago to provide an independent avenue of redress for viewers who feel a story lacked fairness, accuracy or balance.  My role, as I understand it, is not to be a critic of the news shows, except when they impact on fairness, accuracy and balance issues.  The people who put together the news shows each day have a lot more experience and expertise in day to day news operations; they deal with issues and problems that many of us don’t, or can’t fully understand.

That having been said, however, it doesn’t mean that the contributors to this blog can’t express their opinions about the quality of the newscasts or about any other aspect of the varied NBC10 news shows.  I encourage viewers to comment on what they don’t like about a particular story, or a news show.  There is no other Providence television station that actually gives viewers the space to complain about their news product.

While perhaps outside the ombudsman function, there are some things that I, just like any other viewer, am occasionally troubled by.

I don’t like a story that contains unattributed references, even the most innocent.  When a reporter says that a person was, for example, “too upset to speak,” he or she can’t possibly know that.  If the person said  they were too upset to speak, then that’s the way it ought be reported.

I don’t like it when a reporter tries to “sell” a story by attempting to make it more dramatic than the who, what, where, when and why suggest it is.

I don’t like a story labeled as an investigative report when it’s nothing more than a really good consumer story, or simply a station exclusive.  The investigative reporting label is unnecessarily cheapened when it’s put on stories that don’t contain a significant element of investigation.  By definition, any story that can be assembled in a day or two doesn’t meet those criteria.

I don’t like it when I see words, especially names, misspelled on graphics which accompany a story.  It makes me concerned about the care that went into the rest of the story.

Well, that was liberating.  What don’t YOU like?

While NBC10 provides the space for this blog, the opinions are mine alone.  (Shouldn’t that be obvious by now?) – Paul Giacobbe