Just the Facts

by Paul Giacobbe

There are opportunities that exist in television news, not available to the print media, to use video and audio to cleverly enhance an appropriate story.  Reports about children or puppies, giant pumpkins or unusual events can often be made more entertaining, or emotionally appealing, with creative use of sometimes unrelated music or video footage.

But in difficult economic times, a story about the struggle between a community seeking to balance a budget, and its employees trying to feed, clothe and house their families, is not an appropriate vehicle for attempts at cleverness. 

A recent report about the results of a court hearing between the East Providence School Committee and the union representing its teachers was illustrated with frequent images of two wrestlers grappling on a gymnasium mat.  The reporter referred to the struggle between the school committee and the union as a “match,.” and said the teachers were “wrestling with a pay cut” and that a court decision might leave the city “financially pinned.”

Viewer Claire McWilliams, the parent of an East Providence fifth grader, emailed after the story:

(NBC10’s)  report of the court ruling on the E. Providence teacher’s pay cut was just plain demeaning and salacious.  Using images of wrestlers writhing on a gym floor as an analogy to what is going on with the teachers and the school committee not once but three times (including the trailer at the beginning of the newscast) smacked of the same sensational bullshit that keeps me from watching channel 12 or 6.  I thought channel 10 was above that kind of thing, but I guess not.  Too bad.  I’ll get my new elsewhere from now on thank you. 

Sometimes news is just news, and not entertainment.  Serious stories, including those about the economic conflict between employer and employee, should not be the vehicle for misplaced and clumsy attempts to be witty.

NBC10 provides the space for these comments, but the opinions are mine alone— Paul Giacobbe