Archive for October 21st, 2006
A Kansas jury has ordered KSNW-TV of Wichita to pay $1.1 million in damages to a man it named as a suspect in the BTK murders. And nobody is disputing the station reported the truth. Some things worth noting: the plaintiff, Roger Valadez, had his house searched in connection with the killings. The station reported that. In fact, the jury even agreed the station was right in calling him a “suspect.” The jury took issue with the extent of the coverage and was especially struck by the station’s ND’s testimony that he hadn’t taken Valadez’s feelings into account when deciding to run Valadez’s name. (Valadez was cleared in the case.) The kinds of arguments we comfort ourselves with in our editorial meetings don’t always mean something to actual juries, gang. Read the story.
October 21st, 2006
A study by the Stanford University of Medicine finds it’s no coincidence “webhead” shares the same suffix as “crackhead.” “Nearly 14% of those surveyed say they find it difficult to remain away from the Web for days at a time… Almost 9 percent have at some point tried to hide their surfing habits from family, friends or others… (And) Just under 6 percent said personal relationships were hampered by their excessive Web surfing.” Not me. I like spending Saturday nights online. I can quit any time I want.
October 21st, 2006
A collection of Massachusetts politicians has signed a letter urging the Boston Globe’s owner against making further cuts at the newspaper. The Globe’s revenues have been dropping, and cutbacks are likely. The politicians take the Times to task for downsizing the paper since purchasing it in 1993. Reporters at the paper just rejected a contract offer that tied their raises to the newspaper’s revenue - but did not include revenue from the paper’s profitable Boston.com website. (Disclosure: My client, NECN, is an online partner of Boston.com.)
October 21st, 2006
CNN has triggered quite the controversy with a story it aired on Thursday that featured insurgent video of snipers shooting U.S. troops. The video never showed the moments of impact, but the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) said CNN has become “the publicist for an enemy propaganda film.” And that’s not all. He’s urging the Pentagon to kick out all of CNN’s embedded crews. CNN executive producer David Doss defends the decision on the 360 blog. “Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can,” he writes.
October 21st, 2006
