Powerless Crazies

Never in my life have I heard so many complaints against the goverment.
I have been a little torn in what I think about this. As a lowly intern having to listen to 20minute rants about how 9/11 was a plot and tax dollars stolen, children taken and unresponsive government officials and media outlets I feel like "o my gosh, they are all crazy.". As a journalist though it makes me a little proud that local citizens are willing... and believe me they are willing to challenge big government and big media.
I have been yelled at from the beginning of the shift by people saying that we should expose expose expose and that instead we use "fluff" for news and are blind to whats really going on. Although the people who have called me do not speak with elequouence, which makes me think theyre just New Hampshire crazies this makes me so sad that I know as an insider that no matter what they say my assignment editors and producers wont care. They can talk and write and yell at me all they want but when it comes down to it gatekeeping is not only real but overwhelming. What my station says people listen to. Last week they were listening to how a cow got caught in a pool, today how there was a racoon with rabies.

Maybe the crazies are right. It is the same 4 stories over and over again.

Did I tell you about the guy who called about playing basketball with Osama Bin Laden in highschool?

Also, I had to explain how broadcasts were not covered by the 1st amendment to one man who called... and believe me he made me use everything I learned in my CMJ classes

9hrs

A Lesson in Ethics

In the 9(ish) broadcasts I have watched at the station all of them had at least one error per broadcast. When I ask about running a correction the producers never seem interested. Today, for instance, the producer of the 11 p.m. news show presented New Hampshire's average gas prices throughout the state which I told him at the time of broadcast looked incorrect. Another employee told him that his facts were incorrect and showed him how to get the correct facts. The producer said it was not a large enough mistake to correct (the gas price difference from what was reported to truth was more than 10 cents).
A woman called me today. Her son had been in one of our stories, he had dies in a car accident and she cried to me on the phone. We had aired footage of the car burning on the highway. She had told the producer that it was unethical to show footage of her son dying but my editor said it was fine because the person had been ejected from the car and died instantly, which was not shown in the footage.
I was impressed by the one correction I've seen at the station. I had told my boss that there was a huge error about a new airline which they had said would run 2 flights per week but the correct information was that it would have two flights per day. I got the correction in immediately and they ran it.
People rely on their news and trust the facts that they get from us, especially as an ABC and CNN affiliate and I am more and more disappointed in broadcast journalism as I am around it more. I knew that this internship would be the point where I decide if I want to continue to pursue this aspect of my education or stick strictly to print journalism, and I must say, it is what I thought it would be. I am disappointed that my expectations of misreporting were true. This industry seems too proud to admit that they do not always report perfectly, which is a shame.
One of the workers in the producer's booth had told me on my first day "You know why we have broadcast news?" when I answered to spread truth he laughed and told me "No, to sell commercials." I'm beginning to believe it.

9hrs