Matt Whiting wrote:
Marty Shapiro wrote:
Denny wrote in news:7e60896b-29ad-4df9-b10e-
:

We can snicker all we want at the clueless reporting of a liberal arts
major, low man on the totem pole, who gets sent to report on general
aviation - but how many of us have contacted the paqper and the tv
station and offered to take the general news reporter(s) flying on a
saturday afternoon so we can teach them the basics?

denny hand up


There was an newscaster in the Bay area many years ago who
read an report about a GA incident on the air. This report contained
several factual errors about the incident, among which was the picture
of a twin for the single engine aircraft involved. The irony was he
was a well known local pilot. About a week later, he MCed an all day
safety seminar. The first question asked of him was about the factual
errors in his report. His response was "I receive a 7 figure salary
for reading the news that is handed to me by the editors. If they
give me advance copy and I notice an error, I'll point it out to them,
but when I'm on the air, I am not going to jeapordize my salary by
altering what they hand me."

That last statement also pretty much sums of my impression of
journalistic integrity.

Matt

I tend to agree with you on this but he said, "I receive a 7 figure
salary for reading the news that is handed to me by the editors." That
makes him an announcer not a journalist. So in my opinion he is no
different than an actor on some TV show or movie that reads lines.

I find it amazing though that any TV news anchor would say that in
public or even in private. Not that I question Denny's story at all I
just find it amazing.

At every TV station I where I ever worked the primary anchor also held
the position of managing editor, news director or some other title that
would, at least in title, give them some say over the news that was
released.

I believe all of the three major network's anchors hold the title
managing editor. At least they did when the last generation was in the
big chair.

Also, I'd like to add that that comment alone would have jeopardized the
7 figure salary of any anchor that ever worked for any news director I
ever worked for. But then I've been out of the business for, damn, 20
years now.