News Radio & Ethics

[Stephen Pickford <nmi@netcom.ca>]

Over the past year, this thread has also appeared in Don Fitzpatrick's
ShopTalk, and would be interested in the group's thoughts on the following
2 radio issues:

1)- News anchors/announcers who also do voice-overs of commercial spots
heard on their own station.  CINW/940NEWS Montreal's own News Director, Jim
Connell, is one of the most-utilized and most-recognized v/o people in the
city, reading numerous ads heard on CINW and its sister station, CFQR-FM.
Doesn't this blur the journalistic and advertorial segments?

2)- A morningman who runs ads for his own radio announcer's school on the
afternoon drive shift of his station...not just a generic ad saying "Want
to be a broadcaster? Call the Montreal Radio School at...", but openly
giving his name as the proprietor...isn't that blurring the lines between
staff and advertiser to an even greater degree?

The latter plugging of a station announcer's school seems to me to be
openly cheapening the quality and credibility of an all-news outlet, and
makes a 50kw supposedly-major station come across like a 500w community
outlet in mid-America.

Any thoughts out there?

Stephen Pickford

Host / Producer -- "Travel World"
A Nascor International Production for the Liberty Works Radio Network

 

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