WBZ Response

["Casey, Peter J" <casey@boston.cbs.com>]

Roger,

With regard to your email to Kim Tunnicliffe here at WBZ and your postings
elsewhere permit me a moment to respond to you.  I thought I'd go back to
Sunday which is the time you referenced in your email and check our newscast
run downs to see if all the stories on the governors race were what your
claimed.  Despite what you may think there is no policy to mention one
candidate first second or fifth.

Here's a quick look at the random newscasts I looked at and what candidates
were mentioned first. 

Sunday 10:00 AM O'Brien name before Romney
Sunday 9:00 AM O'Brien name before Romney
Sunday 8:00 AM O'Brien name before Romney
Sunday 5:18 AM Kim leads with O'Brien name before Romney
Sunday 3:00 PM Mitchell interview with O'O'Brien.
Sunday 3:30 PM Mitchell interview with Romney.
Sunday at 4:00 PM Dan Grabouskas is mentioned before Tim Cahill.
Sunday at 4:30 PM Grabouskas mentioned and interviewed before Cahill
Sunday at 4:30 PM Sununu mentioned before Shaheen.
Sunday at 5:00 PM O'Brien mentioned before Romney.
Sunday at 5:18 PM O'Brien mentioned before Romney.
Sunday at 6:30 PM Ballot Question one mentioned before Question 2.

And in a few newscasts from this morning here's what I found:

6:00 AM Gary mentions O'Brien first.
6:18 Deb Lawler mentions O'Brien first.
7:00 Gary intros Flo at the voting place where O'Brien is voting.
7:30 Gary mentions O'Brien first.

After reading your email to Kim I expected to find an overwhelming example
of what you complained about.  But clearly in the newscasts I reviewed on
this day, the day you cited as an example of WBZ's bias, I find not only do
I disagree with your comment in the email and the postings but you're just
plain wrong.   

In yesterday's posting you cite an example of Diane Stern's newscast
mentioning Romney's name first and O'Brien's second.  You follow that by
saying she played a Romney voice cut first and the O'Brien voice cut second.
Doesn't it makes sense to have the voice cut correspond with the candidate's
name the anchor has just mentioned?   I thought I'd go back and see how
Diane wrote the story for yesterday's 12:30 PM newscast and here's the
actual script from the newscast you cited:

"THE TWO MAJOR PARTY CANDIdATES for governor are sounding very confident
today as they stump for votes. both have predictions about their showing
tomorrow..........

cart runs:...15 (both)

shannon o'brien, and mitt romney who were on with wbz's gary lapierre this
morning...

o'brien will have former president clinton by her side later today..romney
is once again enlisting the help of the popular former mayor of new york,
rudy guiliani."

Another point to note is that many candidates have said in the past they'd
prefer their name mentioned last.  There is the theory that the name
mentioned last is the name remembered.

So, what does it all mean?  Absolutely nothing.  It doesn't matter which
name is mentioned first or second or fifth.  One could not draw any
conclusion or inference of support of one candidate over another by the
placement of names in the copy.  I've received feedback from listeners
saying we're too "pro O'Brien" and just as much feedback saying we're too
"pro Romney."  As long as the balance of complaints and compliments is
evenly split I am comfortable using that as a gage to determine how balanced
the station is.

And one thing regarding your email to Kim.  You used a return email address
of WBZ@rogerkirk.com.  I do hope you're not trying to give people the
impression of an association with the radio station.  I feel that would be
inappropriate.

Thanks for taking the time to send in your thoughts.

Best regards,

Peter Casey
Director of News & Programming
WBZ NewsRadio 1030
617-787-7246
casey@boston.cbs.com
www.wbz1030.com