does channel 5 know FCC rules

[Mark Watson]

Dave Faneuf wrote:

> Not only is it illegal, is it just plan sloppy and lazy >journalism.  As
someone who has listened to police calls >for decades, I can vouch for the
fact that many of
> them are bogus.  You never never never go on the air >with anything you
hear on the scanner without another >source backing up the information.
Someone >at Channel 5 should be fired.

    Channel 5 did just that last Sunday night with the reported parachuters
landing near the Fleet Center. Apparently they heard the call go out on the
police scanner and ran with it, breaking into programming after Midnight
with a report. Turns out after all was said and done, it was determined to
be a hoax.

    Many news outlets also rely on paging services that send pages of
confirmed fires, accidents, police activity, robberies, etc. Regardless of
the source of info (scanner, pager, news tip line, etc.) any TV/radio/print
news operation would be wise (and  I would tend to think it must be
station/company policy) to verify/confirm info before opening the mic or
stopping the presses.

Mark Watson