WBZ-TV's Coverage Of Grand Opening Of CBS Scene Restaurant In Foxboro

[Kevin Vahey]

We went through this when they signed the lease with the Krafts last winter.

Obviously Sports Final and 5th Quarter will use the studio space after
the game tomorrow.

I do know morale at 1170 is at an all time low. I am just astounded
that CBS who does local news on radio so well appears clueless on
doing the same on the TV side. This is not a Boston problem as the
same issues apply in Philly, NYC, Chicago, SF, Pittsburgh and LA.

One problem that 4 and 5 have and to a lessor extent 7 is news is
expensive to produce compared to channel 25 because of union contracts
that WFXT doesn't have.

Channel 4 fumbled things with Hazel Mae as she would have brought some
younger viewers back.

On 9/6/08, David Tomm <nostaticatall@charter.net> wrote:
> I didn't see BTP this week but I'm with Emily on this one.  If WBZ-TV
> just did the special, I would've had less of a problem with it, since
> the news department is the station's only on-air representatives.
> However, this restaurant has been a full blown "news story" for the
> last few days on all of their newscasts.  They have obviously
> mentioned the station's ties to CBS Scene in their reports, but
> still, it's not news.  The station should have run promos for the
> special during commercial breaks inside the newscasts, but without
> using the anchors.  It would have essentially done the job without
> blurring the line between news and marketing.  It's a shame that they
> sold out their journalistic integrity in the name of "corporate
> promotion and synergies."
>
> -Dave Tomm
> "Mike Thomas"
>
>
> On Sep 6, 2008, at 5:49 PM, Mark Watson wrote:
>
>>  An article in Saturday's Boston Herald about WBZ-TV's coverage of
>> the grand opening of the CBS Scene Restaurant at Gilette Stadium in
>> Foxboro. Seems WBZ-TV didn't spring to send any reporters to cover
>> either political convention this year, but provided extensive
>> coverage of the upcoming CBS Scene opening, including originating
>> newscasts from inside the restaurant and Saturday night
>> broadcasting a live opening night red carpet special hosted by news
>> anchors Jack Williams and Lisa Hughes. Emily Rooney discussed this
>> on last night's "Beat The Press" on WGBH-TV, saying that WBZ has
>> "forfeited" their news judgement. Link to the Herald article:
>>
>> http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?
>> articleid=1117309
>>
>>   Note that the CBS Scene is a joint venture of CBS, owners of WBZ,
>> and the Kraft Group.
>>
>> Mark Watson
>>
>
>