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

Kevin Vahey kvahey@comcast.net
Sat Sep 6 22:06:26 EDT 2008


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
>>
>
>


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