We often work with clients to help them prepare for public meetings and other information sessions where media are likely to attend. At one of these recent events I saw a reporting tactic that I have never before experienced. Minutes before this meeting began, a reporter handed out hundreds of business cards in the crowd with the following message hand written on the back:
This just blew me away. This was brazen controversy hunting. I am all for reporters keeping companies accountable and reporting the facts of a story so the public can be informed, but this is something else all together. When I started my career as a television reporter the influence of news consultants was beginning to shape the need for an investigative reporting team as a path to ratings success. I believe it is this ratings mindset that is driving newsrooms today to always have a controversial scoop whether one exists or not; even if it means using tactics like a handwritten note begging for a whistle blower. While not a clear breach of ethics, it is tacky.
(P.S. -- I won't name this reporter or the station he worked for, but I sure wanted to.)
Thursday, November 3, 2011
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