Oh brother. This is a couple weeks old, but it illustrates why TV news continues to be so bad:
New CNN president Jonathan Klein is taking his “Security Watch” seriously. Klein has encouraged producers and correspondents to prepare stories that fit under the “Security Watch” banner, and anchors have been careful to “tease” the segments on-air.
On Monday morning, ‘Inside Politics Sunday’ was reprimanded for not promoting the feature correctly, two CNN insiders told TVNewser. Kelly Wallace referred to CNN’s Security Watch twice while introducing segments, but apparently didn’t include the correct final sentence. The show was fined $5,000 for the error.
(For the record, here’s what anchors are apparently supposed to say: “Remember here at CNN we always have the latest stories about your safety and security,” Paula Zahn said last week. “Please stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security,” Wolf Blitzer said on Tuesday.)
There you have TV news priorities: management penalizing on-air people if they don’t use the proper buzz words to promote the terrorism coverage.
Imagine if someone put that kind of effort into adding facts and context to their reporting.