Determination
142
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of David Downing v. WCCO-TV
The Minnesota News Council voted 11-1 to uphold a complaint against WCCO-TV by a St. Paul family who said the station misrepresented them as unable to afford to attend the Minnesota State Fair except on a Bargain Day.
David Downing, a graphic designer and writer, said he and his wife told the WCCO reporter before they were videotaped that they were attending the fair only one day last summer because that was all the time they had and not because they could not afford to go more than once. He said the reporter ignored his remarks and then on camera asked leading questions about finances and edited the answers to support the premise that money-strapped fairgoers had no option besides a Bargain Day.
The News Council also voted, 10-2, to state its view that the television station’s response to the family’s complaint was inadequate and unprofessional. The only responses Downing received, he said, were one e-mail from the reporter saying, “I’m sorry you feel I misrepresented you and your family,” and another from the news director saying, “I appreciate you writing WCCO-TV. I have thoroughly reviewed your concern. I am confident that our story was accurate and did not misrepresent anything you or your wife said to us.”
Downing told the News Council that he was disappointed that the news director did not invite him to meet at the station to acknowledge his concerns and discuss the editing so that, if the discussion established that the story did misrepresent the family, the station would make itself accountable and take steps to avoid such a mistake in the future.
“It makes a person wonder how many other stories are inaccurate,” Downing said.
Council member Benno Groeneveld, a freelance journalist, said the WCCO story was not the result of reporting, but of the work of someone who goes into an assignment with a story already in mind and then finds victims to flesh it out.
Council member Nancy Conner, former reader advocate of the Pioneer Press, said: “This is the kind of thing that chips away at the credibility of the news media and the trust people have in them.”
WCCO-TV did not participate in the hearing. Participation is voluntary, and the News Council does not permit the fact that a news outlet chooses not to attend to affect the determination on the merits of the complaint and response.
Read Determination 144
Back
to Main Determination Index
Back
to News Council Main Page
Want
to comment? Send a message
to the News Council.
