Tag Archives: MyNews4

Is Reno’s NBC Affiliate Moving Back to the Middle?

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government, Honor, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Respect, Taxes, Traditional Media

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Image by Paul Kiser

KRNV reconnecting with the rest of the community?

Something happened at KRNV, Reno’s NBC affiliate, on April 8. It was not what they did, but what they didn’t do. Tuesday’s 6 PM newscast of the Sinclair Broadcast Group‘s (SBGI) station didn’t run an anti-government story.

It’s possible it they were just having an off day. It’s possible that NBC has applied pressure to the station to not run Fox News-type stories. It’s possible that the station’s staff has had enough of sacrificing personal reputations for the conservative agenda of their parent organization. It’s possible the parent organization has had an epiphany regarding serving all viewers, not just conservatives. Who knows? Regardless, it was a refreshing change.

The station did run a Sinclair produced story in the ‘A’ Block, but rather than presenting an overt bias, Kai Jackson, a former news anchor on Baltimore’s CBS affiliate WJZ, offered a story about the cost of extending unemployment benefits. Jackson, who joined Sinclair in December 2013, pointed out that $500 billion have been spent on unemployment benefits since 2008, which is an issue that connects with the conservative viewer. He then he offered the viewpoint of a small business person who says that the money has a positive impact on his revenue as it flows into America’s economy.

Image by Karl Merton Ferron / Baltimore Sun

Kai Jackson at the desk of WJZ CBS Baltimore

One could argue that the issue itself is more of a concern by Republicans, but that is not accurate. Democrats and liberals understand that unemployment benefits are not a long-term solution; however, the money paid out to the unemployed is not lost. It flows through the economy, which is also important. Jackson presentation of the issues was fair and educated conservatives and liberals on the complexity of the problem.

What Jackson didn’t do was line up a long list of rabid conservative ‘experts’ to manipulate the story, nor did he indicate his personal spin on the issue.

Giving the Viewer What They Want or What They Need?
A news team can either manipulate news to invoke an emotional response, or they can work to educate the viewer on  the issues of the day and let the viewer decide how they feel about those topics. In the case of the former the news is sexy and entertaining. In the latter case the news is less emotional and requires more intelligent thought.

The excuse that Fox News-type reporting is just giving the viewer what he or she wants is same rationale of a drug dealer or prostitute. Reporting news should not be an attempt to manipulate emotions. News shouldn’t be anti-government, nor should it be pro-government. This does not mean that news has to be neutral, just that it can’t be driven by a political agenda.

The conservative and liberal views in the United States are both essential to our prosperity. Both viewpoints tend to carve out policies that succeed. A perfect example is the Affordable Care Act (ACA.) It was the health care reform proposed by the Heritage Foundation decades before it became law under President Obama’s administration. Despite Fox News stories that are trying to paint ACA as a disaster, the facts indicate that the number of uninsured people has dropped significantly and the program is actually succeeding.

A local television news organization is not a blog. It operates under the rules created by the FCC to protect the public trust. For whatever reason, yesterday KRNV rose to the expectations of that public trust.

Sinclair Opinion Survey is an Epic Fail of Research

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Honor, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Technology, Traditional Media

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Kristine Frazao

Kristine Frazao – SBGI Corporate News Correspondent

Kristine Frazao, National Correspondent for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBGI,) delivered another anti-government news story that was aired on Reno’s NBC affiliate, KRNV, on Monday night. Her stories tend to be one-sided, Fox News-type reports that are long on manipulation and short on facts.

But on Monday, April 7, she came armed with a new ‘”weekend online poll” conducted by her employer (Sinclair) and she was ready to prove that she finally had undisputable evidence to back up her report. 

The piece used two clips in three seconds of ‘people on the street’ comments, followed by a third man in an eleven second response in broken English:

“very, very,…ah,.. big…uhm…debt, …uhm,….and is growing exponentially”

It was fourteen seconds of everyone’s life that can’t be recovered. Then Frazao revealed her ‘data.’

The Online Poll Fiasco
Frazao probably doesn’t know that for a survey to be valid, there are certain standards that have to be met. One is that the group surveyed has to be unbiased. Most researchers use random survey techniques to prevent harvesting the opinions that represent a biased group. That involves the researchers, 1) selecting the survey participants and, 2) utilizing a scientific method that allows anyone in the population being surveyed to be selected.

For example, randomly calling people is not usually scientific because it only lets the people who have telephones to be surveyed. An online poll is almost always considered unscientific because it only represents those who have Internet, understand how to use a computer, and find the web page with the survey.

So how did Sinclair post this survey? It took me several hours to find it because Frazao offers no information about how the survey was taken in her story. I finally found it as part of a larger survey on mostly Fox News station websites. In Reno, the survey can only be found on KRXI, the Fox affiliate, not on KRNV, nor Sinclair’s other station, KAME.

That issue alone destroys the credibility of the survey, but it gets better.

Image by Paul Kiser taken from MyNews4 newscast

Which question do you answer?

The survey question is designed to ask two questions. First, do you trust President Obama? Second, Do you think the Affordable Care Act will improve your coverage? If a respondent doesn’t trust President Obama, then the answer is going to be ‘no’ to both questions regardless of what the person thinks about the second question. Since this survey was on Fox News stations, it’s actually surprising that anyone answered ‘yes’ to the question.

But it gets better still.

Frazao read out the results as they appeared on the screen.

Image by Paul Kiser taken from MyNews4 newscast

2 + 7 = 9, carry the 1…goes this advanced math is hard!

Did you catch the problem? Yep, the numbers add up to 90%, not 100%. My guess is that the ‘Maybe’ group is supposed to be 11%, but the fact is that Sinclair people didn’t recognize the error, and Frazao didn’t either.

Image by Paul Kiser taken from MyNews4 newscast

Anti-ACA crusader from Monday’s (7 April) news story

The rest of Frazao’s story brought out the usual conservative ‘experts.’ Grace-Marie Turner and her 19-year crusade against health care reform, wearing exactly what she wore for last week’s ‘expert testimony’ against the Affordable Care Act. Once again she threw out numbers that predicted doom and despair, but Turner had no supporting data .

Image by Paul Kiser taken from video of KRNV newscast 1 April 2014

From last week’s story…is she wearing the same….?

Frazao also presented Manhattan Institute chart of the United States showing the difference in health care insurance premiums for a 27-year-old, by State, before and after the Affordable Care Act. Of course, prior to the Affordable Care Act the 27-year-old might not have been able to get coverage, and the chart doesn’t account for government subsidies.

And the Manhattan Institute? Another conservative think tank. At least Frazao is consistent in her ‘experts.’

Frazao brought out another conservative for more doom and gloom. She introduces Kevin Kuhlman, of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) by saying:

“Kevin Kuhlman with the National Federation of Independent Businesses (sic) says small businesses are already feeling it in their bottom-line.”

The only problem with that statement is that the provisions effecting businesses have been delayed until 2015, so how is the Affordable Care Act hitting the bottom-line in 2014?

Frazao does have one final person-on-the-street interview who praises the Affordable Care Act for the mental health benefits, but then Frazao ends by going back to her poll, and the ‘pessimism’ it shows about the future of Obamacare…the poll that doesn’t even add up.

NEXT:  What happened on Tuesday? Has KRNV decided to go back to responsible journalism?

Reno’s NBC Affiliate Runs Anti-Union Press Release As News

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Education, Ethics, Government, Management Practices, Opinion, parenting, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Taxes, Traditional Media

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Taking another step away from journalism, KRNV co-anchor Shelby Sheehan presented a press release from the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) as news during the April 7th 6 PM broadcast. In what has been an almost nightly anti-government feeding frenzy, the NBC affiliated station, managed by Fox News operator, Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI,) announced that according to NPRI, 168 educators left the Washoe County teacher’s union.

Image by Paul Kiser from KRV newscast

Conservative NPRI spokesperson, Shelby Sheehan

Sheehan introduced the story by admitting that NPRI has a statewide campaign against the teacher’s union and they are:

“...letting teachers know when and how they can leave (the union,) so many are doing just that…”

The KRNV veteran anchor briefly mentions that the two percent loss in membership occurred in the Summer of 2013, and then wraps up the NPRI media release by suggesting that more teachers want to leave, but can’t because:

“…once they (the teachers) do (join the union) they only have a short period of time to get out of their membership, which they say (NPRI) prevents more teachers from leaving.”

Sheehan’s sole source for the story was NPRI, which is an anti-government think tank that, among other conservative agendas, is anti- public school and pushes for school vouchers and charter schools. They represent the polar position against unionized teachers. 

Other than her paraphrasing the information given to her by NPRI, Sheehan reported no information or statements from a teacher, the union, nor an independent source. She apparently didn’t even question NPRI’s information, nor why they were just now releasing data that was almost a year old.

NEXT:  Sinclair’s Survey of Shame (To be released 9 April 2014 at 6:30 AM PDT)

Sinclair Reporter Taints Reno NBC Affiliate With Fox News Story…Again

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Crime, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Honor, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Privacy, Public Image, Public Relations, Traditional Media, Violence in the Workplace

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Kristine Frazao

Kristine Frazao – SBGI News Correspondent

On Friday, March 28, the NBC affiliate in Reno, Nevada (KRNV) again aired a Fox News type report on the 6:00 PM telecast, and this time actually used a Fox News clip. During the ‘A’ Block (top stories,) local news anchor Joe Hart gravely announces:

“….National Correspondent Kristine Frazao reports, some are concerned that this could be a sign of things to come in our country….”

The news clip, manufactured by Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI,) which operates KRNV, features Kristine Frazao, who has three years national experience with Russian Television (RT,) and was hired in the past year by Sinclair. She tells the story of a Washington D.C. resident who violated local laws on ammunition ownership, and who had his ex-spouse tattle on him to law enforcement.

Image from MyNews4 video

Convicted Mark Witaschek interview on Fox News and shown on Reno NBC affiliate (From KRNV newscast)

The clip starts with Mark Witaschek, explaining his surprise that he had committed a crime. The graphic with his name on-screen is a Fox News logo and banner, indicating the original source of the story. Frazao did not include an interview or statement from the law enforcement agency involved, nor does she offer any other examples of people charged or convicted of the law that Witaschek violated.

Instead Frazao interviews Emily J. Miller of the The Washington Times; who declares that Witaschek is a law-abiding citizen even though he has been convicted of violating the law in Washington D.C.:

“It’s just an outrageous violation of his rights.”

Miller continues and links this one case to a larger conspiracy without any proof:

“This is a pattern in Washington D.C. and states that are anti-gun, which is to go after the law-abiding who are exercising their Second Amendment Rights….”

Miller, is a Senior Editor for The Washington Times, which has an interesting history and has a strong conservative bias.

Founded by the Unification Church in 1982, The Washington Times was once lauded by Ronald Reagan as the only newspaper that told the truth to the American people. In 2002, Church Founder, Sun Myung Moon stated:

“The Washington Times is responsible to let the American people know about God” and “The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world.”

In March of 2013, the Herring Broadcasting announced that it would team with Miller’s Washington Times newspaper to create One America News, a conservative cable news network to rival Fox News.

Frazao’s uses a source that is as biased as asking a Boston Red Sox fan to discuss the negative aspects of the New York Yankees. By using Miller as her primary source, Frazao betrayed any aspect of responsible investigative journalism.

The final 41 seconds of the news clip, which may or may not have been part of KRNV’s live broadcast¹, does include Emily Tisch Sussman, Campaign Director for the Center for American Progress. Sussman represents a liberal viewpoint; however, during that 41 seconds she is edited down to two sound bytes of four seconds and ten seconds. The rest of the time Frazao speaks for her in a voice over. Of the two sound bytes, it was difficult to determine what questions Sussman was responding to because the editing didn’t seem to match Frazao’s edited-in commentary.

This was at least the second time in one week where Sinclair Broadcast Group’s National Correspondent has presented a story that had an overt conservative bias (See article.)

NEXT:  KRNV does it again. (Read article) TO BE PUBLISHED 7 APRIL 2014 at 6:00 AM

(¹I watched the live broadcast and I don’t remember the last 41 seconds that appears in the on-line clip of the ‘A’ Block. If it was included it would have put the broadcast 34 to 65 seconds longer than the two previous night’s broadcast, and 94 seconds longer than the next two weekday 6 PM broadcasts. At 41 seconds, Kristine Frazao seems to wrap up the piece, and the next 41 seconds could have easily been edited out for time on the original live broadcast.)