By David Gordon, associate editor
Three local journalists offered a few suggestions for dealing with false statements that nonetheless have news value, during a News Engagement Day (NED) virtual panel discussion Tuesday evening.
Not surprisingly, they didn’t come up with a definitive solution to this challenge.
The trio – Leader-Telegram editor Matt Milner, Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Rich Kremer and WQOW-TV evening co-anchor Shannon Hoyt – all acknowledged the problems inherent in reporting untruthful statements from newsworthy individuals. They agreed that providing context and relevant factual material immediately after the false statements was one of the few ways to counter them.
Milner also stressed the value of making sure the questionable material “really needs to be in the article in the first place.” He added that when dealing with questionable or false statements in the political realm, “you have to handle all politicians the same way.”
Problem less frequent outside politics
Milner noted that outside of politics, the problem arises less frequently. He noted, though, that it routinely showed up in the Iowa presidential preference caucuses which he covered while working there before coming to Eau Claire about a year ago.
Kremer said that recent anti-vaccination statements by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) were basically repetitions of his earlier comments and therefore had little or no news value. He said that although he did his “homework” ahead of live interviews with candidates, “it’s definitely easy for (false) ‘stuff’ to get through in that situation.”
The program was moderated by Emeritus Journalism Prof. Mike Dorsher and was organized by the Chippewa Valley Post to provide a local NED activity in keeping with the day’s goal: to encourage people of all ages to read, watch, listen to and discuss news and the role of the news media in creating an informed citizenry.
An audio recording of the program – with an integrated transcript – is available at https://wisconsin-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/tJkD0Qg0tF9T6CEtl5J95AGRLchzZlGozvdy3o3wr5G8iAr36Cwg0hyPE-FENHMc.x8MWZ51hJSnO41pn.
It is not yet known if a video recording will be made available.
TV news reports produce frequent comments
Hoyt said audience members often comment on the station’s news reports and noted that “there are rules in regard to what’s allowed on the station’s Facebook page.” She said that if a posted comment is “flat-out wrong,” it’s deleted, an approach that requires staff time to monitor the posted comments. . .and that staff time isn’t always available at other media outlets.
In regard to posted comments, Kremer said that “a lot of the time it’s people who want to fight with each other.” He noted that presenting comments on both sides of issues without an effort at fact-checking runs the risk of providing “garbage” for the audience, rather than context.
He said he ignores the comments on his stories but will engage with people who email him directly.
Milner said it’s important to remember that if a comment is deleted, it does not raise First Amendment concerns because that amendment applies only to governmental interference with free expression. Actions by private organizations, such as news media outlets, are not covered by it.