WBOC, Phony, Acting & Evidence Part 3

The three-minute "cover story" on the Jan. 15 news looked like a powerful local investigative report, just what you'd expect from a trusted news source like NBC.

But little about the story was as it appeared.

NBC 11's consumer exposé purported to reveal a "secret" credit bureau that "may be collecting your information and selling it without your knowledge." And that information, anchor Brad Hicks warned, was so suspect that viewers were urged to contact the bureau to be sure it hadn't ruined their credit rating.

Ominous as that sounds, each claim was misleading. The company, Innovis, isn't secret. It doesn't report to those who might approve your car or house loan. And according to the story's own sources, it's received far fewer complaints than its competitors -- only two nationally in three years.

KNTV-NBC 11 might have discovered that, if it had done any of its own reporting. But that night, Mr. Hicks was more actor than reporter. He appears to have merely reshuffled a script produced by a low-profile content provider in suburban Atlanta that distributes canned video "news."

For decades, television stations have quietly outsourced portions of their local news program. But in the last five years, scores of broadcasters around the country have discovered a resource that helps them serve up pre-packaged stories, leaving viewers with the mistaken impression that journalists in their communities did much of the research, writing and on-camera interviewing.

NBC 11 defended its un-credited use of canned news. "When you have a news service, you don't always independently verify where each individual piece of information came from," said Jim Sanders, the station's vice president of news. "What becomes important for the audience is where they're getting the information, not where you, the journalist, are getting it from."

But ethics codes disagree and some prominent journalists decry broadcasting unidentified content from outsiders.

"This kind of 'reporting' is the result of budget cuts in local news departments that no longer have enough staff to produce both daily material and the kind of stories that feel promotable for sweeps or other competitive purposes," said Harry Fuller, an editor with CNBC Europe in London who formerly was news director at KGO Channel 7 and KPIX Channel 5.

Twenty years ago, he said, stations always identified video from other stations, networks or other providers. "I think that's no longer a policy in many newsrooms.

"It has long since ceased to matter to many news departments whether they are 'cheating' the viewers. It only matters if the news department can win the ratings."

More