Journalism experts have criticized a three-part series about Alcoa that was broadcast on UNC-TV on July 6-8, saying the segments did not meet universally accepted journalism standards and should not have been accepted for broadcast.
Alcoa has obtained a draft memorandum prepared by a panel of three journalism professors from the UNC School of Journalism & Mass Communication. The review by Leroy Towns, Andy Bechtel and Jim Hefner cites a “breakdown in the editorial process” that resulted in “an unbalanced and slanted view” of these issues that is “unsupported by the facts.”
Because the UNC-TV series is being distributed widely by Alcoa’s opponents, it is important for people to understand that independent journalism experts have raised serious concerns about the credibility of the stories. Viewers need to know the series has serious flaws and should not be taken at face value.
For more analysis about the UNC-TV series, click here to read a related blog post by Leroy Towns.
“Sources are stacked on one side, statements about health risk and environmental damage are made without credible sources, 40-year-old documents are made to look modern, and a lawyer for people suing Alcoa dominates. Additionally, Alcoa projects in other states are slid into the program so that they appear to reflect on the Yadkin project and facts favorable to Alcoa were ignored,” Towns writes. “Any UNC journalism student producing this kind of “story” would get a failing grade.”
Read more about this story from WRAL TV or the Carolina Journal.
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5 comments:
I think the final version of the documentary should have you (Gene Ellis) talking passionately about bald eagles that Alcoa look after!!! How exactly... and maybe the shoreline management. It would undoubtedly look like it was taking the pi** out of you, but hey... happy to throw in more of your 'good deeds' and leave out your continuing toxic discharges and forced increased monitoring as detailed in DENR's NPDES Permit
Note: All deleted comments were spam messages.
I think the final version of the "dcumentary" was paid for! :) If you (Martin Sansone) didn't have all the information in DENR's permit when you aired the "documentary", and you should have, you certainly had it on August 5th. But I suspect we won't have to worry about Martin Sansone's yellow journalism any longer. The truth does have a way of coming out. Even UNC-TV has removed your "documentary" from their website, and the longer version was removed when UNC-TV notified vimeo that it was infringing.
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