Kevin Allman

...Oh, and people too.

Current headline graphic at Fox News:

KGW amends its press release passed off as a staff news report

Surely KGW would've taken down that Red Bull press release that the station credited to (and tried to pass off as) a staff news report. It's been more than 24 hours, after all. Or perhaps they rewrote the story honestly and apologized? You remember the one:

Why, yes, indeedy, they have changed it:

Someone went in, left all the press-release info verbatim, and altered the headline and the text to reflect 80,000 attendees rather than 60,000.

What happened, KGW? Did the Red Bull flacks call and bawl you out for improper stenography?

KGW-TV: Where the press releases passed off as the news come first

KGW-TV:

Thirty-one teams were selected to strut, soar and ultimately splash into the Willamette’s waters, including a final wildcard team chosen by a public vote.

Flugtag, which means “flying day” in German, gives everyday Joes (and Janes!) the chance to be heroes for the day when they launch their homemade human-powered flying machines off a 25-foot high flight deck and into Red Bull Flugtag fame.

Red Bull press release:

Thirty-one teams have been selected to strut, soar and ultimately splash into the Willamette's waters, including a final wildcard team that was chosen by a public vote.

Flugtag, which means "flying day" in German, gives everyday Joes (and Janes!) the chance to be heroes for the day when they launch their homemade human-powered flying machines off a 25-foot high flight deck and into Red Bull Flugtag fame.

KGW-TV:

The first Red Bull Flugtag was held in Vienna in 1991. Since then, more than 40 Red Bull Flugtags have been held around the world – from London to San Francisco – attracting up to 300,000 spectators at one event!

The international flight distance record stands at 195 feet set in 2000 at Red Bull Flugtag Austria.  North America’s longest flight took place at Red Bull Flugtag Nashville in 2007 with a distance of 155 feet.

Red Bull press release:

The first Red Bull Flugtag was held in Vienna in 1991. Since then, more than 40 Red Bull Flugtags have been held around the world -- from London to San Francisco -- attracting up to 300,000 spectators at one event!

The international flight distance record stands at 195 feet set in 2000 at Red Bull Flugtag Austria. North America's longest flight took place at Red Bull Flugtag Nashville in 2007 with a distance of 155 feet.

Station who's headlines need better to proofread

From KUTV-TV:

WDSU: On your psilocybin side

Remember, kids: drugs are bad...

Why New Orleans is the best news market

Headlines from this afternoon's news wrap:

"Science, Religion Square Off in Baton Rouge" (you know this can't be good)

"Lap Dances Saved By Senate Committee"

"Sex Predator Castration OK With House Panel"

And then there's this, in a Times-Picayune article about GOP troubles:

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said he doesn't agree with Davis' pessimistic assessment, but he does say "it's certainly true that national Republicans need to improve their brand. "Perhaps folks should actually take some cues from Republicans in Louisiana," Vitter said. "At home, we're the party of reform and positive changes versus failed past and the good ol' boys."

Who needs the Weekly World News?

Stupider TV news, part II

Why should people outside the New Orleans viewing area be deprived of the "ABC26 News Wheel of Justice" and the station's newest correspondent Tat-2 the Bounty Hunter?

Stupid criminals...stupider TV news

Was it just last week that I was congratulating the local TV news for some excellent work? Yes.

Dumb me.

WDSU has a new "crime and safety" expert, Howard Robertson, the sort of crusader whose entire journalistic raison d'être is keeping good citizens like you, Mr. and Ms. Good Citizen, safe in your (chaste, double) beds.

Today Howard was earning his oats by analyzing a surveillance tape from a crime scene where a transvestite robbed a Burger King:

"By looking at the vehicle pull up, we can tell that's a pickup,” WDSU crime and safety specialist Howard Robertson said. “And if you look at the rims -- you know that's not a Ford or GM. The other thing I wanted to look at was whether he got out the driver’s or passenger’s door to see if he had an accomplice, somebody who was driving his vehicle when he left. But he got out the driver’s side."

Robertson said the thief is probably a genuine cross-dresser because his necklace matched the dress, his nails appeared to be painted and the wig was well made.

"Most of the time when somebody puts on a wig they're just trying to hide their identity by putting on something like a Halloween Mask, but he's pretty," Robertson said.

Meanwhile, over at WGNO, the stunt du jour is the "Wheel of Justice" -- a sort of low-budget America's Most Wanted. And lest you think that the Channel 26 news director is using the wheel as some sort of highfalutin metaphor for our judicial system, you don't know local news:

Round and round and round she goes, and where she stops on a "dirtbag," the investigation goes!

And lest you think the station's use of "dirtbag" is some sort of lowfalutin metaphor, the WGNO graphics department is ahead of you there, too:

I'm just imagining the poor college news intern, flush with dreams of being the next Ed Murrow or Lara Logan, being told "Take this bag out in the grass, write "DIRT" on it, and get some good digital photos. Oh, and we've got a lunch pickup at Quizno's at 12:30, so make it quick."

But I shouldn't make fun of this endeavor; as the WGNO website snarls:

"It's not a game. It's not a game show. It's about YOU and it's about justice. You have the power to bring down hardened criminals. Criminals who are wrecking your neighborhood. Who make you feel unsafe. Criminals you don't want around."

(As opposed, I suppose, to the criminals you do want around.)

To aid in this endeavor, WGNO has added a new member to its news team:

Tat-2 even has his own bio on the WGNO website ("Favorite Television Shows: Cops, SWAT, Family Guy; Favorite Books: The Bible and My Louisiana Revised Statute").

My suggestion: Howard Robertson and Tat-2 should team up and go after the pickup-driving, Burger King-robbing transvestite with the fine eye for accessorizing. After all, could it be any worse than K-Ville?

Posted sans comment

Kudos to some Louisiana reporters

South Louisiana has always had some much better reporters and media than one would expect (or, some would argue, much better than it deserves). The collective bullshit detector of the populace is strong and finely tuned, and it's reflected in both the print and electronic media (well, in a lot of cases).

As the quality of local TV news around the country has gone down the toilet, WWL-TV has managed to hold the line with truly solid local journalism. Lately the station's Lee Zurik has been a total rock star pit bull, from his exposé of how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is stuffing local levees with shredded friggin' newspaper, to last night's exposé of a certain buffoonish public service commissioner and how a huge share of his campaign contributions come from the very agencies he's sworn to regulate. The Mosquito Coast has a nice tribute to Zurik here; it's well-deserved.

And the Independent Weekly in Lafayette, La., is way ahead of the game with this week's cover story on Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and how his much-vaunted ethics and transparency campaign is concealing something very different. Written by Jeremy Alford, it's the piece that the national media are going to be revisiting in future months and years when they stop speculating about a possible Jindal vice-presidency and swooning about his star turn on Jay Leno's couch.