How Philly’s WCAU-TV (NBC 10) can botch a murder story
July 17, 2007 at 7:42 pm (EDT)
There is a murder story displayed on Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV (NBC 10) Web site about a murder here in Philadelphia. That said, it should be pretty straightforward, right? Wrong.
Let’s look at some Journalism 101 things and see how a TV station can continually try to sensationalize (remember the old if it bleeds, it leads mentality? Well, with over 200 murders in Philadelphia this year, there’s too much bleeding for this crap to “lead,” so maybe they need to find a new line of stories to push.
Anyway, let’s take a critical look at WCAU’s story on the murder of Klever Varella.
In reviewing the story, I am going to strike out sections of the story that I am not commenting on in this post. Mind you, it isn’t because they were free of problems. It’s because I do not work, nor have I ever worked or felt compelled to apply for work NBC 10. That said, since I am not on the station’s payroll, this post is about what really irks me about the story and its over-sensationalized “reporting,” if you call it that.
PHILADELPHIA — Police said a corner store owner was found dead after his throat was slashed in a robbery at his West Kensington business.
Klever Varella, 53, originally from Ecuador, was found inside Sabor Latino, the grocery store he owned at Indiana and Philip streets, police said.
Police said Varella was sweeping out front, then went back into the store at about 10 a.m. when he apparently found a man inside.Varella’s daughter, Veronica, was upstairs, heard a thump, ran downstairs and saw the man — described as 5 feet 5 inches tall,
bald with a muscular build –leaving the store and her father on the floor, police said. She ran out screaming and called 911.
That’s a pretty good description. I hope his daughter, Veronica, is accurate in the description. Most of the time when you hear or read victim reports and details from crimes, the details about height are something like, “The attacker was between five feet five inches and five feet nine inches tall.” In a stressful situation like that, especially a situation where your father was just killed, remembering the clothes and basic description is a challenge, let alone pinpointing an exact height. Did this information come from the police report? I just don’t know because NBC 10 didn’t tell me or any other viewer the source of that information.
“It appears to be a robbery, but we really don’t know,” said Chief Inspector Joseph Fox of the Philadelphia police. “Neighbors saw him out sweeping the steps moments before his daughter heard a thud inside.”Police were reporting no suspects in the case.
Sadly enough, here in Philadelphia, there aren’t often suspects in a case, and it isn’t anything new. In fact, it seems, Philadelphia is home of the “Don’t snitch” and “Don’t be a rat” phrases. Too many gangbangers scaring citizens into not talking to the cops.
Friends said Varella owned his corner grocery store for the past four to five years and lived above it with his daughters.A distraught Miguel Huerta, who called Varella his best friend, said the man also has family in New York and California.
Is the reporter implying Miguel Huerta lied to the reporter about Klever Varella being his best friend? Or is the reporter letting us know that as Varella’s body was carried away, Huerta called out, saying “You’re my best friend, Klever?”
This is a murder story, right? Not an obituary. First, “the man” is Klever Varella and not “the man,” right? Show some respect for the dead, at least. Second, what difference does it make if he has family in New York and California? That will be in the obituary. Besides, since the cops don’t know who killed Klever Varella, is it wise to tell the killer where other family members, as well as his daughters, live?
The mostly Spanish-speaking community was shaken by the loss of one of its own. Varella was described as a hard working man who never harmed anyone.
Here we go: “the mostly Spanish-speaking community…” I love that phrase. First, this is America. English should be the primary language, but hey, that 20 years ago. Things have changed since then. Even so, tell me why, especially in a news story about a murder, does a “community’s language” even matter? Why does it warrant even a mention? If viewers didn’t know people in the area where the murder took place primarily communicate using the Spanish language, is there any real news value in adding it to a news story? Possibly in stereotyping the neighborhood, perhaps causing preconceived ideas. Bad idea. Bad reporting.
Second is, “… was shaken by the loss of one of its own.” Does this imply that if a black person, a white person, and American Indian, an East Indian, or someone of another race, or someone who spoke another language (since NBC 10 brought it up), it wouldn’t be significant or have an impact on the community? So, is it the mere fact that because someone who spoke Spanish was murdered at Indiana and Philip Streets in the West Kensington section of Philadelphia, this murder matters or has any significance? That’s how it reads to me. The reporter is telling me that if a white person or a black person were killed at that corner, no one would have cared.
In a sad irony, the 222nd homicide of the year in Philadelphia occurred inside the store with the address of 222 West Indiana Street.
In a sad irony? That’s sick. No, it’s disrespectful. Yeah, go off and make the family, the late Klever Varella’s daughters, all remember they live at 222 West Indiana Street, in the West Kensington section of Philadelphia, and that their father’s death count in the city’s running murder total for the year is the same as their home address. Classy, Channel 10. Very classy. It’s no wonder more and more people have stopped watching the stuff you call “news” — because it isn’t.
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4 Responses to “How Philly’s WCAU-TV (NBC 10) can botch a murder story”
Paintedpony July 21st, 2007 at 8:05 am #
Sadly, this type of reporting is not unique to Philadelphia. I’ve wondered at times, while watching the local news here in Central Florida, if some of these reporters received their “qualifications” through correspondence courses.
Moving down here from New York was a tough case of “culture shock”, and that was some 35 years ago. And I’ve got to tell you, the local tv news hasn’t grown up half as much as I have. The “local yokel” stations, as I call them, have anchors that try to use the phrasing of words to impressively report a story, with somehwat disastrous results. Grammatical torture would be one way to describe it. Then throw in the little extras you pointed out above, and it turns out to be something like the mindless chatter that comes out of a wind up toy.
In my opinion, your reporter didn’t say “A distraught Miguel Huerta, who called Varella his best friend, said the man also has family in New York and California” to report NEWS. He said it to fill camera time, to “enhance” his/her story, as if what Miguel has to say is really NEWS. “Look mom, I’m on TV” is what I sometimes think is going through any “local yokel” reporters head, as they mindlessly blabber on about things that have no real bearing on the story itself.
In any case, it’s a comfort to know there is someone else out there that catches some of these statements and wonders what they have to do with the price of eggs. Other than the fact that eggs can be worn well on some faces… at any price.
Dave J. (Scoop0901) July 23rd, 2007 at 1:36 pm #
@Paintedpony:
Oh, I know this type of garbage that many broadcast outlets call “news” isn’t restricted to the Philadelphia market only. I often see it on several of the national evening “news” broadcasts. (sigh) Gone are the days when Walter Cronkite oversaw the evening news, forcing one network — with the others following — to move from a 15-minute to 30-minute format for national evening news.
Since “Uncle Walter” and his crusading days of getting the news to the masses, it seems broadcast, especially television, has condensed too much of the news, but, for smaller stories that do not warrant great amounts of time for coverage, the reverse principle is used.
Many all-news radio outlets, at least the ones I can monitor from here in Philly, including KYW News Radio (AM 1060), haven’t seemed to veer too much from the intended goal of delivering fairly accurate news. The “editors” at those stations, however, do get miffed when you call and tell them they’ve gotten facts wrong. How do I know? I will give you one guess. ;)
I was offered a job with a TV news station in Illinois back in the early 1990s. I turned it down because there’s no way to effectively and accurately report the full story in 90, 120, or 150 seconds (1-1/2, 2, or 2-1/2 minutes, respectively), giving background on the issue, as well as giving all necessary details of the story, and a preview of what to expect next regarding the story. Because of that, I turned the job down, despite the salary.
My principles have not ever been, are not now, and never will be for sale at any price. When it comes to TV “news” reporting, too much of it is watered down, with facts, despite how much effort people involved go to educate the reporter in the 20 minutes or so the camera crew and reporter prep for the report, are often misconstrued. Don’t ask for the station to make a clarification, and also don’t ask for the station to make a correction. I’ve tried too many times, especially when those same TV news stations post the transcripts online with the errors.
It seems the only way to get TV stations to make corrections and clarifications for glaring errors these days is to file a complaint with the FCC.
By the time the FCC takes action though, even if it but 10 days later, most people will have forgotten, and any error will have sunk into the collective mindset of the viewers and those at the station as “fact,” and may, at times, have been re-broadcast as fact many times over in that time.
There are many viewers, including many current and former reporters, primarily newspaper reporters, who are bothered by this type of thing, Pony. It’s a matter of who stands up, bangs the drums, and talks about things like this in public.
andrea July 24th, 2007 at 6:48 pm #
As a viewer, the sensationialism in news stories irritates me and I’m glad I’m not alone. Another pet peeve of mine is when the news anchor is chipper and happy no matter what the news item is that they are reporting. It’s similar to GW smurking like he tends to do when talking about the Iraq War or any other serious issue. A few days ago, I heard a news anchor announce that “Philadelphia was the target of terrorist attacks (insert happy voice here)” before they went to a commercial. Hey!! YAY! Let’s hear it for Philadelphia!
Dave J. (Scoop0901) July 25th, 2007 at 12:37 pm #
Yeah, the talking heads, despite the stories they are reading, aren’t often attentive to what they are reading and the expressions on their faces, are they?
There was another murder story, a month or so ago, but there was no reporter on-the-scene. The talking head in the studio read the material from the teleprompter. The entire time, telling of the murder of a child, this idiot was smiling — a full smile. I sat there, shaking my head, wondering what kind of idiot watches that channel’s news on a regular basis. I flipped the channel at that point.
Mind you, I do not watch TV news much. I flip on the boob tube to get a quick headline summary, when needed, but only at the top of the hour, which let’s me get the quick synopsis of who in D.C. or Philadelphia or Harrisburg are proving to be the biggest idiots of the day, what happened (or almost happened) in the U.S. today, and such.
For weather, that’s what the Weather Channel is for, right?