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Volume 7, Issue 1
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Decency Standards in Broadcasting
by Martha Sharan
In our last newsletter, the fall
edition of Tuning In, our front-page article
featured the buzz over media consolidation. Last fall,
the Federal Communications Commission voted to give
media conglomerates an enormous amount of power. Under
the new rules of media ownership, the FCC said, one
company can own up to three television stations, eight
radio stations, the major newspaper and the cable system,
all in the same city. Congressmen began to clamor, some
supporting the ruling, others vowing to draw up legislation
against the consolidation and possible reduction of
diversity. At this point, the FCC ruling has been put
on hold by a federal appeals court and is being debated
on Capitol Hill.
But the FCC continues to be at
the center of a storm, one equally disturbing, namely,
the FCC's lack of action in the enforcement of federal
laws that make it illegal to broadcast obscene and indecent
programming. In the wake of Janet Jackson's infamous
halftime performance at the Super Bowl, both the Senate
and House became a beehive of activity holding hearings
and accusing the FCC of not doing its job to protect
listeners and viewers from indecent programming. Last
year, according to Representative Tom Osborne (R-NE),
the FCC received 240,000 complaints, upon which only
three citations were issued. It should also be noted
that the FCC has never made a move to suspend a broadcast
license.
Yet, it has the authority not
only to suspend, but also revoke a station's license,
impose heavy fines, place conditions on the renewal
of a broadcast license or issue a warning for the broadcast
of obscene or indecent material. Federal law states:
obscene speech, and material determined to be obscene
based on "contemporary community standards," and, lacking
in literary, artistic, political or scientific value,
is not protected by the First Amendment.
So according to this standard,
the disrobing of Janet Jackson is against the law, much
of the obscenity spouted by shock jocks is against the
law, and so is any of their indecent material containing
sexual or excretory references heard over the airwaves.
According to a Gallup Poll taken after the Super Bowl,
75 percent of the Americans asked, say "a serious effort"
has to be made to significantly reduce the amount of
toxic entertainment on television and radio. In response,
the once sleepy FCC has sprung into action. The result:
"
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DJ Todd Clem, known as Bubba the Love Sponge, has
been fired and his boss, Clear Channel, the largest
radio chain in the country, is facing a $715,000
fine for the obscene material on the Bubba broadcasts
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Clear Channel has also suspended DJ Howard Stern
for using sexually explicit language and graphically
discussing a pornographic videotape and took his
show off the air in six cities
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Emmis Communications owes the FCC $28,000 in indecency
fines for material broadcast on Mancow's Morning
Madhouse
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Infinity, Emmis and Clear Channel are adopting
a zero tolerance policy on indecency
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Legislation is being introduced to increase fines
against broadcasters tenfold, from $27,000 to $270,000
for each incident of indecency, with a maximum penalty
of $3 million
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Language is being drafted to clean up all on-air
vocabulary - the list includes eight specific, unpardonable
words; and,
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Lawmakers are mulling over an amendment that would
require revoking a broadcast license after three
indecency violations
So, how does all this affect public
relations professionals? Our job is to protect our clients
from embarrassing situations and uncomfortable interviews.
To be successful, we must pay attention to the way hosts,
reporters and DJ's handle interviews and news items.
To do this, professionals must have a working knowledge
of the shows we are booking and the type of guests producers
are looking for to fit their formats. The Internet can
be a great help - the audio from many shows is streamed
on radio station websites, so with just a little effort
we can gain a lot of knowledge and preserve both client
and agency credibility and integrity.
It's All in the Pitch
by Susan Matthews
Apgood
At the end of 2003, we completed
a survey of 50 randomly sampled radio newsrooms in the
top-50 markets to gauge how stations use audio news
releases and other information provided to them by outside
sources. Results of the survey found 96% of newsrooms
report that outside sources are used as part of their
newsgathering and air these sources as part of their
newscasts an average of 4.46 times per day.
An audio news release (ANR) is
a term used in the public relations industry to describe
a service that encompasses a fully produced 60-second
report with a sound bite from a spokesperson. ANRs are
used to reach a wide audience of stations, typically
in a breaking news situation and when time is too limited
to set up interviews in a radio media tour. Radio media
tours are used in circumstances where a topic needs
more explanation than a 60 second piece would allow
and a spokesperson has time to set aside several hours
to complete the interviews. Each of these services is
matched to the client's message, where it will have
the most impact.
While only 19% of surveyed stations
said that they rarely use "canned audio," each stated
that they would use such audio in a breaking news situation
or when they would be unable to get the audio elsewhere
for a story they are airing. According to Mike Sleyman
at WDNC-AM in Raleigh, "I like to review hard copy first
and then call back for sound bites, if it's with someone
that I wouldn't be able to set up myself, especially
in a breaking news situation." Dan Restione from KIRO-AM
in Seattle says, "We look at everything that we are
offered: press releases, news wires, call-in news tips,
PR info, and we make news judgments according to what
is relevant to our listening audience." So, according
to stations surveyed, PR releases from trusted sources
with strong news content are part of the rolodex of
resources station personnel use for their newsgathering
on a regular basis.
"It is all in the way a story is
pitched," comments Lynn Harris Medcalf from News Generation,
"Many stations may say they have policies against taking
ANRs, because the term ANR is a PR term, not a media
term. If a compelling or breaking news story is pitched
from a credible source with a good track record of providing
good news stories, especially if the story has a local
tie-in that will impact listeners of that station, it
will be accepted and used by stations and networks."
In other words, if audio news releases
are targeted and provide good, timely news material,
stations will use them as part of their on-air broadcasts.
While not all stations will necessarily use the audio
portion of a news release, news releases do find a home
on stations across the U.S if they are targeted toward
a local audience and provide timely, compelling information.
The survey found 46% newsrooms stating that timeliness
is the number one aspect that determines usage, and
44% said that localized information is the most important
aspect of a news release.
Fifty randomly sampled newsrooms
in the top-50 markets were interviewed in December of
2003. Full survey results are available by sending an
e-mail to operations@newsgeneration.com.
Landmark Alzheimer's Programming
on PBS
by Lynn Harris Medcalf
Today approximately five million
Americans have Alzheimer's disease. With each passing
year, as the first baby boomers approach the age of
65, America moves closer to the brink of an epidemic.
On Wednesday, January 21 at 9:00 p.m., PBS presented
a groundbreaking evening of programming that brought
this looming health crisis to national attention — offering
insight, context, help and hope.
The evening began with THE FORGETTING:
A PORTRAIT OF ALZHEIMER'S, a 90-minute documentary that
explores this frightening disease, the human toll it
takes on patients and caregivers, and the latest research
in the race to find a cure. Followed by ALZHEIMER'S:
THE HELP YOU NEED, hosted by award-winning actor David
Hyde Pierce, this program was a half-hour follow-up
special, bringing together a panel of experts to provide
authoritative answers to commonly-asked questions, and
direct viewers to organizations and resources that can
offer help and support.
Kelly & Salerno Communications,
which represented the PBS series, worked with News Generation
to schedule interviews with David Hyde Pierce and David
Shenk, author of The Forgetting — Alzheimer's: Portrait
of an Epidemic, whose book was the basis of THE FORGETTING:
A PORTRAIT OF ALZHEIMER'S. David Hyde Pierce, who
watched both his grandfather and his father suffer with
Alzheimer's, described the challenges of dealing with
the disease and the sense of personal vulnerability,
and David Shenk provided listeners with the latest medical
advances and information on the disease.
It came to light a few days prior
to the television special that findings from a study
mentioned in the documentary were about to be released
in the scientific publication Annals of Neurology,
where scientists have created a compound that enables
them to peer into the brain of a living person and see
the build up of plaque deposits that scientists believe
are at the root of Alzheimer's disease. To capitalize
on this breaking news and promote the program, an audio
news release was prepared for distribution the day of
broadcast.
The radio media tour garnered 18,952,750
gross impressions, with 8,834 airings on 2,871 stations
and network affiliates. The audio news release had 5,935,550
gross impressions with 871 airings on 844 stations and
network affiliates. The segment aired nationally on
Metro Source, CNN Radio, CBS Radio Network, Westwood
One, and USA Radio Network. Several metro area networks
and top news and talk stations in the top-25 markets
broadcast the segment including the #1 talk stations
in New York and Chicago, and #1 news and news-talk stations
in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas,
Washington, DC, Detroit, Seattle, and Minneapolis.
Colby Kelly of Kelly & Salerno
Communications in Greenwich, CT said, "We used different
services to achieve different objectives. The combination
of the two techniques together helped us maximize our
impact. The interviews with David Hyde Pierce provided
a celebrity to carry our message of hope and David Shenk
spoke to the medical side of the Alzheimer's story.
The audio news release provided the perfect vehicle
for breaking news contained in the program since it
could be turned around in less than 24 hours and helped
drive viewers to the PBS special."
Time is of the Essence
by Curt Gill
Every day, major radio news stations
juggle information, using a variety of standards to
determine which stories to air and when, but there is
one standard that remains constant in every newsroom
operation: timeliness. Tying a topic to a breaking story,
a current event and providing an imbedded deadline will
often increase a story's chances of finding its way
onto the airwaves.
Normally, newsrooms don't hold
stories. When a news release or story idea makes its
way to the assignment desk, the editor looks for immediate
placement. So, if you don't want to be left out of the
news cycle, it is important that you fashion your story
or release so that it can be woven into the day's or
week's coverage. This is where being a newsie can really
work to your advantage: staying on top of news coverage,
local and national, can help you fine-tune your story
to have an appropriate sense of urgency. By providing
reporters with information relevant to the current news
cycle, you can open up greater opportunities for your
message to be heard on the air.
For samples of recent stories based
on survey releases, breaking news or other timely considerations,
please visit our content website at www.radionewssource.com.
Tuning In newsletter is produced and distibuted bi-annually. The goal of the newsletter is to educate clients on radio trends and industry tips, as well as highlight case studies and release survey information.
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