The desperate, depraved state of local TV news last week hit a fresh low. WABC-Ch. 7’s lead anchor, Bill Ritter, likely on tacit orders, several times told an outrageous lie, the kind designed for viewers to act on — preferably in a panic — while fueling ratings for the Disney-owned channel.
Ch. 7 “Eyewitness News” in recent years has become reliant on pitching weather forecasts as the most sensational fresh news it can offer. A light snow in January is enough for Ch. 7 to leap into its the-sky-is-falling! mode.
But nothing before came close to being as dishonest as what Ritter and Ch. 7 News pulled on Feb. 16.
During the station’s 6 p.m. newscast, Ritter threw it to weatherman Lee Goldberg for the latest on a dead-serious winter storm that Ritter clearly indicated was heading our way.
Yet Goldberg, during his report, three times made it abundantly clear that this storm, from the southwest, was not headed our way. Goldberg even traced its anticipated path, due east, stating that he expected the storm to “exit over the Carolinas” and into the Atlantic by late Sunday.
It was as if Goldberg was being held hostage and wanted to get the message out: Don’t believe what Ritter and Ch. 7 News are selling about this; there’s nothing to worry about.
Later that night, Ritter at least twice appeared in promos for Ch. 7’s 11 o’clock news, both times to sound the alarm about a serious storm heading our way, promising that weatherman Goldberg would keep us apprised of “this major winter weather event.”
During one of these bogus promos, Ch. 7 presented a shot of the Empire State Building, which was shrouded in mist — the remnants of a light rain that had fallen that day. But placed atop Ritter’s dire, dishonest warning, it appeared to be the beginning of the end. Run for your lives! (And stay tuned to Ch. 7 for more!)
Of course, just as Goldberg said, there was no storm here, nothing even close or close by. The weather over the next few days was mild and dry.
And, for those paying attention there was little better to conclude than that Bill Ritter, lead news anchor for ABC’s New York City station, is less news man than professional liar, just doing his job.
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The systemic dishonesty emanating from newscasts seen on Ch. 7 continued during the Sunday edition of the nationally televised “Good Morning America.” During it, we were teased — in these cases, lied to — about “developing” news stories that were either dormant or were long-ended.
“GMA” reported that “there were big developments, this morning” in the murder trial of University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely, accused of beating girlfriend Yeardley Love to death.
But there were no developments at all that morning, let alone “big” ones. The defense had rested the day before; the case was with the jury. Nothing was going on that morning.
Another “developing story” was reported to be Prince William’s mission to the Falkland Islands as a military rescue pilot, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Britain’s successful war with Argentina to retain those remote islands.
But there was nothing “developing.” William had arrived there two weeks earlier, the start of a six-week deployment.
The third “developing” story — about a man in Sweden who survived two months in his snow-encased car — was beyond developing; it had developed. The story was two days old.
This isn’t part of a pattern; it’s part of the plan: Credentialed news folks look into the camera and lie to the public. If they ate fish as fresh as the fresh news they report, they’d have to call in sick.