Thank you for your quick response to my e-mail requesting your take on this.

I’m glad to hear that the promo was so well received by WTNH’s audience. I’m even happier to hear that the crate is being used to raise money for a good cause.

But to suggest that my observation is somehow an attempt to “manufacture” a controversy isn’t entirely fair.

It’s a personal observation; you may not agree with it, but I don’t think it makes it any less valid. And to my way of thinking, a niche blog about the media is the perfect place to discuss this kind of thing.

As to your point that I’m taking issue with how television news personalities are promoted, you’re right.

I recognize all media organizations are personality driven. But you can still promote one of your star personalities and do so in a tasteful and serious manner.

News is serious stuff. Do we really want the people to present it to be portrayed as court jesters? Or worse?

The day Teresa debuted on your morning newscast, you brought out the crate again and tried to make it seem as if she had been let out for the world to see.

Television news team members popping out of boxes? What’s next, getting Teresa to pop out of a birthday cake for viewers who want to meet their favorite on-air talent?

With apologies to the late Leslie Nielsen…”Surely you can’t be serious.”

Here are the facts. We wanted to announce that we had a new traffic reporter joining the staff at News 8. For various legal reasons, we couldn’t use her name on the air until her debut on November 29th. So we used the idea of moving a crate to our station as a metaphor for the arrival of a new member of our team. A metaphor that ran as a commercial on the air for approximately two weeks.

Oddly enough during that time, not one viewer called or emailed to ask about the health of the person “trapped inside the crate.” (Well, not seriously at least. I’ll leave the various jokes about the size of the crate out of this discussion.)

To suggest that anyone might seriously think that this was an actual situation of a person being inside the crate–or worse still, that it was somehow a trivial dismissal of human rights violations–strikes me as baiting an argument where there isn’t one.

Your additional comments response above suggests that you actually have a bigger issue about the promotion of a television news person as somehow being unworthy because there was the slightest bit of humor involved. Even you acknowledged the weakness of your premise by stating: “I know it is meant to be humorous and isn’t supposed to be taken literally.”

If that is true, then surely there are more pressing issues to debate on a journalism blog than this manufactured one.

(By the way, the actual crate in question is now being used as part of a holiday toy drive and will be auctioned off to raise money for a charitable cause.)

Sincerely,
Kirk Varner
VP & Director of News
WTNH News 8

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.

Yes, I’m familiar with non-compete clauses that television news talent usually has in their contracts, so I understand the reason her name can’t be mentioned and her likeness can’t be used. But Channel 3 has done other promos about her impending arrival at the station that get the point across without the idea of using a box.

I’ve also seen similar spots over the past several decades that make use of a box to promo something at a television station. But it has always been a new program or logo package that is being promoted using a box, not an actual person.

And as I said before, I recognize that I may be taking this too literally. But television and all forms of media send subtle messages, some direct and clear cut, some subliminal.

Even if you don’t agree with initial observation I made about this promo, consider what its says about some one who is supposed to be part of a television newscast. To me it suggests that the product being delivered – news that impacts people’s lives – is something to be treated like any other entertainment program on television.

Again, thanks for posting.

While what Gupta and Fontaine did are quite different things, they both represent the same basic rule that reporters are taught from the very beginning: You don’t become part of the story. Gupta didn’t have to agree to the Navy’s request and Fontaine didn’t have to steal the merchandise that she took from the store.