The Register-Guard did a very revealing story on the Rick Dancer saga today (see last post). The revelation I found most astounding is that Dancer wrote the lead-in to the "story" on Sunday's broadcast announcing his own campaign for secretary of state (a lead-in is the TV news equivalent to the lead in a newspaper story, although I shudder to say "TV news" "newspaper" and "equivalent" in the same sentence).
I guess the average person might not find this tidbit particularly interesting, but if you analyze the structure of Dancer's politically motivated broadcast, I think you'll understand my extreme nausea at the whole affair.
If you watch the announcement, KEZI made it look as if Dancer was innocently invited onto the show as an anchor who spent many years at the station and felt he needed to explain his departure. Dancer's method was very clever: He even went as far as to tell the real anchor, Holly Menino, that it was now "her show." But basically the only talking Menino did through the whole piece before Dancer extrapolated on all his various community feats was to introduce him. And by writing the lead-in for the segment, Dancer wasn't exactly disconnected from the story, as KEZI hoped to impress on its hapless viewers.
The things is, most viewers aren't that hapless. They pay attention to shady ethics and media-meets-politics shenanigans. The worst mistake a news outlet can make is to assume its viewers or readers aren't smart enough to pick up on bullshit. Unfortunately, KEZI combined the two things people hate most -- the media and politicians -- and attempted to appear legitimate. It also doesn't help that Carolyn Chambers, the owner of KEZI, is a longtime Republican contributor, and Rick Dancer happens to be a Republican as well.
One more thing I found hilarious: Dancer told Menino that it was now her show as if he were passing the torch. But Dancer didn't do the news at 11, at least when I worked there. He anchored the 5 and 6.
Here's the first part of the RG story (click here to read the whole thing):
When Rick Dancer announced his campaign for the secretary of state’s office in a three-minute spot at the top of the 11 o’clock newscast on KEZI 9 on Sunday, he got the kind of exposure politicians can only dream about.
Dancer himself wrote the lead-in, answered questions from colleague Holly Meninoand was allowed to speak about his candidacy without editing.
“This is the official announcement,” said Dancer, a news anchor at the station for 19 years. “Nobody gets to beat me with the official announcement because it’s our station.”
This unusual mixture of journalism and politics highlights issues of fairness, journalistic independence and equal-time requirements that can be invoked by the Federal Communication Commission’s equal opportunity laws and rules.
Although Dancer didn’t say so during his announcement, he is running for the statewide office as a candidate for the Republican Party, with the support of the party. Top-level Republicans were at the studio the night Dancer announced.
KEZI is owned by Chambers Communications, and the chief executive officer of Chambers Communications, Carolyn Chambers, is a long-standing contributor to Republican causes at the local, state and federal levels. She has given more than $90,000 to federal-level Republican candidates and causes since 1994, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. She has also donated 2,000 square feet of office space to the Lane County Republican Central Committee each month since April 2007, according to state campaign finance records.
Carolyn Chambers could not be reached for comment.
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