"It's a Story Involving one of our Very Own"
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Earlier Today, FTVLive told you about WSYX Reporter Steve Levine was injured while working on a hidden camera investigation for the station.
Levine was trying to interview a woman that was the target of his report.
Levine confronted the woman as she got into her car. The woman started backing up even though the driver's door was still open. Levine's leg was pinned under the car. The driver took off, but did turn herself in a short time later.
Of course, WSYX has been covering the story that "involved one of their own." And it is there where the station is chucking journalistic standards out the window.
Here's where FTVLive sees the double standard in WSYX's coverage of the story.
First, if Steve Levine was the person that hit someone driving the car, we very much doubt the station would give the story this kind of coverage. Stations rarely give coverage to "one of their own" when it's something bad they were involved in.
But, if you are going to cover a story on your own Reporter, it should be treated like any other story.
Below is a portion of the station's report on the woman accused of hitting Levine being arrested.
Reporter Mike McCarthy calls Levine by his first name "Steve" throughout the report. And then he says "obviously our thoughts and prayers are with our colleague and friend...."
Here's the video:
If McCarthy was covering some guy hit by a car in Columbus that does not work for the station, would he be sending out "thoughts and prayers' during his report? We also doubt he would call the guy by his first name throughout the story.
I'm guessing he would not. If stations are going to cover stories involving their own, cover them has fairly as you would any news story.
It's never easy reporting on a co-worker or friend involved in something like this. But as a professional journalist, it's your job to cover the story fairly and just like you would if you didn't know the person involved.
WSYX is not doing that in this case and quite frankly it's wrong.
