KCTV 5: Pathetic. Over-Zealous. Inciteful.

KCTV 5 News in Kansas City is a terrible news operation. Recently, they stirred up a lot of controversy with an investigation they did into how local police departments handle requests for complaint forms against officers. What ended up was a story about "Police Station Intimidation" when the Independence Police Department arguably handled the situation poorly. At this point, I should note that I'm a City employee, however I feel that my experience in media production and analysis overrides any bias I might have from my employment.

If you watch the videos at KCTV's Web site, you will see that the IPD sergeant could have kept a cooler head about the situation. Things could have been handled better.

That said, the premise of the story in the first place is misguided and another example of what news media around the country are beginning to call "journalism." I'm not against "investigative" reports. Oftentimes, they are appropriate and needed. A problem presents itself and someone needs to bring it to light. There was no problem in the Kansas City area. No incident raised red flags that caused a legitimate news station to go digging for more information and even the truth. KCTV, in this case and many before it, went digging for controversy. Their sole purpose was to get viewers to watch -- thereby getting more ratings -- and get viewers riled up into thinking that things are worse off than they really are. That's not journalism.

Granted, they DID expose a flaw in the IPD's policy. Since the story first ran, the IPD Chief has made changes, and that's a good thing. But the controversial part -- where the undercover guy got injured -- wouldn't have happened if they hadn't pressed and pressed so hard for a story. The flaw in the IPD's policy would have still been exposed if the gentleman had just walked out and didn't keep pressing. Cops don't like it when you keep pressing...in ANY situation. He wouldn't have been injured or arrested, and the IPD's policy would've probably still been changed.

But that's not KCTV's style. Time after time they have walked a fine line between reporting the news and CREATING the news, and that's not right. When they do report the news, none of it is good. Oh sure, I know that's most news organizations anymore, but KCTV seems to take special care in reporting only the crime-ridden, controversy-laden stories that are out there.

Several months ago, I joined my boss in hearing a presentation from a well-known, well-respected federal agency spokesperson about handling the media. He is fair with the media. He is highly regarded by spokespeople region-wide. In his PowerPoint, he had a slide of what to watch out for. The bullet points dealt with leading questions, insinuations, etc. One bullet point -- I kid you not -- was "Any reporter from channel 5." That about sums it up.