Church, state mix in Syracuse, N.Y. (In the Loop).(Granite Broadcasting fails to label paid programming)

Broadcasting & Cable, February, 2003 by Trigoboff, Dan

By the end of last week, even Granite Broadcasting agreed that Central New York Live on its WTVH(TV) Syracuse, N.Y., had blurred historic church and state lines between news and sales. The program's mix of paid-for interviews and news updates featuring former news-people in a traditional news time slot raised eyebrows among competitors and critics and even within Granite, officials said.

"The line is extremely blurred," noted Syracuse University Broadcast Journalism Professor Dow Smith, a former news director and general manager himself. He said he was troubled by the program's approach even before the local Post-Standard drew attention to it. "This is really unfortunate." At first, Smith said, viewers were given no indication that the...

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