'Bama Broadcast Battle, But Not About PBS
We wrote recently on the nasty row going on in Alabama Public Television, but there’s been another interesting ‘bama battle going on in the TV world there. New Vision’s WIAT Birmingham recently conducted a multi-part investigative report on what it sees as malfeasance on the part of The Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA)–that its pension plans are in trouble (a “crisis of enormous proportions”), that some of its investments are foolhardy, and that it is funneling outsize advertising spend to some Raycom TV stations, which are owned by RSA.
RSA CEO David Bronner, he of the “aggressive and bulldozing style,” takes some body blows.
“When you’re depositing millions of dollars into tourism to advertise stations you own, to promote the investments you built, to make more money to put into tourism, you’ve created a circle of influence, designed, directed and deployed by David Bronner,” says one WIAT report late last month.
In one report, WIAT questions why the station’s state’s tourism department spent so much on the Raycom stations to promote the region after the BP oil spill. “In the documents acquired by the CBS 42 investigative team, BP ads were placed at Raycom television stations in and out of Alabama at a rate far above any competing station,” says the report.
In Birmingham, Raycom’s WBRC is a giant. According to BIA/Kelsey, WIAT, a CBS affiliate, was tied for No. 3 in revenue last year. Allbritton’s WBMA is No. 2.
Paul McTear, Raycom CEO, described the reports as “A station, or a general manager, who doesn’t like what happened and is making a legal case out of nothing.” He referred further comment to RSA’s general counsel, Leura Canary.
“We did not view the reports as unbiased or credible,” said Canary.
Bill Ballard, general manager at WIAT, said the reports had nothing to do with the amount of ad revenue WIAT did or did not get from the tourism board. He said RSA, holding the Raycom stations and a newspaper group, wields exceptional power in the southeastern US.
“It’s a powerful propaganda tool that would be envied by the likes of Vladimir Putin,” says Ballard.
Mario500 commented:
If I had visited the WIAT-TV site earlier, I would have realized the writer of the Broadcasting & Cable article meant to type "state's tourism department" originally.
War Eagle 56 commented:
What many people are failling to realize is that if the ceo of the RSA is allowed to keep influencing state politics using the pention plan, the retirement fund will fail. And if it does fail every taxpayer in alabama will end up paying to bail it out. How this guy is legally allowed to do this is beyond me.
BigOLEBamaMAN commented:
First, the scandals on Wall Street and NOW tv stations compromising journalistic integrity for money...It's a sad day in broadcasting. I saw these reports and found them to be eye opening and concerning. I applaude WIAT for taking on injustice and exposing it to the light. The station has also aired several investigative reports recently that were not popular among power hungry, polution spewing industries. But sometimes, serving and informing the public comes first. That seems to be where WIAT's heart is at. No,it may not be popular...but it's the right thing to do. Thank you WIAT.
GOOD REPORTING commented:
This is illegal and what is funny is that the legal case existed before this report came out from WIAT... Raycom CEO thinks the public is stupid and won't put two and two together -
Rachel9021 commented:
I applaud WIAT doing investigative journalism. I went to WIAT's website and saw part 3 where they have the actual Raycom invoices showing BP Tourism money being spent on Raycom stations in irrelevant markets that had nothing to do with the spill or tourism. This doesn't pass the smell test. Paul McTear has got to be kidding!
CoastLiving commented:
Definitely an interesting story, thanks for sharing. I found one of the referenced stories on the station's website and a good question was raised. Why was that retirement system spending oil spill money on Raycom stations in North Texas but not others? Very strange. Definitely some home cooking taking place down South.
Mario500 commented:
"In one report, WIAT questions why the stationâs tourism department spent so much on the Raycom stations..."
Did you mean to post "company's tourism department"?