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Show Investigating Reporting Essential In Television By GARY R. BLODGETT FARMINGTON Investigative Investi-gative reporting into alleged crime and corruption is essential essen-tial for any major television station or daily newspaper. THUS SPOKE Ernie Ford, director of KSL-Television investigative in-vestigative unit, Probe-5, during dur-ing an address last week to the Layton Chamber of Commerce. Com-merce. Speaking at a large Chamber gathering at Oakridge Country Club, Mr. Ford told them that "it is just as important for the public to know when things are not right in a community as it is to publicize the good things that are being done." HE SAID, "we have to report re-port the bad news along with the good. Believe it or not, the public generally doesn't care about good news. If they did, we wouldn't have such popular popu-lar documentaries as '60 Minutes.'" Mi-nutes.'" Mr. Ford emphasized that Probe-5 being an investigative investiga-tive unit must be especially careful of what it airs, thus, a lot of research and thorough investigation goes into each program before it is released to the public. "THE NEWS media must be the watchdog of the community commun-ity and state, but they must also be fair, accurate and not misrepresent the public," he said. Referring to Probe-5, Mr. Ford said it is essential that investigative in-vestigative teams, whether they be of the news or electronic electro-nic media, be absolutely cer-- cer-- tain of the information they-have they-have before a program is aired or a story printed. "PROBE-5 HAS aired several sev-eral documentaries after investigative in-vestigative reporting that has had a temendous impact on Salt Lake City and the Inter-mountain Inter-mountain area," said Mr. Ford. "One of the first and most devastating was the report re-port on nursing homes. That resulted in a $12.5 million law suit but because of it there have been many changes and improvements." Mr. Ford said Salt Lake City ranks high among all cities in the U.S. for "white collar" fraud. "PROBE-5 WILL air a program prog-ram of fraud in the welfare system sys-tem in May and later in the year, probably in September and will air a report on problems prob-lems in federal government agencies," he said. Mr. Ford explained that many of the "tips" for Probe-5 come from regular news sources, such as law enforcement enforce-ment officers, but others come from disgruntled citizens. He said the reports on an independent indepen-dent clearing house alleged fraud case and an alleged fraud concerning diamond investments invest-ments were reported by persons per-sons who were "victims" in the scandals. "MOST OF our calls deal with people that feel they have been ripped off by an individual indi-vidual or company," said Mr. Ford. "We check out each tip very carefully before beginning begin-ning an investigative study. "Even after weeks of thorough thor-ough investigation we sometimes some-times end up without a story. One probe lasted for three months before we finally canned can-ned it." MR. FORD told Chamber members not to rely solely on television for their news. "Television serves primarily as a headline service, usually giving only the bare essentials of a news happening. You can't become fully informed with only 12 minutes of television televi-sion news," he said. However, Mr. Ford noted that surveys indicate 53 percent per-cent of the Intermountain Area population do rely on television televi-sion for their news. SPEAKING OF Probe-5's investigations, he admitted that there is always a serious danger of invading privacy and to film an episode that might be considered unethical or even, illegal. "Ambush" interviewing is a very risky business and should be avoided unless it is the only way of getting a story, Mr. Ford noted. "Even then, every ev-ery precaution must be taken to protect the rights of individuals indi-viduals interviewed or filmed for television." " MR. FORD stressed the importance im-portance of a television station having a good, popular news team especially the anchor people. "The public identifies with the anchor team of every station sta-tion and watch a particular station sta-tion primarily because of the personalities on that station," he said. "That's why they are among the highest paid of all television employees." |