Greensboro officials want meeting with WFMY over faked news

From a letter from the City of Greensboro to WFMY requesting a meeting:

In recent months, City administration has become increasingly frustrated with WFMY's perceived tact of creating storylines that, while unique to WFMY, are contrary and inconsistent to reports made by other news outlets in the market. At times, the practices and tactics used have been inflammatory and seem intentionally designed to portray the City of Greensboro government in a negative light.

That's a polite way of saying it. WFMY reports things that are not just contrary to other reports, but contrary to the facts.

WFMY reporters have made some huge mistakes on recent occasions and just made some stuff up on others -- the negative consequences are not just confined to Greensboro city government either. Compounding their transgressions, WFMY refuses to make corrected information known to its viewers, demonstrating a preference for quietly removing their misinformation after the damage has been done.

Examples:

• A series of mob attacks at Center City Park
  WFMY's Frank Mickens introduces a story he says describes "a series -- a series," he adds a second for emphasis, "of mob attacks in the heart of downtown Greensboro, all of them organized by social media" -- none of that substantiated by any facts.
  
  
• Violent mob attacks every weekend in July
  The "Flash mob" story was "reported" by WFMY's Mark Geary. It is a gross fabrication, the kind of thing that should get a reporter unceremoniously canned. There were no violent "flash mobs." The hard facts in the story are of a single person attacking another single person and another individual speculating that a broken flower pot must have been the work of more than one person. That's it. No violent mobs; no organization by social media. As a special bonus, Geary's story inspires racially tinged comments on WFMY's website calling for mass arrests and the National Guard. Just what Greensboro needs, ginned up fodder for local racists.
  
  
• $3.2 million, give or take $3 million
  Frank Mickens reporting that the City had spent $3.2 million on legal and consulting fees attempting to reopen the White Street Landfill, an amount Mickens had exaggerated by about $3 million. Instead of making their viewers aware of the actual amount with the same vigor used to report the wild exaggeration, WFMY removed the story from their website without comment (as if it would not be archived elsewhere.)
  
  
• 4 + 4 = 12
  Frank Mickens reporting that Greensboro City Council meetings are, on average, longer than other area cities, using selective data and getting his math wrong.
  
  
• But, it's from the govmint
  Regurgitating governmental press releases, largely word-for-word, as news. (Somehow, I doubt if the City of Greensboro is going to complain about this tactic.)
  
  
• Before comes after now, after comes before now
  Against the laws of nature, reporting that an investigation that happened after the police chief's resignation lead to his resignation.
  
  
• 188 = 5,200
  Reporting the 188 members of a Facebook group as 5,200.
  
  
• The fake black book
  Yeah, they faked the black book.
  

If it takes the City of Greensboro threatening not to give WFMY access to turn things around there, more power to them. WFMY's news directory has expressed a disdain for identifying sources and substantiating assertions, so they may have an uphill battle, but it's a fight worth fighting. Greensboro deserves better than WFMY's mendacious amateurs.