WFMY, WGHP erroneous reports follow bad GPD press release

WGHP and WFMY got their facts wrong on stories about illegal window tinting. They repeated an error that was in a Greensboro Police Department press release. (The error was brought to the attention of the GPD by this blogger, but went uncorrected—remains uncorrected.) The press release reads, in part:

"State traffic law makes window tinting illegal when applied to front and/or side windows when the total light transmittance is blocked by 35% or less."

That's incorrect. State law says:

"The total light transmission of the tinted window shall be at least thirty‑five percent (35%)."

So the GPD press release should have read that window tinting is illegal when light transmittance is 35% or less, not when "blocked by 35% or less" (which doesn't even make sense if you think about it because that would make windows where light is blocked by 0% illegal because 0 is less than 35).

Thus WFMY erroneously reported (see the video for additional fun—even though Tanya Rivera speaks the error to a police officer who corrects her, the mistake still makes it into the written story.):

"In North Carolina, it's illegal to have your front and side windows block 35% or more light."

WGHP got it wrong too. They reported (on their website):

"Window tenting becomes illegal in North Carolina when (sic) front or side-windows when more than 35 percent of outside light is being blocked."

The News & Record and News 14 Carolina got it right, both reporting with identical sentences:

"State law makes window tinting illegal when the total light transmitted through the front or side windows is 35 percent or less."