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."

News14 Carolina responds to "Eastern Guilford High School" fight video

GREENSBORO, NC -- Now, this is how you do it. No drama, no excuses, no bull; just a straight up, prompt and direct confrontation of the issue. Explain and correct. Seems easy when you see it in action. Makes one wonder why it's so rare.

Earlier today I wrote of News14 Carolina running a story in which they rolled some video of two boys fighting and said that concerned parents had identified the video as a fight at Easter Guilford High School. It was not. It was video of a fight from a year ago at an apartment complex 17 miles away from the high school. News14 Carolina News Director Dale McElrath responded. Highlights are mine:
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Dear Mr. Smith,

I appreciate the role you've taken on as an ombudsman for the media in the Triad. I believe that members of the news media, and the viewers, benefit from rigorous scrutiny. I welcome your input. If you've watched News 14 Carolina, you know that we are focused on more issues-oriented news. I firmly believe that the wrecks and murders that pass for news on other stations across the country are merely unfortunate events, which rarely rise to the level of actual news. If I have the choice between sending one of my reporters to a story about a potential tax increase or a murder scene, I will choose the tax story 99.9% of the time.

The story you highlight in your blog this morning was one that seemed to be of legitimate interest to the community. A large group of parents gathered to discuss concerns about their perception that violent incidents were happening at the school their children attend. Organizers showed the video you highlight to parents at the meeting to illustrate their contention that Eastern Guilford has a problem with violence. We recorded the video directly off the screen during the meeting. As we put the story together, we questioned the source of the video and the organizer of the meeting assured us that she'd gotten it directly from the parent of a student at Eastern Guilford. She told us the student had shot the video at the school. In fact, while other news outlets did the story the night of the meeting without school response, we held the story so that we could balance the organizer's claims with an interview with the school's principal.

I have written a clarification to our story, which will air on our newscasts today.

Again, thank your for bringing this information to our attention.

Best regards,

Dale

Dale McElrath
News Director
News 14 Carolina

Parents punk News14 Carolina with "Eastern Guilford High School" fight video

UPDATE: News14 Carolina responds.

GREENSBORO, NC --Cruising Greensboro 101, I saw a story from News14 Carolina titled Some parents concerned about discipline at Eastern Guilford High. The story quickly shows some disturbing footage of two boys in a fist fight, cheered on by bystanders. News14 Carolina reporter Bob Costner describes the footage:

"Parents say this video shows a fight at Eastern Guilford High School taken by students with cell phones."

Wow! That's really bad. No wonder, as the story reports, parents are upset and getting organized, lead by former Guilford County School Board candidate Lisa Clapp.

But wait a minute. I've seen this video before. In fact, it's not of a fight at Eatern Guilford High School. This same video popped up on Greensboro 101 about a year ago and was identified as a fight at Hickory Trails Apartments -- 17 miles from Eastern Guilford High School. Indeed, view the entire original footage and it's plain the location is an apartment complex, not a school.

Described yesterday as a fight at Eastern Guilford High School by News14 Carolina.

Uploaded to YouTube June 3, 2010 and described as a fight at Hickory Trails.

I have asked the News14 reporter, Bob Costner, who gave him this video and who told him it was from Eastern Guilford High School. (Update: News14 Carolina responds.)

News 14 Carolina gets an F in statistics

News 14 Carolina:

In 2011, one in every six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Wow! Really? That's horrible. At that rate, every man alive will have prostate cancer by 2016. Which, of course, is so absurd that it cannot be true And it is not.

According to the National Cancer Institute, there were 217,730 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. in 2010. That's about one in every five hundred and fourteen adult men. Not one in six.