Stations Walk a Delicate Line Over Endorsements

Most news organizations forbid reporters from doing endorsements. The reasoning is simple: Even the appearance of a conflict of interest can harm a news department’s fragile credibility.

KNSD-TV (Channel 39) doesn’t cross that ethical line, but it often blurs it, moving into a gray area where some endorsements are deemed acceptable.

It’s not that Channel 39 reporters are hawking food processors or doing testimonials on the wonders of Ginzu knives. Well, OK, that was Channel 39 weather guy Joe Lizura acting as a shill last week for car dealers during a half-hour commercial on a car show. And Channel 39 sports guy Jim Laslavic does do commercials for a clothing store, in addition to lending his voice to a radio commercial for the San Diego Sockers, a team he supposedly covers.

But everybody knows sports and weather guys are different than real reporters. It wasn’t as if “professional meteorologist” Lizura had any real journalistic credibility to damage when he asked car dealers such serious and poignant questions as, “Everything you need to know (about cars) is here, right?” He was simply doing his job as an employee of the car dealers, er . . . station.

Channel 39 may promote Laslavic as an independent, hard-hitting sports reporter, but nobody really believes that.

“Anything goes” with sports and weather “personalities,” Channel 39 general manager Neil Derrough said, reflecting a view shared by some, but not all, stations.

Channel 10 doesn’t allow any of its staff, including sports and weather, to do commercials, except for occasional public service announcements. But KFMB-TV (Channel 8) sports guy Ted Leitner--who often states that he is a commentator and entertainer, not a reporter--works for the San Diego Padres as a broadcaster, which is a common relationship for a television sports guy. He also is allowed to do radio commercials for car dealers, even though other reporters at the station are not allowed to do any commercials (except for Tim Flannery, who did an ad for a bar in which he has a small ownership interest).

Big thinkers can rage about the integrity of sports and weather personalities, but an entirely different debate ensues when a television station uses news reporters in quasi-commercial enterprises.

“Health Matters,” a half-hour show airing Sundays on Channel 39, is not an “infomercial,” one of those paid half-hour commercials, but it is close. It is produced by a company that creates similar health-oriented shows around the country, and co-sponsored by a local hospital. The hospital supplies experts for the show, which is hosted by anchorwoman Denise Yamada.

“Health Matters” focuses on useful medical information, but it has the veneer of an independent show produced by the station, which it is not. Yamada’s involvement, which indirectly ties her to the hospital and its experts, helps lend the show credibility.

“The show has nothing to do with (the hospital),” Derrough maintains. “It’s a sponsored program,” just as if a car dealer had sponsored it.

Again, not an ethical breach, just a blurring of the lines.

In the same manner, Channel 39 uses environment reporter Michael Settonni to do commercials, sponsored by a convenience store chain, for “I Love a Clean San Diego,” an anti-litter organization. A few years ago, Channel 8 did similar spots for the group using reporters, although there was no corporate sponsor.

Derrough said there was some discussion at the station about connecting with the group, but it was decided that the cause was worthy, and that the potential for a problem was very slight.

Certainly, “I Love a Clean San Diego” is a worthy organization. But whenever a reporter links up with a group, it always raises the potential for problems and accusations of conflicts of interest. For example, there are other anti-pollution groups that may feel slighted. And there is always the possibility that an organization endorsed by a reporter may some day be the subject of news stories, which can put a news department in an awkward position.

Few questioned Channel 8’s coverage of the Karen “Don’t Call Me the Rolodex Madam” Wilkening case, but it was more than a little embarrassing for the station when the car dealer Leitner endorsed at the time was called to testify about his involvement with Wilkening prostitutes.

In general, Derrough said his station would not link up with anything remotely controversial, but it has gotten involved in causes which are political. Recently, Derrough was presented an award by Mayor Maureen O’Connor for his station’s support of the mayor’s water-conservation plan. And in her “State of the City” address this year, the mayor said Channel 39 had already signed on to support her plan for a modern new downtown library.

There was even talk about Channel 39 doing a telethon for the library. Certainly everybody supports the concept of a library, but there is no doubt that it is a political football, particularly O’Connor’s ideas about where to locate it.

“We have no axe as to where (the library) is going to be,” Derrough said. “If it gets to the point where there is going to be a library, we as a station would cooperate in putting together a fund-raiser.”

Derrough said the common thread in the station’s involvement is a desire to communicate information and to support the community. But another common denominator is that Channel 39, which has been a local leader in linking sponsors to news segments, is willing to push traditional boundaries.

“We feel it is to our advantage to get involved in the community,” Derrough said. “If a cause is totally legitimate, there is nothing wrong with our people being involved.”

Channel 39 is not unique in this attitude. Yet all stations make tremendous efforts to build up the credibility of their news department and on-air personnel, and to avoid even the appearance of any conflicts of interest. When a station and its reporters get involved supporting causes or organizations, it leaves the impression that their credibility is available for rent.

San Diegans won’t have Stan Miller to kick around anymore. Channel 8’s anchor will leave at the end of May to do the same on the 6 p.m. news for the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis. . . .

The count continues: “You never get tired of seeing that,” Miller said Thursday night after yet another welcome-home-the-troops story, marking the 4,453,234th time a professional television journalist had used the line in the last two months. Channel 8 ran the story about a handful of reservists returning home as one of its lead stories, ranking it as just a little more important than the Gov. Wilson’s proposed budget. . . .

“Cyrano de Bergerac” has finally moved out of the Cove Theater in La Jolla after 18 weeks, a run rivaled recently only by “Cinema Paradiso,” which also spent 18 weeks at the Cove. . . .

Channel 8’s general manager, Robert Myers, is in the hospital recovering from lung surgery.