WCCO TV news policy on use of non-station video

Last week Kathy posted a concern about video that WCCO ran as a kicker on their Oct. 9 newscast. It was video of the Tina Turner concert at the Target Center. Kathy asked if they shouldn't have disclosed the source for the video since, in her opinion, it wasn't shot by a station photojournalist.

Kathy was right. It wasn't shot by a station photojournalist. Here's what happened—They sent a photojournalist to the concert to get video (and sound). They understood that, as they are able to at most concerts, that they would be allowed to record their own material for a few minutes. Instead, when he got there he was told to plug into the concert's AV system. Apparently he neither mentioned that to the newscast producer nor provided the name and source of the video and sound. It is WCCO's policy to label clearly any video provided by a non-news source--that is, not one of their photojournalists or news feeds they pay for.

A special thanks to Scott Libin, WCCO's news director, for his candor in sharing what happened to The Future of News class. In addition to providing information on what happened, Mr. Libin sends his thanks for calling it to their attend in hopes that it will help them avoid it happening again.