PBS Fireworks Controversy

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PBS has come under scrutiny for airing recorded fireworks displays during it’s “A Capitol Fourth broadcast, a broadcast that was supposed to only contain live footage. Eric Newton, the Innovation Chief at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will discuss the controversy.



Video: Coming up next on "Arizona Horizon," we'll discuss the ethics of the pbs 4th of July fireworks controversy. Those stories next, on "Arizona Horizon".

Ted Simons: good evening and welcome to "Arizona Horizon." I'm Ted Simons. Donald Trump and Jeff Flake had an intense exchange. According to The Washington Post, trump told flake that you've been very critical of me to which flake responded, yes, I'm the other senator from Arizona, the one who didn't get captured. Flake was referring to trump. Trump said he might publicly attack flake. He told trump to stop attacking Arizonans. He said he hopes to be able to support the nominee, but it's becoming increasingly difficult.

Ted Simons: pbs has come under scrutiny after airing fireworks. We discuss this with Eric Newton, the chief at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Ted Simons: Good to have you here on "Arizona Horizon." What happened with pbs on this 4th of July fireworks show.

Eric Newton: It was a dry day. The great music was playing and the fireworks looked terrible on television. So, some genius producers -- and I say that facetiously -- thought it would be okay to use pictures of last year's fireworks.

Ted Simons: They [Indiscernible] these within the cloudy shots?

Eric Newton: They did, but during key parts of the program. It was all old stuff. And so, you know, twitter went nuts with people noticing that this was happening. There were -- there was construction scaffolding there that wasn't there this year, that was there in prior years. So, they mislead people.

Ted Simons: And the host of the show said later the reason they did that is because the life shot was like shooting sparklers into pudding. The critics are saying that basically a life show was promised and it was not delivered.

Ted Simons: Right. The smart thing to do, the ethical thing to do, if you think you're going to lose all of your viewers because it looks like sparklers and pudding, is to just say -- just tell the truth. Just say what's happening. You know, it's a mess out there. You can't really see the fireworks so we're going to show the music and you can feel patriotic and everything is on the up and up. In this country, we are not supposed to use old material and claim it's new. That's what they do at the Beijing Olympics. We have journalism ethics.

Ted Simons: Is this, though, a big deal. It was an independent program. It's not journalism. Is it a kin to someone lip-syncing the national anthem?

Eric Newton: Yes and no. All of these mistakes happen on multiple levels, okay? So, they used images of fireworks that didn't actually happen at that time and place. The San Francisco chronicle, back in the day, back decades ago, it used to send news papers all the way to Hawaii to circulate. They were called the bull dog edition and they had to go out hours before it was dark. And so, one year, there was a picture of this great San Francisco fireworks, except it was too foggy to see the fireworks so this kind of thing happens even at news organizations. But you have to -- you have to look at the different types of impact of a mistake like this. First of all, it is not the same as blowing up a gm truck and -- in a story about how they blow up by themselves. It's different than thinking Saddam Hussein is the cause of 9/11 or that Al Gore won the presidency. There are plenty of things that have a much greater social impact being wrong than faked fireworks. But, social impact is not the only way you would measure a mistake like this. This is pbs. They say they're the most trusted network. So, zero tolerance is what they should have. And it's what their [Indiscernible] says they should have. And, so, you've got the issue of can you trust that particular news organization, no matter how big the mistake is, or how small, it still raises the question of, well, what else is being put out there wrong? What other corners are being cut?

Ted Simons: At the end of the program -- not during the program -- it would make much better sense to put the disclaimer on during the program. It wasn't pbs, pbs aired it. It wasn't news, it was entertainment. How much does it affect the pbs news product?

Eric Newton: it's hard to say what the ultimate impact on the news organization is going to be of a mistake like this. You know, bigger mistakes have caused bigger things to happen when the internet exposed the fake memos that dan rather's, 60 minutes show was using on George W. Bush and his air national guard experience. That had a big impact. The gm truck mistake had a big impact. This one, I don't think it's -- it's just -- it's more like, dewy defeats Truman, which was a famous headline that is in the museum than it is some of the other mistakes. However, we would not want a journalism student at cronkite student to do it and we could expel them for doing it. It's wrong. You're not supposed to mislead people. You raised an issue of in the grand scheme of things. How important is this? There are -- I think it's important to say, it's wrong. It shouldn't have happened and they should apologize. But to stop there, I think, is also wrong. Why not use this -- if we're going to get into the issue of ethics and television, why not use this as a jumping off point to talk about a lot of other things that television does that could be improved? Why stop at just this kind of -- this kind of event?

Ted Simons: So, yes or no. Impact on pbs's credibility?

Eric Newton: Sure.

Ted Simons: Yes or no, was it a breach of trust?

Eric Newton: Yes.

Ted Simons: Serious on both counts?

Eric Newton: Hard to say exactly how serious. Let's look at some of the other things I think are far more serious. You know, when you're watching daytime television, you see guests being interviewed. If you slow down the video at the very end of the program, you can see that some of those guests are paying to be on that program and that's not obvious to the readers and viewers. I think that's a bigger problem. It's constant. It's all over the place. It's not one incident, by one company, with the pbs brand attached to it. One more, there's something that has become the norm now called native advertising. You know, sponsored content. It's advertising that looks like news and it succeeds to the extent that it deceives people. Most people, by the academic studies that have been done, do not realize that that time they're looking at it, at the first time, that it's advertising. When major news outlets across the United States and the world where doing this every day, is a bad fireworks -- one bad fireworks event that was apologized for, something that we need to spend a lot of time on when there's so many other things? We could be spending time on.

Ted Simons: All right. Well, I'm glad we spent time on this with you. I do want to note that this interview is being taped on Wednesday to air Thursday.

Eric Newton: That's right.

Ted Simons: So, no --

Eric Newton: short pbs blow up or something else happen, we're going to have to say --

Ted Simons: we've already said it. Keep the fireworks to yourself.

Eric Newton: Good to see you, ted. Thank you.

Ted Simons: Four supermarkets focusing on products for the Asian community will be operating in a five-mile stretch in the mesa valley. Here with us is Dennis Kavanaugh and Lori Hashimoto, owner and chef of the Hana Japanese Eatery. Good to see you both.

Lori Hashimoto: Thank you.

Ted Simons: We have a new grocery to open at main and dobson. What's an h mart?

Dennis Kavanaugh: They like to call themselves an idea of the supermarket world. They're an upscale specialty Korean market that's now in 15 states. They're moving their store here to Arizona and it's going to be a large store, stocking about 50,000 items with restaurants inside, serving Korean market, as well as other international markets.

Ted Simons: at main and dobson and mesa, there already is the plaza. This is a super, duper mega store. All sorts of restaurants. Another one's going to open across the street?

Lori Hashimoto: They've been doing really well. It's a confluence of Asian-themed restaurants and shops and now these mega stores and I think part of it is light rail opened a number of years ago and we have great transit access. That combined with the influx of the population, changing population, it makes it a nice demographic market.

Ted Simons: Does it make it too much in one spot?

Lori Hashimoto: Absolutely not. I think it will feed the need of all Asian communities coming in whether they're Japanese, Filipino, Korean. People can start creating their base of community, where they live, where they work, where they go to school.

Ted Simons: A half-mile away is the international market. A half-mile away and we have another super, duper mega store. Is that that -- look at this place! it is not a big place. You think they're going to make it?

Lori Hashimoto: Absolutely. It brings community together and when people are coming in and trying to settle in a new country or moving from state to state, they find the ability to make connections with their own community. I think food is a very big centerpiece of having people come in to be able to learn how to network, learning -- finding jobs, finding community, finding maybe centers where they can go to retain the help they need to become very successful.

Ted Simons: And, why this intersection? Why this area? Why mesa? Why the confluence?

Dennis Kavanaugh: I think it's a combination of factors. We've got the university, ASU, they have a really high percentage of international students. So, you have that. Starting really in the 70s, you had a migration of people to work at motorola and Intel and in recent years, waves of immigrants from different countries in the pacific basin so we've seen a dramatic growth. The demographics are there. The location is there. There's a lot of opportunities to locate your businesses.

Ted Simons: Speaking of inexpensive businesses, the mom and pop Asian restaurant that exist now, I mean, I know the plaza, h-marts going to have restaurants. What happens to the mom and pop down the street. Can they survive?

Lori Hashimoto: I think so. You are able to spread out. When you think about each one of those cultures and the different regions in which people come from, let's say, from the same country. Take, for instance, China, the different regions, Southern, northern, Cantonese food. With each one of those, whether it's the restaurants coming into the area or the mom and pops, I believe they'll get steady business.

Ted Simons: You're a long-time Arizonan.

Lori Hashimoto: Yes, I am.

Ted Simons: California, what's going on? ASU?

Lori Hashimoto: What we're finding is thought people understand that you are able to create a successful life here in Arizona. The cost of living is relatively inexpensive and what you're finding now is an openness where people can come and move freely and start to be in communities they're in before Los Angeles or some of the bigger cities, you have what are considered your Chinese towns, your Japanese towns. They are able to create these communities on their own.

Ted Simons: This h-mart store, valley residents used to go to California?

Lori Hashimoto: That's right. Many of the people who can't find the things they're used to be able to find within their culture will get together, drive out for the weekend, grab what they need and come back. Everything that's now coming in, they won't have to do that anymore.

Ted Simons: Let's take about main and dobson. What are you doing about traffic at that intersection?

Lori Hashimoto: We have a cub stadium about a half a mile north. We've done a lot of infrastructure work because we've got a big employment center opposite the Arizona national marketplace. We have good capacity for light rail and great bus transit access. And the highway and street access is really pretty good. Mesa has always had wide streets.

Ted Simons: there is a light rail stop there?

Dennis Kavanaugh: Right at main and dobson. We've seen people use it.

Ted Simons: This opens in 2017?

Dennis Kavanaugh: H-mart will.

Ted Simons: Congratulations on the businesses. Thank you so much.

Video: Expand your horizon with the "Arizona Horizon" website. To get there, go to azpbs.org. You can access many features, watch interviews by clicking on the video button. You can find out what's on "Arizona Horizon" for the coming week. If you would like an rss feed, a podcast, that's on the website, too. Want to learn about immigration? Visit our special web sections. Show your support for "Arizona Horizon."

Ted Simons: "Greater Phoenix Score" is a national nonprofit dedicated to mentoring small businesses. They announced a new leader and he is Jay Gladney, who joins us now to talk about his vision for the organization. Welcome to "Arizona Horizon."

Jay Gladney: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. It's interesting to pick up a leadership in this organization, as some of you may know, it's been around for awhile. It's 51 years old. It's a nationwide organization. There are 11,000 of us, who we call ourselves mentors and I'll explain that in a second. Our mission really is to help small business. If you look at our backgrounds, it spans the gamut in terms of the kinds of things we've done. The reason that we're into this, right now, is that most of us are retired. And so, having been in the traces for that long, there's no way we can sit at home and watch soaps, so we're out in the community doing what we do.

Ted Simons: You mentioned mentoring. Explain your definition of mentoring?

Jay Gladney: Essentially the reason we use the term, mentor, it is a long-term relationship. We provide services to our clients in a number of ways. Face-to-face mentoring is one way we do that. Sponsoring business workshops. And we actually do some online or email-type mentoring as well. The key to that is we expect to have a long-term relationship with our client in which it's clear that we are acting in their interest. As we may have talked about, score is essentially a free service. All of us who do this are volunteers and so therefore, we don't send a bill to the client. If you're looking for a business coach, you can go to the web and find a hundred of them in a few moments. But I assure you that you will get a bill at the end of the day from those guys.

Ted Simons: So we find out what "Greater Phoenix Score" is. Who is Jay Gladney? Researching you, you're not coming at this from a totally business background.

Jay Gladney: It's a little interesting, actually. My background is actually intelligence. My early background, I'm a retired air force officer. Spent 23 years in the air force. Kind of parlayed that intelligence background into a combination with information technology and spent the next 24 years working with companies like network solutions and oracle. Helping them to help our community, our intelligence community, and our military community.

Ted Simons: You were a professor at the academy?

Jay Gladney: For four years. Part of that 23 years. That was a great assignment but you won't find a more dedicated and outstanding bunch of students. I was really spoiled in that regard.

Ted Simons: So, you had that. You wind up at score. How did that happen?

Jay Gladney: Well essentially, it was a matter of deciding what was the right thing for me to do in terms of both giving back to the community, but also there's a, what's in it for us? One of my guys talks about his service is an anti-Alzheimer's treatment. For us, it is -- we learn something every day. It's a very engaging environment. I never meet with a client, but I don't learn something. I've been doing this about 3 and a half years and I've been in the business world and if you count the air force time, 40 years.

Ted Simons: You're Mr. Big here at score, what's your vision? How do you make score more relevant?

Jay Gladney: One of the things we're doing is what we're doing right now, making it more known. That is essentially, if you look around the Phoenix area, not everyone knows that score is one of the best deals in town. There is just no place around that you can find this level, we've got 70 mentors, within our organization, just within the local area. Of course, the 1,100 mentors available nationwide that have this depth of business background and are willing to share that to help small businesses. One of the things I think we provide most value is we act as a sounding board. Someone who has a business, solid business background, most of us has been relatively successful at this and so, therefore, when you come to me as a client and you have a business idea, I'm going to challenge you on whether you've thought it through and we'll look to see if there are any dragons.

Ted Simons: U.S. intelligence tough love there?

Jay Gladney: It's a tough game.

Ted Simons: The number one issues for small business owners?

Jay Gladney: The number one issue for new business owners and business owners is still financing. The finance market is still fairly tight out there. It hasn't fully recovered from the 2007-2008, the pendulum has swung perhaps too far so it's more difficult for businesses with good ideas and solid backgrounds to get the financing they need.

Ted Simons: Friday on "Arizona Horizon," it's the "Journalists' Roundtable," a push for a $12 minimum wage for Arizona hits the ballots. It shows that Arizona's lifestyle is the number one attraction.

Ted Simons: that is it for now. I'm Ted Simons. Thank you so much for joining us.

Ted Simons: you have a great evening. CAPTIONING PERFORMED BY LNS CAPTIONING www.lnscaptioning.com

Video: "Arizona Horizon" is made possible by Arizona pbs. Thank you.

Eric Newton: Innovation Chief at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

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