WFMY News 2 Home of Horseshit Journalism

I sent this email this morning about a story on Gilbarco and COVID-19. They have corrected a couple of their mistakes, but have not bothered to respond.

Good morning,

Your story on Gilbarco Veeder-Root is an example of the worst in television journalism today.

To begin, your video shows the company name on the sign in front of the business, but in your headline and your story, you misspell the business name. Then your reporter does not pronounce the name correctly. 

Your sources tell you that there have been 15 confirmed cases. Gilbarco is a large business. How many employees are at that facility? What percentage of these people have the disease? Is that percentage above or below the national and state rates for the disease?

You used a basically anonymous source to discredit a major employer in Greensboro. Can you verify your source's claims? Are you just in the rumor and innuendo business?

You also have this line in your story on your website: "The company said that it was afraid that the number would continue to grow and didn't feel that it was doing enough to protect its workers."  Did they actually issue this in a statement or do you have video of a spokesman saying this? If not, it's just another nail in the coffin for journalism.

I remember when journalists used "FACTS". 

Even for television journalists, this is a poor performance.

Thank you,

Gilbert Jones