KDKA: Muzzling Of The News

The biggest news story in Pittsburgh for the past two days has been the ousting of the married CEO of Highmark Insurance due to an ugly punch-out fest with his married mistress' husband IN the husband's home. It's been EVERYWHERE on the airwaves. There's not an internet news site or TV news report that hasn't featured it as their headline story. All except.......



KDKA RADIO

Each morning as I get ready for work, I listen to KDKA Morning News with Larry Richert and John Shumway. Today there were stories about fires, about shootings, about the Republican race, what's going on in local sports...... and not ONE WORD about the very wealthy CEO's spectacular fall from grace, a man who also headed up one of their very large corporate sponsors.

Even later on "The Inside Story with Marty Griffin" (a PERFECT venue for highlighting the most talked-about scoop today)... nuthin. Silence. Not a peep.



It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the intent was to sidestep the ire of the BEHEMOTH corporate moneymen whose commercials so often fill my morning ears with irritating jingles, smarmy 'feel good' radio ads replete with soft, soothing female voices touting the joys of great health insurance, but I'm SHOCKED that their hold extends to the news itself. Commercials are one thing, but having a blue-pencil say-so in what will and will not be reported in the news headlines is something else entirely It's CENSORSHIP..... and it smells really really bad.

I'm reminded of the words of Big Daddy from Tennessee Williams' 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof' when I say it 'reeks' of mendacity.

"There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity...You can smell it. It smells like death."

R.I.P. KDKA

You lost this listener.

I don't believe in accidental omissions of top stories... this was 'corporate massage' of the highest order.

It's one thing to drone out your execrable 'THE MARCELLUS SHALE AND YOU' every Saturday afternoon as they shill for the drilling robber barons (and though I don't believe a reassuring word those PR-men spit out, they PAID for their programmed air time, and I can always turn it off) but NO one...... NO one 'owns' the hard news no matter how deep their pockets.

If every other radio station, every news media got the story of a rich guy chasing skirt spot on.... why was it CONSPICUOUSLY absent from KDKA radio?

KDKA, you've become the awkward dancing bear, chained to the coffers.



You just looked silly.




UPDATE:As of this morning, Monday April 2nd, KDKA is now reporting this story.

And why?

That's easy.

Highmark has fired their CEO effective Sunday morning, April Fool's day, thus cutting him loose from identification with their particular 'brand', and making him fair game for being reported in a negative light.

I propose henceforth, April Fool's Day be renamed KENNETH MELANI DAY. (It just fits, doesn't it?)