Former ABC Evening News Producer: "Broadcast journalism is in trouble"

You could almost hear members of the audience rattling uncomfortably in their chairs last weekend at the Midwest Journalism Conference in Bloomington.
Av Westin, one of TV news' founding fathers, was aiming a rocket-propelled grenade at the state of their business — the broadcast news industry.
"Broadcast journalism is in trouble," he told a large gathering that included many broadcast journalists and executives. "Its integrity is being severely tested. Tabloid-style reportage is increasing, and the public's faith in our credibility has eroded. Worse, there is no sign that this slide toward the bottom can be halted or reversed."
Westin went on to recite a 21-minute indictment of the industry's journalistic sins. In particular, he criticized the practice of using unedited and unattributed public relations releases from a single source on TV news shows.
As TV news budgets are being cut, some news directors are increasingly using these press releases — known in the industry as video news releases or "VNRs" — to fill airtime. Frequently, the result is utter spin that paints a pretty picture for government or business interests, Westin says.