Channel 13 makes light of crime story in Florida.

While it is true that local TV news tends to inundate viewers with crime coverage, crime coverage should never be trivialized. This is exactly what happened on the 11pm newscast for Friday, July 22nd on WZZM 13. Channel 13 reported that a man in Florida breaks into the homes of elderly woman and touches them wearing no clothes. Now the story says he touches their toes, which would not qualify as Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC), but clearly there are crimes being committed, both Breaking & Entering and Indecent Exposure. Also downplayed was the fact that this was a man breaking into the homes of women. Considering how often sexual assault occurs in this country, this story diminishes the seriousness of those crimes as well. What is also disturbing about how this story was reported is that both news readers laughed during the story and used voice inflections that made light of these crimes. Imagine being asleep and having a strange person with no clothes on in your bedroom. Do you think it would be funny?

Contact:

Please contact WZZM 13’s news director to express your concerns about the lack of professional behavior demonstrated by their news team of Juliet Dragos and Lee VanAmeyde.

WZZM 13
News Director: Tim Geraghty
Phone #: (616) 785-1313
E-mail: tgeraght@wzzm.gannett.com