Clear Channel's Syracuse, N.Y.-market radio cluster came under attack from the dean of a major communications school for its coverage of the blackout that hit the Northeast last month.
While ads continued to run on Aug. 14, WSYR-AM News Director and anchor Bill Carey was "a general without any troops in the field," bringing in more information from callers than from trained reporters and switching to a CNN feed after a few local segments, wrote David Rubin, dean of the Newhouse School of Journalism at Syracuse University in an op-ed commentary in the local Syracuse Post-Standard. The station is one of seven owned by Clear Channel in the market.
Later, Carey said CNN had provided a suitable news feed because, although parts of Syracuse were without power for several hours, it was not impacted like other parts of the Northeast and Midwest.
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Rubin called on Clear Channel to "put the public's interest ahead of its profit margin and staff this station properly" or to join a news consortium to craft an emergency-response plan. Failing that, he asked that Clear Channel "permit another station to try to fill that [news/talk] niche with a better product" or "sell the station to a local ownership group dedicated to operating it in the public interest."
In a follow-up letter to the paper and an interview with BROADCASTING & CABLE, Carey attacked Rubin's credentials, insisting that the station was manned although summer staffing caused a slight reduction. Reporters, he said, were either putting officials directly on the air or taping stories.
