NEW: Channel 12 Caught Using Staged Footage From Golf Tournament
Friday, July 29, 2011
One of the top rated local news networks is getting some unflattering attention from a major national sports website.
Gawker Media-owned Deadspin, a sports blog known for its criticism of ESPN and for posting nude pictures of superstar quarterback Brett Favre last year, posted a story last night claiming WPRI 12 ran a segment featuring highlights of two local female golfers putting on the 18th green at Laurel Lane Golf Club in West Kingston on July 14. It turns out, the entire scene was staged.
The story, which was originally broken by RICentral.com, had over 12,000 page views on Deadspin as of Friday afternoon.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAccording to RICentral, the Channel 12 reporter, Sara Hogan, "was overheard by this reporter asking [Samantha] Morrell and [Ali] Prazak if the two could grab their putters and return to 18 to 'create some television magic.'"
In a statement to the news outlet, Channel 12 news director Joe Abouzeid acknowledged that the highlights should not have aired in the context they were presented in.
"The video that Sara Hogan was taking of the players was for a story that she is working on about the players that has not yet aired," he to RICentral. "It is not our policy to recreate or reenact “highlights”. It is, however, our policy to specifically and accurately describe and identify the video that we present. It appears in this case that although the video was not described as highlights, it should not have aired in this context.”
