Fake Journalism

My boat. Note the storm anchor in the
yellow bag. Such anchors can save
your life in rough weather.

Several days ago a tragic boating accident on Bear Lake in northern Utah claimed the lives of four people. Two girls were able to swim six miles through a life threatening storm to safety. They claim they survived by singing hymns and praying. The news show Good Morning America got wind of the disaster and thought it would be a good story for their viewers–with minor modifications.

They contacted the surviving girls and posted the following report:

Two Girls Survive

Note that at approximately 1:10 into the news story a video of the Disney movie Nemo is shown. The announcer claims the girls survived by singing songs from Nemo. A heartwarming story except the girls did not sing Disney show tunes while battling for their lives.

One of the parents wrote on a Facebook page, "if you watched the interview you will know that it states that a song from the Disney Movie saved their lives and showed a clip of Dori and Marlan singing the "Keep on Swimming" song. As much as I like Nemo, it had nothing to do with these girls survival". So is the video clip news or a product placement masquerading as a news story?

Why would a news agency owned by the Disney Corporation insert a video clip of Nemo, an obvious conflict of interest, and claim Disney Show tunes saved their lives?

For those of us who monitor the increasingly absurd behavior of corporate manipulation this example of using misfortune as a sales opportunity is nothing more than a tragic footnote in the devolution of American journalism.

Brad Teare–June 2015