To the editor:
For about six years now - minus the year he was happily in China - I have been reading Milt Hollstein's "Media Monitor" column. He has yet to do a story involving KTVX News that has been totally accurate. His criticism of our car-in-the-canal coverage was no different.First of all, he talks about our 6 p.m. news. Our early news has been at 5:30 p.m. for nearly five years now. He talks about channels 2 and 5 choosing not to show video that was as graphic as ours. Truth is, they had no choice to make: They were too late getting to the story and they didn't have the shots.
In other columns, he has had our anchorman, Phil Riesen, working for KSL, he has had KUTV credited with doing our Cover Story. Both Riesen and Cover Story have been on KTVX for over six years.
I won't argue the taste, or lack thereof, in the shot selection in the story. We think it accurately represented the critical nature of the situation and how hard the rescuers worked trying to save the life of the victim and her unborn baby.
I have said to all critics that they have a right to say anything they want about us, as long as they get their facts straight. Hollstein has never earned that right.
It's bad enough that Deseret News readers must put up with his continued inaccuracies, but the ones I really feel sorry for are his students at the University of Utah. I can only hope, as a future employer of some of them, that they hold themselves to higher standards than Hollstein holds himself to.
John S. Edwards
KTVX News director