WDTN censors itself

Yesterday morning I arrived at the WDTN studios at 8 a.m. for an interview that was slated for 8:20. But, in the topsy turvy world of TV news, I was being bumped to 8:06 and rushed into the studio. My interviewer, Dan Edwards, who’s been on TV longer than I’ve been running for office (that means more than 20 years), had to run to the newsroom to do a live from the newsroom report- and then had to rush back to the studio for us to go live at the big news desk.

As Dan started to read the teleprompter, I saw it as it was too late to fix, he introduced me as Dayton Mayoral Candidate, David Esrati. I politely corrected him, and we moved on with the interview, which consisted of the best four questions and follow ups I’ve had in a long time. I didn’t bother to record it, because all of this video typically ends up online, and I would just build a link to the video and they’d get a lot of traffic, and they’d get their advertising revenue.

UPDATE

update 9:18 am behind us was this big banner that said Dayton Mayoral Run

Only problem, WDTN doesn’t like their mistakes to be on the Internet forever. Kind of blows their “News you can Trust” positioning. It could be because of the error on air, or that they had only planned on interviewing the mayoral candidates and didn’t want to give all 8 candidates for city commission air time. I offered to run back and do the intro over, to help them, but, no, it’s censored.

Now of course, the video becomes a novelty, a naughty no-no. Which would drive the views up even higher. But, more than likely, it will be me posting it. So, do any of you record the CW, ch 26 WBDT on your DVR or even VHS? I’d like to get that video online. Of course, there are still news clipping services that record all the local stations in the hope that something like this happens, and they sell the footage, which I’d hate to waste precious campaign money on, but…

I don’t blame Dan for the mistake, these things happen. I thank him for allowing me access to the broadcast airwaves without having to spend a fortune like the big money candidates will, but, censorship is so, well, Chinese dude.

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