Ambiguous, At Best

The headline announces:

Most of us who have lived in Fort Wayne for any length of time should recall that Indianapolis Road runs from the airport and crosses I-469 on its way to Zanesville and points to the south. 

But the kids at Fort Wayne's NBC (the red-headed step-child sub-channel of WPTA ABC21) are pulling a fast one, on us. 

Actually, this is an Indianapolis news story, often inserted in local news coverage to fill in space or time on local newscasts. 

In fact, as the text indicates, no one is really sure of the thoroughfare's actual designation, because it's called a "street" and an "avenue" in the story.

What troubles the Maven is that the kids at FWNBC don't understand that their headline is ambiguous, at best, and misleading at worst. They also don't understand that such ambiguity/negligence might or would confuse readers/viewers into thinking that two men died in Allen county when they actually died 120 miles away. 

Someone should also explain why Fort Wayne's NBC is doing a disservice to their positioning statement "Focused on The Fort" by including news from 120 miles away and passing it off as what appears to be a "local" story. 

Golden Oldie - WPTA ABC21 July 7, 2017

Four years ago, it was the day before the opening of the 3Rivers Festival. 

And WPTA ABC21 gave us this:

 

An hour later, Baha's colleague (that's really his name) had more on the story:

Then, having had enough of the public panic, Fort Wayne Police spokesman Michael Joyner put the bullshit story to rest:

Doing damage control on WOWO's Pat Miller show the next week, Alexis Gray admitted that their facts were wrong...there was not an active shooter, but she insisted: "during breaking news, the facts don't matter. Our stories saved lives that day". Yeah. Saved lives from an active shooter that never existed. 

Ask Louie

On a slow news day, reporters will often "recycle" a previous story to fill their quota. Often, this is done by claiming that readers/listeners/viewers reached out to the reporter with "questions" about the story. 

The Maven would like to propose that Fort Wayne's NBC take things a step further, and create an Ask Louie segment for on-air and social media platforms. A great way to promote Louie and help fill those slow news days. 

"Dear Louie: Generally, should I wear high-heels or just stick with flats? - Jenny in New Haven.

Louie says: Thanks, Jenny. Flat shoes are practical and much more versatile than heels and are a far safer option in bad weather. Wearing flat shoes with a low heel will likely be more comfortable than high heels or extremely flat shoes". 

Yes, this is satire.