Photos for Headline Surfer / DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The true test of a media outlet's legitimacy in a community is when it is honest enough to report the news when one of its own is in trouble with the law.
Such is the litmus test this morning with WNDB Radio, which promotes itself as "Daytona's News Station" and as "Daytona's Morning News."
HeadlineSurfer.com, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Orlando's WESH Ch. 2, WLNE Ch. 6, WFTV Ch. 9 and the Associated Press in Orlando, all have published reports on the arrest of 25-year-old Chand Worub, on 20 felony counts of child porn. Worub, the executive producer of the daily 3-hour-long "Marc Bernier Show" was arrested at the radio station, at 6 p.m. Thursday immediately after Bernier ended his show.
The radio station hadn't said a word about it at 7, 7:30 or 8 a.m. with the local news following the station's Fox News updates. The radio station has led off with plans for a new larger bridge to replace the aging Orange Avenue Bridge. This was followed by the Daytona tourism entity's new beach marketing campaign, a report from Volusia County Sheriff's Office on a Palm Cost woman charged with stealing luggage last month from Daytona Beach International Airport and a fatal pedestrian accident.
But absolutely nothing on the news in its own house that was among the lead items on the Orlando TV stations lat night and this morning as well as this morning's Dayton Beach News-Journal and here on HeadlineSurfer.com.
Worub is accused of using a pedophile sharing program to download and share as many as 505 disturbing images of nude boys and girls, as young as 5 and 6, engaging in overt sex acts.
The Marc Bernier Show not only takes a public reltaions hit for the negative publicity of the arrest Thursday of his program's executive producer, Chand Wolub, on multiple child porn charges, but the glad-handing talking head just reinforces the advertising-first label he's branded with.The lack of self-reporting by WNDB, which receives enormous sums of taxpayer-supported advertising revenue, speaks volumes about the lack of transparency and hypocrisy of local media. Worub is being held on $200,000 bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail. If convicted, he faces upwards of 200 years in prison.
What struck me in listening to the WNDB news shorts, listening to the morning tam and checking our is website is that the programming is clearly promotional for advertising. Even the story on the beach marketing being passed off as news was so weak.
I can just imagine how Bernier is gong to handle this, if he does at all. For he's the ultimate advertising pitchman and glad-hander.
What I found so ironic was how Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood used the opportunity to to make Bernier and his radio station look so bad, with his references to the accused as a "scum bag."
This is vintage Chitwood, and to think that's he a regular guest of Bernier's with the aptly named, "Ask the Chief segment." But when all is said and done, it's not really the grandstanding of Chitwood that hurts Bernier and WNDB, but Bernier and the radio station itself.
If Bernier had any self-respect as the conservative talk show host he claims to be, he would have used his morning call-in comment segment to at least make a reference to the arrest -- to acknowledge it. At some point, he's going to have to do something.
What I found so ironic was how Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood used the opportunity to to make Bernier and his radio station look so bad, with his references to the accused as a "scum bag." Vintage Chitwood, and to think that's he a regular guest of Bernier's with the aptly named, "Talk to the Chief!" segment."
But when all is said and done, it's not really the grandstanding of Chitwood that hurts Bernier and WNDB, but Bernier and the radio station itself.
If Bernier had any self-respect, as the conservative talk show host he claims to be, he would have used his morning call-in comment segment to at least make a reference to the arrest -- to acknowledge it. At some point, he's going to have to do something.
It's a given that this media outlet, the TV news crews and perhaps the News-Journal will follow the story with today's first appearance court hearing out at the jail for Chand Worub, the young man, who is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the legal system, even if he's already been convicted in the court of public opinion and condemned by the politician that is Chief Chitwood.
This story is not going to go away and the more Bernier and WNDB hide from it, the more it is going to reflect on them.