KCRA & the Safeway Meat Scandal (18)
3:00 PM and the start of the network feed found virtually everyone connected with the Safeway story hunkered intently in front of a newsroom monitor.
Ward's story began with 15 seconds or so of some kind of meat (presumably evidence) lying on a table. There was a voice-over to set up Waldie.
Waldie was cut extremely short. It was possible to discern only the bare outlines of what the charges involved. A key part of the story--the kinds of evidence on which they were based--was notably absent, possibly because of time limitations and the decision to include Rosenthal.
Congressman Rosenthal simply made the obvious observation that it would be a bad thing if Safeway had deviously raised meat prices at a time when they were already so high.
Then came Russ Ward's on-camera standup close. Ward said Safeway was calling the whole thing harassment, and attributing it to a union dispute. There was no attempt made to identify the union or the nature of the dispute. Ward finished by saying that Waldie had acknowledged it was harassment--but warned that the harassment would continue until the alleged violations stopped.
