How Baltimore stations covered – or didn’t – their settlement over 2022 TV tower lead paint release
WJZ correctly reported that it’s a co-owner of the tower. But fellow owner, WMAR, simply described the defendant as “a tower company,” and WBAL didn’t broadcast anything about yesterday’s $2.2 million settlement.
Above: WMAR anchor Kelly Swoope reports on $2.2 million lead paint contamination settlement, not mentioning her station is part owner of the Baltimore TV tower that shed the paint flakes. (YouTube)
Baltimore’s local CBS affiliate, WJZ-TV, was scrupulous yesterday about disclosing its role in a 2022 lead paint contamination incident.
Two other city television stations? Not so much.
WJZ correctly described the company that agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a suit by the State of Maryland over lead paint flakes that rained down from the iconic broadcast tower on TV Hill.
The owner is “Television Tower Inc., or TTI, a joint venture of three television stations, including WJZ,” anchor Rick Ritter explained, as part of a segment on the announcement that TTI and an out-of-state company it hired had settled.
WMAR 2 News, meanwhile, never mentioned its part in the settlement – even though it sent a crew to the same presser that WJZ attended.
“While working on a structure . . .”
Anchor Kelly Swoope described the defendant in the suit as “a tower company,” never explaining that the company is co-owned by her station, the local ABC affiliate.
“The attorney general says that a tower company and its contractor failed to follow safety protocols while working on a structure known to contain lead,” was how she put it on last night’s broadcast.
Both stations showed footage from the media event staged by Attorney General Anthony Brown at one of the local playgrounds in the Woodberry neighborhood that had been contaminated with the toxic paint flakes.
(The version of WMAR’s coverage that ran on the station’s website included a note that “this story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.”)
Click “Watch on YouTube” to bring up the video.
No WBAL Coverage
Then there’s the third co-owner of the tower, WBAL-TV.
The city’s NBC affiliate, WBAL does not appear to have aired anything about the settlement so far.
“I know we did send a camera over there,” a staffer who answered the phone today said.
Asked by The Brew why nothing was broadcast about the settlement – or if something was aired that we somehow missed – the staffer promised “someone will get back to you.”
So far, no one has.
Lead paint, ingested as dust or chips, poses severe health risks, especially to children, including brain damage and developmental delays.
Here, for comparison, is how WJZ covered the settlement announcement:
In December, the company that TTI hired to repaint the tower, Skyline Tower Painting, Inc., pleaded guilty to criminal charges for violation of state environmental laws.
The company was fined $100,000 by the state of Maryland, suspended to $50,000 to be paid to the Maryland Clean Water Fund, plus three years of probation.
Still pending: a class action suit filed by area residents against TTI and Skyline.
Tracey Brown displays in 2022 the paint chips she collected outside her house with sticky tape. She and neighbor Megan Johnson look back at the television tower near their Woodberry homes. Johnson tested a chip with a home test kit and it came up positive for lead. (Fern Shen)