Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2006 > February > 28
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
KEYE: What were you thinking?
Warning! This blog, like the cheesy “news story” it is about, might not be appropriate for everyone. Or anyone.
Sex-laced, seedy “investigations” are not new to TV news. They pop up from time to time, especially during “sweeps” months like February.
But last night’s centerpiece on KEYE Channel 42, our local CBS-owned station, was tasteless by just about anyone’s standards.
In case you missed it (and you’re better off if you did), reporter Gregg Watson went undercover — literally, in this instance — to see if massage parlors might be doing more than rubbing shoulders and backs.
Surprise, surprise! They’re selling sex. Who would have thought? The revelation that massage parlors are selling sex is not exactly news, is it? Anybody who wants a real massage wouldn’t go to a place called Midnight Cowboy. They’d go to a certified massage therapist.
But KEYE’s intrepid reporter went looking for massages on Sixth Street, private homes and apartment buildings that did not look like places specializing in licensed massage therapy.
In his boxers, with a hidden camera recording grainy images, Watson hopped in the sack and chatted with his massage ladies about specific sex acts that could be purchased.
You think I’m making this up? KEYE’s Web site relates the report in considerable (and considerably sordid) detail. Again, warning.
Network newsmagazines have been doing these undercover pieces for years, including trips to massage parlors and houses of prostitution. Usually a network underling does the undercover work. Or some guy who was planning to purchase services anyway. On-camera reporters don’t often hop into bed with a hooker and talk about $100 oral sex acts.
Watson’s report, supposedly the result of a three-month undercover “investigation,” continues tonight. He goes back to confront the women who offered him these “extras.”
Monday night’s report was not only tasteless, it was degrading to Watson and KEYE. You’d think KEYE, which is in the process of climbing out of low ratings and into new credibility with distinguished anchors such as Judy Maggio, Fred Cantu and Ron Oliveira, wouldn’t stoop this low.
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