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Truth.
That was the message Tom Martino was trying to convey in his speech
to students Nov. 12 in the Tivoli Turnhalle.
Martino, who came to the Auraria campus by his own choice, focused
on the relationship between the media and business. Intertwined in
the relationship between the two entities was the idea of ethics and
how they attempt to play a role in these two ideas, he said.
“There is no such thing as absolute ethics,” Martino
said. “You have to figure out where to draw (your own) line.”
Martino, best known for his work in Denver as the “Troubleshooter”
and consumer advocate for television’s Fox 31 News, revealed
to the students how he decides whether to promote a business or not.
“I’m a consumer advocate, I call down the fire,”
Martino said. “I rue businesses and send people to jail, then
I promote other businesses.”
He signs a contract with companies which states he will get a fee
plus profit from the company in return for his “endorsement.”
The catch is the business must live up to its end of the bargain and
provide the proper service and customer care it promises. If not,
Martino reserves the right to keep their money and still has the right
to slam the companies in his reports.
“I take money from people who promise to treat people good,
or I kick their butts and keep their money,” Martino said. “We
find ways to be ethical.”
Martino also warned his audience about anybody who says that the
media is subjective, adding that there is always a spin on a story.
This can be unintentional, but it comes through just in the way it
is written and reported, he said
In agreement with this statement was Laurence Washington, who is
both a journalism instructor at Metro and an active journalist.
“You can’t avoid it; there’s always a slant (in
a story),” Washington said.
Washington also added a short story about what his father would do,
buying both daily newspapers to read how each reported on the same
story, then making up his mind based on the information given.
“That’s why it’s a good thing having two daily
newspapers in Denver,” Washington said. Martino listed the types
of stories he reports on. Rather than set his own personal agenda,
he said he does detection. He loves to do educational stories, which
show people how not to be scammed or get ripped off, he said
But he also showed how he does stories based on payback.
“We do stories for sheer revenge,” Martino said. “If
there’s some scumbag who ripped some old lady off, I want that
guy’s face on TV. I want to give out his phone number; I want
to give out his address. I want people to hate him.”
When dealing with the issue of ethics, Martino made it clear that
the media and business essentially work hand-in-hand.
According to Martino, if a business advertises in the publication
or with the broadcast company that you work for, it is virtually impossible
to write a negative story about them. He said that it can also work
the other way around, having to produce a positive story on a business
just because they advertise with you.
“If (your story) hurts (business) partners, you’ll be
told it’s not newsworthy,” Martino said.
He said there still are ways for those in the media to get their
words across, even if they are somehow pressured not to do so.
“If you present a powerful image, if you are powerful economically
(or socially), you can get away with saying things about the big fish,”
he said.
Martino said that though it may seem like people in the media are,
in one way or another, sell-outs, “I don’t want to make
the media out to be prostitution. It’s only partial-prostitution.
Everyone in the media makes a profit, or they don’t stay in
business. I want to stay in business.”
“With all of the garbage in the corporate and media world, it’s
a good thing that courses like these are available,” Martino
said. “It’s basically going to produce better people.”
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