Bob Filner still isn’t off the hot seat. After facing allegations of sexual harassment by 14 different women and going to rehab , the cries for the San Diego mayor to resign persist. The latest group calling for his resignation is local newspaper The San Diego Union-Times.
UT-TV, the cable TV affiliate of the paper, produced a parody video. They used the Robin Thicke summer R&B hit “Blurred Lines” as a backdrop to call for the mayor to resign. A hip-thrusting male figure has Filner’s head superimposed on his body as he gestures toward various female staffers. The words #CREEPER and #RESIGN flash on the screen throughout the video.
Yahoo! News There are reports of a viewer backlash to the video, detailing several disapproving comments on the YouTube video as well as UT-TV’s page. Critics also spoke to the Los Angeles Times. A managing editor from a competing paper described the video as “vapid and embarrassing.” Dean Nelson, a journalism professor, felt the Union-Times should focus more on straight news and leave the humorous aspects to the Stephen Colberts of the world.
UT-TV is not taking this criticism lying down. Editor Jeff Light stuck up for the parody video that called for Filner’s resignation. “I don’t think you would be at all confused about what was news and what was entertainment,” he said to Yahoo! News. Scott Mesker, a male anchor who appears in the video, said in an email to the LA Times that “the U-T informs and UT-TV entertains”
The Union-Times has drawn a great deal of criticism since being purchased by developer and hotelier Doug Manchester two years ago. Detractors think that Manchester has used the paper to promote his political friends and their agendas.
Is the paper wrong to parody the mayor in such a way? Can straight news reporters still be taken seriously after bringing humor to the news?
