In the past few days, Putian Radio and Television Station has fallen into a "whirlpool of fraud" due to an interview video, which has been questioned by netizens.
The incident started when Putian Radio and Television interviewed a tourist who claimed to be from Heilongjiang on the fourth day of the first lunar month. In the video, Mr. Wu claimed to have come all the way from Heilongjiang and praised Putian for its warm customs.
But careful netizens discovered that this Heilongjiang tourist said "airplane" as "grey plane" and "Fujian" as "Hu Jian", speaking an authentic Fujian dialect. Many netizens ridiculed the TV station for being "too careless in finding actors."
After the matter became known, Putian Radio and Television clarified on February 23, saying that it sent multiple reporters to various hotels to randomly interview many tourists. After contacting and understanding the relevant situation, Mr. Wu’s grandfather was from Hegang, Heilongjiang, and he himself worked and lived in Pingtan, Fujian for a long time.
According to the TV station, Mr. Wu has some connections with Heilongjiang. Although netizens ridiculed him as "a native of Pingtan County, Heilongjiang Province," the TV station has found a way out for himself.
However, Putian Radio and Television Station’s clarification has just been released, and netizens have discovered new evidence. On November 12 last year, the Fujian Daily also mentioned Mr. Wu in a report on the management of Pingtan saline-alkali land, saying that he was "a native of Pingtan."
One is "working and living for a long time" in Pingtan, and the other is "born and raised" in Pingtan. The meanings of the two statements are obviously different, so which statement is true?
If what Putian Radio and Television Station said is true, then Fujian Daily will obviously be slapped in the face. Is it necessary for Fujian Daily to come out and clarify this?
In fact, regardless of whether Mr. Wu was born and raised in Pingtan or works and lives in Pingtan, it does not change the nature of Putian Radio and Television’s report as “fake news.”
Because when Mr. Wu faced the reporter’s camera, he said that he had traveled thousands of miles and traveled 11 hours by plane to get to Putian, and that “we don’t have seafood there” and other plots, now it seems that they were all made up.
The question is, if Mr. Wu is an ordinary tourist coming to Putian, why would he forcefully add drama to himself in front of the TV cameras and make up so many exaggerated plots? Is this because he is full?
Putian Radio and Television Station insisted that the reporter interviewed Mr. Wu at random. It was too much of a coincidence that Mr. Wu, who was so eloquent and often appeared on the cameras and pages of various media outlets in Fujian, was randomly selected.
What's more, as an official TV station, there are strict internal review procedures. Common sense mistakes such as "Hu Jian" and "Hanji" by Heilongjiang people can be seen by ordinary netizens. Can't the subsequent control leaders not see it?
As a former media person, I really can’t laugh at what Putian Radio and Television did. The authenticity of news reports is the foundation of any media, but I can’t see the respect this TV station should have for the truth of news.
In the current new media era, there is often a lot of discussion about the decline of traditional media. Many people believe that the reason for the decline of traditional media is that their thinking has not kept up with the times and the pace of transformation is too slow.
However, I feel that form is often secondary, and the decline of many media is due to the fact that they have "lost" their credibility.
Dare not tell the truth, but tell lies casually. It is only a matter of time that such media will be abandoned by the public.
