Has anyone else noticed that on cbs13.com (other local sites, too, I’ve just noticed it more here lately) they “write” their online stories by sort of transcribing their video reports? For example, I’m reading today’s story about recent copper thefts on construction sites. I start to read the first few sentences and I notice that there a several errors. So I watch the corresponding video from the newscast. Ron Jones tells me that there is a rash of copper burglaries in Sacramento. The text in the story is more or less the text from the video report. Except that key words are removed:

The owners of a construction supply company in West Sacramento tell us a guy driving a nice tan or gold colored Chevy Suburban is copper thief…Copper is all craze among legitimate customers and recycling thieves…The suspected thieve is accused of stealing about 2,000 pounds worth…

I can go on and on. It seems like lazy journalism. As with most local online news stories (not just cbs13.com) I wonder if anyone ever reads them after they go live. Perhaps it’s an automated system that converts the spoken word to print. If so, does anyone know how this works? I wish we knew people at local news stations that could shed some light on this!