UNC-TV film under scrutiny

Members of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty weighed in last month on a dispute over a controversial three-part documentary by UNC-TV.

The documentary alleged environmental and personal safety-related misconduct by Alcoa, a leading aluminum manufacturer. After attracting significant attention, the state-funded media outlet requested that the school review the material.

The decision to review the documentary was unprecedented for both the station and the school, officials from both parties said.

While a team of professors assembled by the journalism school were still working on the report evaluating the film, officials from UNC-TV asked the team to postpone the review.

Professor Leroy Towns, a member of the three-person committee that wrote the report, said the team obliged to that request.

Alcoa later obtained the incomplete report through a public records request.

The company then released the draft composed by UNC professors Andy Bechtel, Jim Hefner and Towns. After questioning whether the documentary should have been aired, the team issued a “collective no.”

The documentary was produced by UNC-TV reporter Eszter Vajda and focused on Alcoa’s presence on the Yadkin River.

The documentary came under scrutiny when other media outlets reported that Vajda received help from her friend, researcher Martin Sansone, who received $3,000 from the N.C. Water Rights Committee, an organization opposed to Alcoa’s continued presence on the Yadkin River. The report criticized this transaction, among other parts of the documentary’s production.

“That’s not journalism. That’s why you can’t even call it a documentary,” said Kevin Lowery, an Alcoa spokesman, of UNC-TV’s film.
The report also questioned the editorial process, citing the station’s permission “for the reporter to control the final work product.”
“This was a real aberration in a number of ways,” Volstad said.

Soon after news broke of the situation, Vajda was released from UNC-TV, said Gail Zimmermann, the station’s associate general manager. Steve Volstad, communications director for UNC-TV, declined to comment on whether the two were related.

Volstad said the station requested a copy of the draft report that was sent to Alcoa. He added that the Alcoa draft was the first the station had seen of the report.

The documentary was also screened at the N.C. General Assembly’s second senate judiciary committee before it was aired. State legislators requested that UNC-TV grant the reporter more control after rumors emerged that UNC-TV was working to suppress the story, said Volstad, who added that those rumors were untrue.

According to a WUNC blog post, N.C. Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, subpoenaed the documentary before its debut. Some members of the state government and Alcoa currently have a dispute over control of the Yadkin River’s electrical production capabilities.

Hartsell could not be reached for comment.

UNC-TV receives funding from the state, and the report criticizes the station for not standing up to the legislators despite their holding the purse strings.

“It is our view that UNC-TV management should have not wavered in light of such criticism; should have maintained editorial control and reported the story,” the report read.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.