If you’re anywhere in the state of Arizona on Tuesday night, Jan. 13, at 6:30, and you’re near a TV or radio, you’ll see and hear a 30-minute investigative report on the perils of heroin. The state-wide simulcast of Hooked: Tracking Heroin’s Hold on Arizona is produced by Arizona State University journalism students and in […]
If you’re anywhere in the state of Arizona on Tuesday night, Jan. 13, at 6:30, and you’re near a TV or radio, you’ll see and hear a 30-minute investigative report on the perils of heroin.
The state-wide simulcast of Hooked: Tracking Heroin’s Hold on Arizona is produced by Arizona State University journalism students and in a highly unusual collaboration, will air commercial-free on 33 TV stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma, and most of the state’s radio stations.
“Broadcast stations are fiercely competitive,” says Art Brooks, president of the Arizona Broadcasters Association, “but our industry leaders are bonding together on this public danger in order to save lives.”
“It is nothing short of extraordinary to have every TV broadcaster in a state come together and jointly agree to air — commercial free in a widely viewed time slot — an important piece of public service journalism,” says Gordon Smith, president of the National Association of Broadcasters.
“We hope this becomes a national model of collaboration between schools and broadcasting,” says Mark Lodato, assistant dean at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and the news director for the Cronkite School’s broadcast news operation. Lodato and I worked together at WINK, the CBS affiliate in Ft. Myers, Fla., and have remained friends since.
“The broadcasters are putting their trust in the work the students are doing,” Lodato adds.
Here are a few spots the school produced for the TV stations to air to promote the special. Look for more on this story in my column as the date of the airing approaches.
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