An unvaccinated viewer watching a newscast on First Coast News in Jacksonville says she was so “confident with the information it gave” that she scheduled and received a vaccine. Not only that, but she sent First Coast News an email thanking them. The station then turned the email into a testimonial spot.
An unvaccinated viewer watching a newscast about the recent outbreak with the Delta variant on First Coast News in Jacksonville, Fla., says she was so “confident with the information it gave” that she scheduled and received a vaccine. Not only that, but she sent First Coast News an email thanking them. The station then turned the email into a testimonial spot.
First Coast News is Tegna’s WTLV (NBC)-WJXX (ABC) duopoly in Jacksonville.
Michelle Berry says she was on the fence about getting the vaccine when she was watching First Coast News at 5 P.M. on July 22.
Berry has medical allergies and can suffer severe reactions and side effects to medications, “so any time I have to take any sort of drug I have to research it.”
The First Coast News that day featured a Zoom meeting with Jacksonville’s Baptist Health Service in regards to COVID-19 and the Delta variant.
Berry says even though she had read the Pfizer research, the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson research, she had questions.
But when the doctors on the program described what “they were experiencing at the hospital and how they felt the Delta variant was different and how contagious it was cut through the noise and that is what I needed.”
Was Berry concerned about the notoriety the testimonial spot featuring her would bring?
“I don’t care about the public at large, what they think about me one way or the other,” Berry says. “This is a personal decision.”
Berry says changing peoples’ minds to get the vaccine has to be done by local news, because people “are not going to listen on the national level any longer. I trust my local news people before I trust the national news.”
She also says she was pleased that First Coast News “does read your e-mails and does respond and listen to the community and what they have to say.”
She sent the email to First Coast News “to thank them because it helped me and to say what you did made a difference for me.”
If you’d like us to deliver the best of Market Share to your in-box, sign up for Marketing Monday, a free new weekly newsletter from TVNewsCheck.
To suggest a story, please reach out to me at paul@newscheckmedia.com or ring me at 817-578-6324. Sign up now for Marketing Monday by creating a free membership at TVNewsCheck.com.
KLKN, Standard Media’s ABC affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska’s capital, is looking for a Morning Executive News Producer to pioneer its product on all platforms to rebuild, re-brand and grow. You are a journalist at heart, with a storytelling spirit, and organizational skills that shine. It’s a great first step into management for that go-getter reporter or producer. Click here for more specifics and how to apply.
Congrats! I guess? It’s August. If it took her this long to reach this no-brainer decision, I wouldn’t worry about her comments about trusting the national news media. She’s obviously still a 30% that is difficult for them whether it be told nationally or locally.