The bare naked truth

Nudity's back in the headlines. But it's not "NYPD Blue" or a clothing malfunction, it's WOIO. \nThe Cleveland CBS affiliate aired a first-person account of one model's experience in artist Spencer Tunick's nude photo shoot. The catch is that the model was WOIO anchor Sharon Reed, one of hundreds of nude participants. The broadcast included far away shots of Reed in the buff and as a result drew record ratings for the station. \nRatings jumped from 10.7 to 17.1, and we all know why. It's great when reporters throw themselves into their work, but the station went too far in exchange for high ratings. It wouldn't be that bad if the story required nudity for the sake of good journalism, but enticing the viewer with far shots of a naked anchor is more sensationalism than journalism. And that's why this story got so much attention. \nWOIO producers knew this would happen, so instead of airing the story immediately after the event occurred, they held on to it until November sweeps. This is the problem with newscasts today; ratings are put ahead of anything else. And the audience recognizes the trend, which is why they're losing trust in broadcast news. \nThe WOIO story is a sign of the times. Sex sells anything, even news. In Canada there is a regularly scheduled newscast that consists of anchors reading news completely naked. We don't think anyone is watching just to get informed anymore. \nUnfortunately, TV news is a business, and like all businesses, money is the main priority.