KVUE “investigates” guerrilla bike lanes that don’t exist

Jul 10th, 2009

At KVUE, ratings trump community good and a little things like the facts

On Tuesday, we published a statement from city staff asking cyclists to refrain from making their own bike lanes with paint. This statement was in response to some online musings about doing DIY lanes similar to those done in Los Angeles.

Seeing another attempt to boost rating by attacking cyclists, KVUE ran a story the next day about “guerilla bike lane painting”. The story begins with a lead in about rogue cyclists, but concludes with the fact that this is currently not a problem in Austin. Talk about burying the lead to sell a story!

During the story, the reporter shows some “rogue” lanes on Arroyo Secco as examples of cyclists taking the law into their own hands once again. There’s only one problem with this story: this painting was not done by cyclists. Instead, they are left over road paint from the Austin Marathon. (Thanks to folks at ATXBS for point this out.) The reporter actually includes that fact that the paint also says “Go, Frank!” next to the supposed DIY bike lane. As if a commuter wanting some space on the road would also paint a personal cheer. Time to use your brain, KVUE!

Once again, KVUE has decided we cyclists are a lawless crew run amok in this city and have crafted the reporting to fit this story line. Once again, our local ABC affiliate has made cyclists the target of community wrath without getting all the facts. Once again, the search for ratings has trumped community good. If the networks are wondering why they are losing entire generations of viewers, they need only look at themselves.

UPDATE
I posted this story over at the Austin Post as well, and one of the commenters got in touch with the reporter from KVUE who sent over this response:

Shelton Green here. Here’s the problem. We’ve talked to several families and people who live on that street and in that area all of whom say those lanes were NOT there a year and a half ago and had nothing to do with any Marathon or race. Each of them told us during the race/run the runners took up the entire street. Because I’ve received several names of several races I’m currently trying to reach organizers of those said races to determine who is right. I know where you’re coming from on the rift between cyclists/drivers and I pride myself on trying to do stories to bridge the gap. I too am a cyclist. The photographer with whom I worked with on that story is a much more avid cyclist than am I who by they way makes that area part of his route. My goal is to always do the right thing and if you hear before I do of any way of proving where those lanes came from, when and by whom I’d be most appreciative.

#1 jmayson (John Mayson)
on Jul 11th, 2009 at 10:44 pm

@KVUE More on KVUE’s shoddy reporting! http://tinyurl.com/l95z6m #austin #texas #cycling
#2 Amelia
on Jul 13th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

Dammit they’re not bike lanes! Apparently my neighbors are idiots, because the signage is all over the street, but mainly on the right side of the road where the runners were running. This was for the Austin Marathon in February, and the signage appeared around then. This is a stupid useless story that was a complete waste of time, and had no fact checking whatsoever. If the neighbors has checked before and after the marathon, they’d have noticed that many of the signs (which are meant for encouragement) got blacked out using black spraypaint. There is one that is obviously blacked out on Woodrow between Theckla Terr and Houston St. The annoying part is none of the signs ahve anything to do with bicycles whatsoever and most of them have everything to do with running (half way there! 5 more miles!).