Cheech and Charu

Wow.

That was my reaction upon opening up my newspaper this morning and reading about Cherub Charu and how she blatantly asked someone to break the law so she could get the story for WLOS.

Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised. This fits a pattern, one we’ve been blogging about here: the total lack of journalistic ethics on the part of the local TV news station. But more on that later. Much more.

Here’s the story:

Charu was subpeoned to testify in federal court in the bond revocation hearing of a guy out on bond after his conviction of threatening to kill a federal magistrate. The hearing came because the guy’s probation officer saw him smoking weed on the local TV station. The story aired during May sweeps. It followed a Supreme Court decision outlawing marijuana use for medical purposes. The Supreme Court voided state laws that allowed some people, with doctor’s prescriptions, to smoke pot.

Here’s the kicker: Charu admitted in open court that she asked – yes, she asked – the guy if he would smoke a joint for her so she could get it on tape for her report.

We are heartbroken, disappointed. Cherub Charu was our first celebrity post. She’s going to get married soon. And now she’s mired in Ganja Gate.

Don’t TV reporters know that it is unethical for them to ask people to break the law? To then knowing film the unlawful activity for their own use? To air said unlawful activity as a big story on the local TV news, watched by thousands across Western North Carolina?

We are left just shaking our heads in disbelief.

Here is the story.