Loyal reader mr. big stuff read my post about the Friday news, in which I noted that WLOSer Frank Fraboni’s Restaurant Report Card was boring because it only listed restaurants with top scores from health inspectors.
What’s been fun about Fraboni’s report card was that he was highlighting public inspection records and pointing out the nasty places, the places with cockroaches in the oven and chicken cutlets melting on a broken refrigerator’s floor.
But big stuff says this:
Bad restaurant report card is over! A low scoring restaurant pulled their ads from WLOS following one of Frank’s stories. So, managers decided only to report A’s.
Is this true? Can anybody confirm?
If it is true, it’s not surprising. This town is still small enough that local restaurants can use their advertising muscle to tamp down bad news and reviews. But by the power of the internets, they can’t hold down honest reviewers. Just check out folks like She Who Eats and the Chowhound boards. There are plenty more, I’m sure. Where do you go for honest restaurant reviews?
2 Comments
Thanks for the shout out! I agree, in the small town news and advertising market, foodwriting is one place where blogs are possibly the best, or at least most honest source.
It is true and it is sad. WLOS thinks of itself as a product and not a service. Frank’s reports were one of the few services WLOS provided to the community and management wants to just let it go without a fight. Frank, good job and I am sorry that WLOS managers have no balls!