The local news is interviewing a psychic/medium/pet psychic right now

They are promoting a psychic event. She will be there as well as an astrologist, a reflexologist, a tarot card reader, etc.

This is on a news program.

She is now giving a reading to the host. “You are someone who likes to get things done. You like things done right the first time, am I correct? Your health is looking good for 2024. I feel it in your aura.”

If you go to the event and mention the broadcast, you get a free crystal.

I’ll say it again. This is on a news program.

Just in case you need another reason to not watch the local news.

mmm

But captain, our dilitium crystals are shot! We need new crystal’s to get into warp! Link please, for we must all watch and gather crystals or we will never get back to our proper timeline.

Did you try shoving a wiener into the warp drive?

Worst pickup line ever.

Sigh. Where is James Randi when we need him?

Perhaps we could get his take via a ouija board…

Local news runs crap stories like this because they draw in viewers and help sell ads.

Larger outfits are not immune to selling out in this manner. Katie Couric and her husband run a media company formed after they “identified a white space in the media landscape and set out to help brands amplify their values and cultivate an engaged and diverse audience through authentic storytelling.” :thinking:

That “authentic storytelling” includes a credulous interview with “functional medicine” guru Mark Hyman, who thinks his biological age is 43 (he’s 63 years old) and plans to live to 120 or 180. No pushback from the interviewer.

Hyman has a nice grift operation going with the Cleveland Clinic. Their Center for Functional Medicine is perfect for those interested in massive unnecessary testing and quack treatments. The Center operates a “Healthy Living Shop” where you can buy supplements coincidentally supplied by a vitamin company Hyman runs (an onsite disclaimer states that Cleveland Clinic and Hyman may profit by shop sales).

If there’s money to be made, even (formerly) respected institutions will dive into quackery and sleaze.*

*not suggesting that local TV news outfits are generally respected.

Apparently the news director is a believer in woo and lacks the self-awareness to understand that that puts him on the fringes of mainstream thinking.

That, or organizers of the event are paying them a fine price to insert this as a news segment.

Ridiculous either way.