Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

A media critique... and then some!

Banned in Beijing, Baghdad, and at KCAL TV.

7/16/01 - Monday

Tuesday Letters - readers react to the latest

about KCBS reporter Mike Boguslawski and OTR.

Inside LA TV - KCAL's Leyna Nguyen checks

in with what she calls an "honest look at KCAL."

Links to Recent Issues

07-09-01 Monday's OTR

07-11-01 Wednesday's OTR

07-13-01 Friday's OTR

Send your opinions to BRUIN74@aol.com.

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email me at BRUIN74@aol.com.

As I've watched KTLA entertainment reporter Mindy Burbano lately, I have to ask that question. Just because you're covering feature material, does that mean standards of good journalism go out the window? Just because you report on a new movie, do you also have to shill for it? Specifically, I'm talking her interview with actors from the movie Legally Blonde. Not only was she wearing a blonde wig, she was also wearing a Legally Blonde shirt. I understand that we're not talking about Woodward and Bernstein investigating Watergate. Burbano probably doesn't consider herself much of a journalist anyway. But that happens to be her job. This is even worse than local reporters who wore Laker clothes while covering the Lakers. In that case, the reporter could have no effect on the outcome of the team's success. But in this case, we have a reporter who completely crossed the line of objectivity by blatantly promoting a movie she is covering. Hey, I think entertainment reporters can have fun. Sam Rubin and Cary Berglund manage. But, this was something else. I'm tempted to do a poll on who is less credible, Burbano or Mike BOGUSlawski. Could be closer than Gore and Bush.

I think it is obvious that Burbano really just wants to be an actress, and is using the TV visibility in the hopes of getting where she really wants to go. But sometimes her self-promotion can be a little much. Last week, she finished her report by thanking Mega 92 radio morning man George Lopez for having her on his show. Then after that, she went to video of herself in a local play. That was followed by a full screen graphic with information on where the play is, and a picture of Burbano as part of the graphic. How self-serving can you get? "Enough about me, let's hear more about me!" Someone at KTLA, please give this woman some guidance.

LA readers already know this story, but I wanted to let readers around the country know about this one. A man convicted of attempted murder used a picture of Eddie Murphy from a movie ad as part of a fake ID, in escaping from LA's Twin Towers jail. He may be a bad and dangerous man, but he certainly is a clever one. Apparently, the jail's security system was designed by Otis Campbell. Retired deputy Bernard P Fife has been brought in from Mayberry to fix it.

With all of the Chandra Levy coverage, can we at least have agreement on how to say her first name? I hear Shawndra, Chawndra, Shandra, and Chandra. Only one can be right, and at this point I can't recall how her mother says it. I would think it should be Shawndra...which seems to be the most common pronunciation. Of course we never could get everyone to say Elian correctly. Some anchors still screw up Kofi Annan. So what should I expect?

In doing the Chandra Levy story today, KABC's David Jackson reported that Gary Condit has passed an independent lie detector test. Whoa...! The test was given my someone hired by Condit and his attorney. I'm not saying the test was biased, but I sure wouldn't call it independent. And I wouldn't say he passed it. I'd say, Condit's attorney Abbe Lowell says he passed it.

How many times have you seen a mistake on a newscast, and then see the same problem happen again later on the same station. It's as if everyone expects someone else to fix it, and so it doesn't get fixed. This is my way of giving credit to KNBC for at least catching a mistake and stopping it from happening again. Last week on their 5pm news, there was too much video for a story Paul Moyer was reading. Knowing that, Moyer even ad-libbed a little to try to stretch it out before hitting the soundbite. Unfortunately, he used info from the soundbite, which made it redundant. The story was badly mistimed. At 6pm, they apparently put the soundbite on a different tape. So once the anchor finished reading the copy, they were able to jump to the second tape with the soundbite, without a gap between the anchor and the bite. Much better.

Frankly I'm surprised this story hasn't been played bigger in LA. (Though KABC did lead with it at five today). Five guys brutally attacked two teen age boys, and then raped their girlfriends who are 13 and 15 years old. The attackers used some big rocks to hit the boys over the head, and then kicked them while they were on the ground. The girls were driven away from the boys and raped again, and left naked in a field. This was more than a week ago, and one of the boys is still in the hospital. This crime happened in a canyon in Orange County after midnight. Well, a deputy checked back on the crime scene days later, and found some new gang graffito in the area. That served as a calling card, which led to the arrest of three gang members and two others. If convicted of rape or attempted murder, let's hope animals like that never see freedom again.

We all know a young actor who appears on The Sopranos was recently arrested. But I though it was bit silly for KCOP to put up a graphic which said "Soprano in Court." Really. He is not a Soprano, but an actor. They may've thought it was cute, but I'd suggest the news should stick closer to reality.

It looks that way. I got an email recently from Mike Ludlum, a professor at New York University. It seems he and another professor are writing a textbook, and he asked me to contribute ten examples of broadcasteze. Maybe even more importantly, he says he regularly discusses issues raised in OTR in his class. At times I have felt like I was spitting into the wind, wondering how much this site really accomplishes. But if this can foster discussion among journalists of the future, then I really feel like I'm contributing something. My thanks to the professor.

The following was sent to me in an email from the farther of the former Miss Barstow. It is in reference to the letter his wife sent to KCBS about a column I wrote two weeks ago: "On my wife's behalf, please accept our apology on the accusation of you slandering Mr.Boguslawski."

He also said that his wife Patricia eventually did read my column and does stand by her letter. That is a little odd, since the slander accusation was part of the letter. He said that his wife Patricia is afraid I may sue them, which I have a feeling explains the apology. Sincere or not, I have no intention of suing the Arnolds.

When it comes to the use of the word 'nigger' in music, our non-scientific polls show that blacks are much more tolerant than whites. Now that IS irony. Below are the results.

Do you think that Gary Condit is withholding information related to Chandra Levy's disappearance? Also, for our California readers, we're doing a poll on who you like for in the next governor's race. Please head to the poll section on the menu.

They are always welcome. You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com. Unless you say otherwise, I will assume your comments are for publication.

As this web site evolves, it seemed like a good idea to offer my services for speaking engagements at colleges, service clubs or anyone else interested in the OTR gospel. Of course one of the great advantage to speaking in person is that you get far few typos. If you check the OTR On the Road page on the menu (Netscape users CAN now access it too), you can see learn more. You can also read what some well known OTR readers have to say about this web site. If you are interested, you can email to OTROnTheRoad@aol.com.

Ron's disclaimer: Like all reporters I have opinions. I do the best I can to make sure that nothing I say here has any effect on my objectivity in covering stories.

OTR's main page IS PUBLISHED MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY. Letters are added Tuesday - Friday.