Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

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Given her lack of journalistic background, I would say that actress Andrea Thompson isn't ready for CNN Headline News, even if her anchoring were flawless, which is certainly not the case. In just 15 minutes today, I saw her confused on the air.."Okay------we are going to----more news is just ahead." Then later she had trouble saying "reproduction." As she started to say the word the first time, it sounded like maybe her throat closed up out of nervousness. On her second attempt she said "repro..." and then purposely made one of those vomit-like noises...."BLAAH, let me get that out." That was a very small market way to deal with an on air screw-up. But with no major market or network experience, what did CNN expect? And just to make her sound pretentious, like she needs that, she pronounces her first name with the accent on the second syllable.

In other stories, she seemed to read just fine. But of course one of the qualities which separates many major market talents from the rest, is consistency. At first glance anyway, this woman is NOT there. Shame on CNN for putting on someone who does not appear to be qualified as a news reader, and clearly is not qualified as a journalist.

Maybe it's at its most irritating, if not disgusting, when TV news feels the need to exaggerate a tragic story. No, the death of an innocent person isn't enough, we must make more out it. My issue here is the coverage on KCBS Friday night at 11pm on the death of Northwestern Football player Rashidi Wheeler. Harold Greene called it "a complete mystery,'" and also said the "tragedy was just beginning to sink in at this hour."

Exactly how did the KCBS news team determine when Wheeler's death sank in? And wasn't it convenient that this 'sinking in' process just happen to begin when their newscast began? Wheeler comes from Southern California, which made it a local story. Isn't the tragedy of this young man dying on the football field a big enough story, without having to make up something to try to make it more timely?

Maybe worse than that nonsense was the line about his death being 'a complete mystery.' Wheeler had asthma. He was holding an inhaler when he died. This was reported by Jim Hill right after Greene declared his death a complete mystery. Anyone who thought Wheeler's death was a mystery, let alone a complete one, probably hasn't been the same since "Murder She Wrote" was canceled. An autopsy the next day showed his death was caused by his asthma condition. I just remain amazed that anyone can write such crap with a straight face, knowing that the viewer will learn in a matter of seconds what the likely cause of death is. Maybe they've got Beaver Clever writing for them. "Gosh Dad, the truth about the story was a whole 30 seconds away. Something new could happen by then!"

A week and a half after taking the wrong pill, KNBC morning co-anchor David Cruz is still not back to work. As OTR reported July 18th, Cruz said his pharmacy mistaken mixed very strong sedative pills into his prescription bottle of lipitor. He took the wrong pill that morning, and had to leave the morning newscast after it began to take effect. At first some people thought he had a stroke.

I checked in with Cruz today, and he told me that it was only last Thursday that he began to feel lucid again. He says the effect of the pill was far stronger than he had expected. Cruz says he's bored stiff at home, and is waiting for the doctor's okay to go back to work. He says they took some brain scan tests, but he hasn't gotten the results yet. Cruz hopes to be back at work this week. As for the pharmacy, he said "there ought to be accountability." He's got a lawyer looking into it.

I guess we've all become used to those 'bugs' or logos in the corner of our TV screen. With so many channels to choose from these days, I can sympathize with the need to remind people who they're watching, especially if it is a cable channel. But I'm here to tell you TNT has gone too far with the lower right hand corner of the screen.

Last night I watched the James Dean movie. I'm not one of those big James Dean fans either, but I found it pretty insightful, assuming the insightful parts were based on fact, rather than speculation. At the end, it said on the screen that most of the movie was based on fact, but some was an educated guess. Anyway, I digress. What really annoyed me was when they would come back from a commercial break, and the movie was on, they would put ads for upcoming TNT events in the lower right hand corner! Like "Law and Order, coming Monday through Wednesday Nights." We're supposed to be watching this serious film about this serious actor, and TNT is throwing ads on the screen!!

Here's an idea. If they want to do more than just a TNT bug in the corner, how about throwing up the word "fact" for parts of movie which were true, and "spec" for parts which were educated guesses? That might help people decide how much of a jerk he was, or how much of a sympathetic figure he should be.

17 years ago, I interviewed Jim Backus, and I know I asked him about Dean. Unfortunately, all I can remember is that he told me that Rebel Without A Cause was originally being shot in black and white. Once East of Eden came out and Dean was a star, they began re-shooting Rebel in color.

It's a can't miss story for LA TV. Hugh Heffner throws a party with the usual cast of busty babes, and PRESTO!...news coverage all over the dial. I saw three stations cover it this weekend, and they all had two things in common. One, I heard no sound bites, just video. Yes, I realize using a sound bite with this story would be just slightly less useless than running the story without video. It is the second common thread which gets old very fast. That is when someone at each station has to moan about not being invited to the party. They did that on each of the three stations I watched cover this. Of course it's all done in good humor, which is not to say the little comments will actually make you laugh. It's like when a reporter does a live shot with some Playboy Playmates, and the oh-so-clever anchor comments that Joe Blow gets all the 'tough assignments.' You can look them both up in the TV news dictionary under T for trite.

At or near the start of KCAL's 2pm news today, they did a story about the heat. It was 92 degrees in the San Fernando Valley. That's HOT for the valley? It was the same old- same old- same old- interviewing someone who has to work outside in the hot weather. It was a well put together piece, but do we really need to hear someone else to tell us how it feels outside? This is just another case of don't think-knee jerk story planning. Everyone does it every summer, whether it's warm, very warm, or hot. YAWN.

In teasing a Latino gay pride parade, KABC said "a great day to be gay in LA." While I appreciate the need to have these parades to fight ignorance and bigotry, I don't think too many heterosexuals watching were suddenly wishing they could be gay for the day. I think there are better ways to tease that event.

With all of the sensationalizing out there, especially on KCBS, I guess I shouldn't complain when reporter Jonathan Elias underplayed part of a chase story last week. It really was an unusual one, what with police accusing the chasee's girlfriend of purposely having her car collide with a police car to get in the way. Elias actually did a good job in summing up this crazy chase, except for one part. When the guy being chased got out of his pickup truck, the truck was still moving. Not real fast, but after he got out, it rammed into a near by building. Anyway, Elias referred to that by saying the guy had "hastily parked." I dunno. If you get out of your car or truck, and it is still moving when you get out, can you call that "parking?"

With Andrea Thompson's CNN debut, I've got to ask you about it. When you head to the poll section on the menu, I'll be asking if you think she is qualified for the anchor job, and I'll divide it between TV folk, and everyone else. Also, since people have been suggesting that I asked for a voluntary subscription fee, I figured I would first get your input before giving it a try. If a vast majority think it's a bad idea, there would be little point in my pursuing it . So please head to the poll section, and give me your honest answer. Thanks.

Thanks in part to a plug in Shoptalk (www.tvspy.com), we had nine thousand hits last week, which I believe has only happened once before. As I've always done, I like to share with you how we're progressing. And since I've begun soliciting for advertising, it's certainly something you possible ad buyers might find useful.

YEAH MAZ!

It was a real pleasure to see Bill Mazeroski inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. When I was kid I remember him as the best fielding second baseman in baseball (I hope his stats bare that out). And who can forget his homerun beating the Yankees in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series? Just that alone has got to make you admire the guy! Congratulations to Bill Mazeroski.

The name Megan Barroso has been in the news a lot lately. She disappeared a month ago, and her body was found on Saturday. Everyone I've heard has said it correctly, except Angela Black on KCBS. She called her Barrasso. Hey, it stood out.

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.