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A media critique... and then some! 8/10/01 - Friday Friday Letters -  a reader comes to the  defense of Rod Bernsen, a former tape editor explains why the copy doesn't always match the video, and more on whether we should say 'died' or 'passed away.' Links to Recent Issues 08-06-01 Monday's OTR 08-08-01 Wednesday's OTR 08-03-01 Friday's OTR Send your opinions to BRUIN74@aol.com.

To get on the OTR email reminder list, email me at BRUIN74@aol.com.

STEM CELLS

This is at least the second time that President Bush has reversed course, but still tries to pretend he hasn't.  The first time it was price caps on energy in California. Now this. While I can buy it as some sort of middle ground, it is still using federal money for something Bush said he wouldn't do.  Further, I read in the LA Times this morning that a couple of prominent scientists are questioning whether 60 stem cell lines exist. One says he's only aware of ten.  

That this has become such a big issue is really testimony to the strength of the religious right in this country.  Even a lot of anti-abortion people favor this stem cell research.  Yet, this has been billed as Bush's toughest decision so far. And just think what this issue would be like if the man who received the most votes was president now? There would be little or no controversy, and our country would be the better for it, because there would be no compromise for the religious right, and we would have a better chance at remarkable medical advances. As always, your views are welcome at BRUIN74@aol.com. 

THERE THEY GO AGAIN Last week, the TV GUIDE cover was devoted to the new Planet of The Apes movie, which happens to produced by 20th Century Fox. Now, they've managed to put a Fox TV show on the cover. The article inside calls "That 70s Show" a hit. A hit? In the final Nielsen ratings for last season, I'm told it was around #50. I understand it does well with the younger audience, which of course means a lot to advertisers. But I would suggest it is quite a stretch to call in a hit. Fox bias strikes again!

POLL RESULTS

Should the officer who shot and killed Margaret Mitchell be prosecuted?

votes ratio  1.)  Yes 45   46%  2.)  No 41   42%  3.)  Undecided 11   11%

OUR FRIDAY INTERVIEW WITH JOSH MANKIEWICZ - PART TWO

As I'm sure many of you know, Josh is a correspondent with Dateline NBC, and also used to report for KCAL news in Los Angeles.

(11) OTR - When it comes to Dateline NBC, do you folks feel a rivalry with 60
Minutes and 20/20...or you do feel like you're filling different niches?

Josh - "Not at all; we definitely feel the competition. There are huge competitions
in booking, not just for celebrities, or newsmakers like Gary Condit, but
even for minor figures you've never heard of. Usually if you can lock up the
players in a particular story, you can pretty much preclude the competition
from doing the story at all.

I think we at Dateline probably feel more competitive with 20/20 and
Primetime Thursday than we do with 60 Minutes or 60 Minutes II. And we
almost never worry about 48 Hours because almost no one sees it.

In terms of niches, I think our editorial overlap is greater with the ABC
broadcasts; there are quite a few stories that 60 does regularly [profiles
of opera divas come to mind] that we wouldn't touch, and there are stories
we do [people trapped under a giant pile of Pringles, for instance] that 60
wouldn't do. How serious is the competition with ABC? Just a couple of weeks
ago, we rushed to do a piece on illegal street racing, not only because the
movie "The Fast & The Furious" was doing huge business, but because we knew
20/20 Downtown was doing a street racing piece the following Monday. We got
ours on the air Sunday, 24 hours before 20/20...and it had everything to do
with competition. Did the audience notice? Who knows...but I'm sure ABC did."

(12) OTR - Since you've given us your thoughts about LA's best local reporters, how about some comments about the reporters at 60 Minutes and 20/20? Who are the best? And if you're willing go further, who, if any are lacking?

Josh - "60 Minutes is about 90 percent of what a newsmagazine ought to be. They regularly do stories you don't see anywhere else, they frequently have a nice contrarian take on stories, and Mike Wallace basically invented modern tv reporting. I give them 90 out of 100 because while the reporters at 60 are justly famous for asking tough questions, they're often toughest on the villains, the people they're accusing of whatever misdeed they're exposing. I think you have to be just as tough on both sides, on your sympathetic characters as well as the guy you're grilling. When you don't, the audience can be left with the impression that
you've taken sides. This doesn't apply just to 60 Minutes; it's a mistake other
newsmagazine reporters make as well.

It's a little tough to tell who's on 20/20 these days; they have a lot of people
rotating through those hours, some of them very new to newsmagazines. I'm a big
admirer of John Quinones, who has a great way of telling stories, and of Brian
Ross, who's probably the best investigator working on the air these days. His
pieces on how campaign contributions grease the wheels of the political
conventions are textbook examples of that kind of work. And I miss the late Judd
Rose, who was simply a writer without peer.

Who's lacking? Nice try, Ron. I will say this: with as much time as we have to
put together a story [anywhere from a week to several months], and with as much
research, editing, and logistical help as we get, there's no excuse for not doing
a great interview and writing a great script."

(13) OTR - It's nice to hear someone NOT complain about time constraints. Given
what you've become used to, could you ever go back to local TV?

Josh - "Hey, I could be back in local by the time you post this. The truth is
that I often do miss local news. It's way more fun, has more immediacy,
often several other people in town are covering exactly the same story
you are, and it's fun to compete and see how you did. It's great to break
a story, front it live and beat everyone else--that almost never happens
at the network magazine level. You have more license with your writing.
And you can try new things, things that don't always work, things you might
not try again. That's one of the best things about local news: you're generally
judged on the totality of your work; your career isn't riding on every
single piece."

(14) OTR - Speaking of that local competition, how friendly did you find the
competition among local reporters pursuing the same story?

Josh - "Generally, there was pretty good camaraderie on the streets here in LA. As I said, it wasn't nearly as competitive here as it was in New York, with one
notable exception: the group of reporters I used to call The In-Your-Face
Club.

These were the guys [and they were mostly guys] who were always telling you,
all day long, that they were killing you. At the press conference, at City
Hall, at Parker Center...they'd tell you they had something big, something
exclusive, something you'd hate seeing. One of them, who's now an anchor,
once actually took me aside and warned me, "Josh, when your news director
sees my story tonight, he's going to have some questions for you." Another
time, one of them [who went on to a network job] told me he had "something
big that even the Times reporters wish they had." Of course, he couldn't
tell me what. The lone woman in the Club told me she was missing the rest of
that days' events because she had "a big exclusive" that she had to get back
and write. 

All of this, of course, only encouraged me to watch their story that night.
And since KCAL's news didn't start until 8pm, I figured I'd have plenty of
time to recoup after watching that story that Larry or Bob Henry was going
to yell at me over. So I'd watch, and the Club member's story would
air---and they'd have nothing. No exclusive. No new details. Just the same
stuff I had --sometimes even less-- and in a slightly different order. And
this happened again and again and again. And it was always the same people,
shouting to get in the first question at press conferences, and later
warning me that only a few hours from now, I'd be in big trouble. And it
never came true...at least, not from the IYFC.

Who *was* killing me? Linda Douglass and Mark Coogan. And, true to form,
they never warned me it was coming."
-------------------------------

My thanks to Josh Mankiewicz for taking part in our Friday interview. Next week, part one with Steve Edwards.

OTR ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK (8-09-00)

THIS IS PROGRESS?

It seems like we all complain about having to deal more and more with voice mail and all those recorded voices over the phone giving us our options. (If you want to keep reading this, press one. If you're not sure, press zero, or if you have a rotary dial computer, stay on the line. An operator will be with you shortly to tell you that you've dialed the wrong number in the first place).  Okay, enough setup.

Yesterday I dialed 1-800-555-1212, and  I got one of those recordings asking me what number I wanted. I answered "RealNetworks." Seconds later, the recorded voice came back and told me there was no toll-free number for "L'Oreal."  I called back a second time, and the same thing happened again.  I'm looking for internet audio, and I'm getting make-up.  Refusing to let this lame new system get the better of me, I called a third time.  But this time, I asked for Earthlink, since I knew Earthlink has a toll-free number.  When I got the live operator, I explained the situation.  This toll-free information system is run by A T&T, and I was told they started this new method a couple of months ago. She said they're aware the system isn't working right.  She said operators there have gone home and tried it themselves, and found the system is not always hearing WHAT callers saying. 

I don't know how much progress A T&T is making in fixing this problem, but it sounds like a story to me. If any of you reporters decide to look into it and do a story, let me know how it goes.  It sounds like one situation, as those recordings like to say,  which should be monitored for quality assurance.

KUDOS TO KCOP

This is a station which, with an occasional exception, has been at the bottom of LA TV news ratings since time began.  Even when I was a kid growing up in LA,  I knew channel 13 was the dog station of the market. But it is obvious that the newsroom is trying hard to change things.  On Monday night,  their lead story took up their entire first segment. Reporter Christina Penza did a nine-minute story on alleged abuse by the Huntington Park Police Department.  Her package included three former local cops and an interview with the Police Chief. It was pretty solid work, and refreshing to see in local news.  Plus anything on KCOP which means less time having to listen to anchor Lauren Sanchez is definitely a good thing.

A DIFFERENT SORT OF "BREAKING NEWS" ABUSE

I suppose the most typical problem with so-called "breaking news" is that it's often hours old when it's given that tag. But recently on KTLA's 10pm news, I saw an example of the other kind of "b n" bs. They went to a live shot, where their helicopter was over a crime scene. Someone was shot outside of a fast food restaurant in a bad part of town. The seriousness of the injury wasn't known.  The circumstances around the shooting wasn't know.  This is may've been "breaking", but was it news?  Wouldn't it make sense to find out if the person who was shot was critical or dead? Maybe they were shot in the leg?  Sad but true...someone getting shot in some parts of any big city isn't news. Having a helicopter flying over the scene doesn't change that.

NOW, THAT'S A HERO

So often, the word "hero" is misused.  So I want to point out a story about a real hero. Last week, after his shift ended, a security guard spotted a robbery in a parking lot. As he confronted the robber, the robber's partner ran into the guard with his car. A few days later the guard died. He was 63 years old. He risked his life and gave it, for someone else. That is hero.

 I have to wonder about the choice of words that KABC reporter Laurie Shore used in doing a follow up on the story.  Two brothers are charged in the crime. After the guard died, she reported that "both brothers are graduating to murder charges." Unless LA County Jail takes away their jumpsuits and gives them caps and gowns, I'm not sure "graduating" to murder charges is the best way to put it.

A LITTLE GEOGRAPHY LESSON

No state has more prisons than California, so maybe some people get confused.  When actor Robert Downey was released from prison last week, he was released from Corcoran state prison, which is in the state's central valley.  For some reason, a piece by KCBS reporter Jason Carroll suggested he was leaving Lompoc, which is the home of a federal prison near the coast. The two aren't close to each other.

I think Jason and other reporters missed a great hook in the story. In one of those typical live shots that all stations do,  he did his in Hollywood, even though nothing was going on there.  If live shots are going to be done for no real reason, in the case of Robert Downey, why not do the live shot it the city of DOWNEY?  Stupid idea? Yes.  Any more stupid than most other LA live shots?  No.

GOD AND JOE LIEBERMAN

We all know he's very religious, but I would agree he went overboard on Tuesday with his references to  The Lord and God.  Speaking on Politically Incorrect Tuesday night, Elayne Boosyler said "He thanked God so many times, I thought he won a Grammy."

SECOND AMENDMENT JUSTICE

Today, some guy got a second man in a headlock. According to what I heard on the radio,  the first guy shot the person he had in the headlock. The bullet went through his cheek, and went into the chest of the shooter, who died from his own gunshot.  Do you suppose when they do background checks on gun buyers, they should include an IQ test too?

SOME DRUG WAR

Denver Linebacker Bill Romanowski  has been indicted for using a diet drug prescribed for his wife and a friend. He faces four felony count counts, including fraud, possession and conspiracy.  I read that doctors are divided on whether the drug would enhance the performance of an athlete. True this drug is a controlled substance.  But does anyone else see the ongoing irony here?  He could smoke himself to death with cigarettes and that would be legal.  He could sit home and drink himself to death, and that would be legal.  But yet, the government in its wisdom to decide what you can put inside your body, and what you cannot, says Romanowski has committed four felonies.  Politicians like to talk about "personal freedom", but I'd like to hear one explain the logic behind our current laws. 

OTR ON THE ROAD

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.  

YOUR OPINIONS

They are an important part of OTR. Please send them along to BRUIN74@aol.com. Unless you say otherwise, I'll assume it is for publication.

OTR IS PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY   Letters to the editor are updated Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

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.

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