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A media critique... and then some! 8/24/01 - Friday Coming Monday - A KNBCer  unofficially  answers some questions about Chuck Henry's Travel Cafe. Links to Recent Issues 08-20-01 Monday's OTR 08-22-01 Wednesday's OTR 08-17-01 Friday's OTR If you'd like OTR and would like to help keep it going, you can send ten dollars to Ron Fineman PO Box 42364 Bakersfield, CA 93384 -  Your help is very  much appreciated! Send your opinions to BRUIN74@aol.com.

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THE CHUNG/CONDIT INTERVIEW

I didn't expect a lot from Gary Condit, yet he still managed to deliver less than I anticipated.  Okay, we now have it burned into our brains that Condit has been married for 34 years. The fact that he wouldn't just come out an admit the affair with Chandra Levy is just silly. By implying it, but refusing to come out and say it, it just ads to his image of being a dishonest politician. But even worse, the guy actually tried to justify his lack of candor by saying that's what the Levys wanted. They didn't want to hear about details of his affair with her, and so he was trying to use that to justify his refusal to admit the sexual relationship existed. It's like Condit doesn't understand what the word "details" means.  

His suggestion that he knew nothing about the denial statement his attorney wanted Ann Marie Smith to sign just isn't credible.  He also said he always answered all questions from the police honestly. The implication was that they never asked him until the third interview if he had a sexual relationship with Levy. I wouldn't be surprised if that was true. Remember when this thing started, how protective the police seemed to be of Condit? It took media attention and the hiring of attorney Billy Martin to light a fire under them.  

As for Connie Chung, I thought she did an excellent job. She went after Condit as any good interview should've in this situation. There were a couple of things she didn't hit on that I would like to have seen brought up, like early on, when Condit hired an attorney to tell media outlets to stop reporting that he'd admitted to having an affair with Levy. But I don't think she let him get away with much. She asked direct questions, and challenged him at appropriate moments, which gave us a good picture of who we're dealing with.  

To give your opinion on the interview, please go the poll section on the menu. Also, I'd like to hear your comments on it.  So let me know what you thought, and I'll upload some of your emails tomorrow. Yes, I'll be happy to take a little time out of my Saturday to deal with this while it's still current.  You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com. 

THAT SURPRISES ME!

Just last week Dick Gephardt spoke kindly about Gary Condit on Meet The Press. One of his comments about Condit was among those which I complained about in Wednesday's OTR. Oh what a difference one bad interview makes!  Now Gephardt is criticizing Condit for not being straight forward in the interview, calling it disturbing and wrong.  Now that Condit has lost the support of the Democratic leader of the House, you have to wonder if he'll go through with running for re-election. I think losing Gephardt's support is a big deal.

NO SURPRISE ABOUT THE RATINGS

Here are the LA ratings of  2, 4 and 7 for the 10pm hour and the 11pm news.

10pm                                    11pm

KABC - 20.49                      14.29

KNBC - 4.84                         4.68

KCBS - 2.40                          1.64

NOW I THINK IT'S A STORY

On Wednesday I questioned whether the disappearance of former State Senator Paul Carpenter's daughter was a news story. But then Wednesday, it was reported that the LA Sheriff's Department considers her husband a suspect, though they still don't have evidence of a crime. Yet, I must admit KCBS's coverage left me a little confused. At first, they seemed to make a big deal out of the fact that her husband is a suspect. But in his story, Marc Coogan reported that it was routine for a husband to be considered a suspect in this sort of situation.  Yet, I wonder. Obviously law enforcement is going to check out those close to the missing person. But it's the word suspect that has me wondering.

  In the case of the murder of Megan Barroso, even with evidence pointing toward Vincent Sanchez, the Ventura Sheriff's Department initially wouldn't call him a suspect. The DC Police has still never called Gary Condit a suspect. That word seems to be carrying a lot of weight lately, so I have a feeling the Sheriff's Department may be trying to tell us something.  Further, did you see the husband on the news? On Tuesday, he was offering a hundred thousand dollar reward, and managed to speak about his wife with his emotion very much under control.  But the next day, he suddenly began crying while talking about her.  This burst of emotion looked pretty staged to me. It looked forced, not spontaneous.  It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out.

PART TWO OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH STEVE EDWARDS

(5) OTR - Let's backtrack a little. Make that backtrack a lot. When and where
did your broadcasting career begin? How long before you made it to LA?

Steve - "I was a graduate student in Houston, studying for a Phd in clinical psychology, intending to be a psychotherapist. In the psycho-jargon of the time I decided to "self actualize". I didn't want to be a psychotherapist. I wanted to work in a business where everybody needs one. I went on a leave of absence and got a job at an fm radio station back when fm meant... forget money. It was KMSC, across from the Manned Space Craft Center, where we bragged that we broadcast with," 100 thousand watts in the horizontal plane and 100 thousand watts in the vertical plane". I never knew what that meant; I did know that I couldn't get the signal where I lived 12 miles away. I was there about 10 months and did everything: dj, play-by-play, lots of news, talk shows,and became the sports director and sales manager. It was a small station.

From there, it took about nine years to get to LA , including consecutive three year stints at KTRH radio ,the big talk station in Houston , doing call-in and interview shows and eventually becoming the program director, where I believe I gave Hal Eisner his first real job; Khou tv where I anchored the news with Jessica Savitch and Linda Ellerbe and the our prime street reporter was Judd Mcillvaine , and where I hosted a bunch of talk shows and then WLs in Chicago, for AM Chicago, a late night weekend show, entertainment reviews and even a stint on the weather and a bunch of topical news specials.

I arrived here in the late seventies and have tried to host more shows with LA in the title than anyone in history: AMLA for KABC, Live in LA for KCAL, and GoodDayLA for KTTV; all that's left is So Long LA for cable access. There was Two on The Town with for 6 years, the Noon Show at KCBS, Entertainment Tonight for a year and KABC radio for both general issues talk shows and Sportstalk. 
Hollywood Closeup, 3:30 and now the occasional Friday Night with Steve Edwards for Fox.
What was the question?"

(6) OTR - Any stories you can tell us about our friend Hal Eisner that might
be mildly embarrassing? And Jessica Savitch...any particular memories of
her? Did you sense something special about her?

Steve - "Hal's lawyers have told me that the records of his early days have been
 sealed and that he has completely changed as a human being and newsman
and it would serve no good purpose to dredge up that unfortunate time.
Actually he was the same smart, intense , hard working good guy he is
now. Except that he didn't know what he was doing. Now he does.

Relatively speaking, Hal was casual compared to Jessica. Everything
about her was intense: her ambition, her moods, her sense of humor and her work
ethic. There was always drama in her day. That she would be a success and make a splash was clear; that it wouldn't be easy was just as clear. In spite of all that, we had a great time working together and I had some the biggest laughs ever with her. I miss her now."

(7) OTR - Of all those past TV shows you hosted, who were the co-hosts with whom
you had the best chemistry?

Steve - "I've really been lucky that the "chemistry" has been good with all the co-hosts I've worked with over a period of time, Especially Melody Rogers on Two on The Town and Cristina Ferrari and Tawny Little on AmLA and OF COURSE JILLIAN AND DOROTHY. I realize that I've been with Jillian and Dorothy longer than with anyone else(6 plus years) and we still get along. Most days."

(8) OTR - Were there any of those shows that you regret
having done? And when you started doing "3:30" did anyone figure that
would make it a little tougher to change time slots, which I believe did
turn out to be the case?

Steve - "I'm amazed that I've always had a show or two to do. I really don't regret any of them nor would I put many of them in a time capsule: most being of the disposable, what's -hot -today and forgotten tomorrow variety.

3:30 is certainly one of the forgotten ones. It was on at 3:30 at first, then moved to 3:00. The name stayed the same because it was a concept and not just a time. It was a concept that very few people got. I don't think we got it. The rating was 3.30 and it lasted a little more than 330 days."

(9) OTR - I think it was the LA Times that said on GDLA, you're like a George
>Burns with two Gracies. Do you feel that way?

Steve  - "Yes. Better than Tony Orlando and Dawn."

(10) OTR - And if you had to be stuck in an elevator for an hour with one of them, which one would it be? 

Steve - "Tony McEwing"

(11) OTR -And since you brought it up, on those occasional days when you don't feel
you're getting along well, how much does it affect the show? 

Steve - "A lot. Using every politicians favorite word this year, transparency, we have a lot of mood transparency on GoodDayLa."

(12) OTR - So how much rivalry, if any, do you feel with the KTLA Morning News?

Steve  - "Well, I do want to be successful against them, and when Dorothy, Jillian and I started they were certainly the kings of the hill and something to shoot for; we weren't even in their rear view mirror. So we certainly look at the overnights and see how they did and we did, but we're also competing against the Today Show , GMA and maybe The Early Show on CBS. A lot of people think it's an intense, personal rivalry but it ain't that heavy. I have a bunch of friends over there including one old friend who thinks I call only on days we win. I don't call that often. Rim shot. "
-------------------------------------

Does Steve ever tape KTLA to keep an eye on what they're doing?  And how did he feel about the promo where the GDLA gloated about beating them? We'll have those answers and more when we conclude our interview with Steve Edwards next Friday.

BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER, AND NEW QUESTION

The active player with the most consecutive Gold Gloves is Atlanta pitcher Greg Maddux. He's won it every years since 1990. Bob Timmerman was the first to get the answer. Others who got it were Jeff Ofgang and Brian Robin. 

New question....who was the first pitcher to win the MVP award for an all-star game?  I had to look this one up...but no fair if you do that! I'll throw out a clue on Monday if we don't get a correct answer by then.  Okay okay...I'll tell you this:  they started giving the award in 1962.

OTR ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK 8-23-00

ARE L-A MEDIA MEMBERS BEING TOO PASSIVE?

As you know, I normally save letters for Mondays in the letters section. But I thought the following comments from  reporter/photog Bob Tur were important enough, that I should put them in right away.

Thank you Ron for getting Monday's DNC protest story right. After I
addressed the media at the ACLU press conference regarding my treatment
at the hands of the LAPD, a New York reporter that worked for WWOR
asked me "what's wrong with the press in this town?" He had covered
Monday night's melee, then covered Commander Kalish's press conference
where the Commander praised his Officers and downplayed the attacks on
the media. "In New York we would have never allowed the NYPD to get away
with this!" He couldn't believe that the Los Angeles press corps let it
go.

Bob's letter makes me wonder, do local reporters not think this was that big of a deal? I did talk with one reporter last week who felt the Southern California Radio/Television News Association should join the ACLU in the lawsuit. Do others of you in the LA media agree? Should local stations be more actively involved in this? Should there be more coverage about what happened to media members?  I know people in every LA TV newsroom read OTR, and I would sure like to hear some of your thoughts on this.  You can email me at BRUIN74@aol.com.

SOME MORE STRETCHING OF THE TRUTH, IT APPEARS

A woman jumped off of a cruise ship the other day, killing herself.  When the ship docked, KNBC reported that passengers were still "stunned." Yet, everyone they interviewed seemed fairly calm about it. NO ONE acted stunned.  So, what motivated some news writer, or producer or I don't know who, to say they were "stunned?" Correct me if I'm wrong, but KNBC during their 11am newscast seems to be the worst offender in town when it comes to assuming facts not in evidence.  Reporter Jennifer Bjorklund didn't help credibility matters any when she said it wasn't clear if it was a "suicide or a spontaneous error in judgment." I would suggest whether the woman planned it the night before, or ten seconds before; if she jumped, it was suicide. 

Maybe it was just one of those stories. I saw KCAL's Jaime Garza do a correction, because apparently they had named the wrong cruise line for this incident.  You can just imagine the phone call....."Our passengers don't jump off our ships, we just don't allow it!" I understand why no one wants to associated with an onboard suicide, but really, would you be less likely to cruise on a ship just because someone jumped overboard?   On the other hand, if it's that easy to jump off a cruise ship, the writers of the Love Boat really missed an opportunity whenever Charo was on board.

Okay, just kidding there. I interviewed her back in the 70s. She was very nice, and called me "Rinaldo." I'll admit a few people who overheard her seemed to be amused by that.

NO THANKS ON THE THANKS

I know some people are bothered by the thank you's that anchors throw out after reporters finish their live shots. As I've said here before, I consider it a simple way to transition, and I have no problem with it.  However, I do think new KNBC anchor Ana Garcia went to far when she commended Sonya Crawford last week with "thank you Sonya for all your efforts this week."  So she covered the Democratic convention...big deal.  So did everyone else. This is where I agree with those who say reporters should not be thanked for simply doing their job.

I notice that Ana has a tendency to jibber-jabber, throwing in ad-libs I can do without. Last week she had to weigh in with her opinion of the Gore kiss. (She thought it was "genuine,"  you'll be relieved to know). It's almost like Kent Shocknek never left the KNBC 11 am news.  

GRAPHICS WHICH MAKE NO SENSE

Station spend so much time and money on their graphics, so you'd think they'd be more careful with what they put up there.  Last week, for a story about how the police handled the protestors at the Democratic Convention, a box over the anchor's shoulder on KCAL said "LAPD Convention."  I figured they were all getting together to have their own convention.  Then yesterday on KCAL, Alan Mendelson was doing a story about the decision NOT to raise interest rates. Over his shoulder was a graphic with an arrow pointed UP.  

BEWARE OF THE BOGUS INTERNET QUOTES

I was recently sent a list of some stupid quotes attributed to Al Gore. They even  had dates by them.  Yet there was something familiar about a couple of them. So I checked, and found at least two of those quotes have also been attributed to Dan Quayle! The Quayle list I found also had dates (different ones), and the publication where he was supposed to have said them.  So, unless you're ready to believe Neiman Marcus sells cookie recipes for 250 dollars, don't assume those forwarded emails you get are always on the up-and-up.

THIS PLACE MAKES  EVEN  USC LOOK TOUGH

Here's an email I got last month from Betty@hotmail.com

UNIVERSITY DIPLOMAS

Obtain a prosperous future, money earning power and the admiration of all.

Diplomas from prestigious non-accredited universities based on your present knowledge and life experience.

No required tests, classes, books, or interviews.

Bachelors, masters, MBA and doctorate (PhD) diplomas available in the field of your choice.

No one is turned down.

Confidentiality assured.

CALL NOW to receive your diploma within days!!!

It then lists a phone number, which I haven't called. Maybe I should, just so I can get that list of prestigious non-accredited universities. Just in case I end up at a party with some snobs from Harvard, Berkeley or Stanford, it would be nice to have some big non-accredited names to toss around. 

 I must admit, that part about no tests or classes does kind of appeal to me.  At least if I did that the first time around, I wouldn't have to deal with those nightmares where I suddenly find myself going to a class at the end of the semester, which I've been skipping since the first week of school.

SOUNDS LIKE EDITORIALIZING TO ME

On Monday night, KTLA's Hal Fishman read a story, which mentioned that national pride had prevented the Russians for asking for help sooner with their sunken submarine. Then Fishman said "perhaps next time Moscow will put greater value on life then on pride."  Sorry Hal. While I agree with the sentiment, a non-attributed statement like belongs in a commentary, NOT in a news story.

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, 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.