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Need something shot, produced, edited, reported, uplinked/downlinked in SoCal? <---CLICK THRU JDnewsie Productions: 818.766.7122 jdnewsie@aol.com www.jdnewsie.com |
A media critique... and then some! Banned in Beijing, Kabul, and at KCAL TV.
Wednesday Letters - Chandra Levy is no 'innocent', what if there were no TV news ratings?....and OTR was too easy on KABC's Magic Mountain coverage. Inside LA TV - A couple KNBC insiders comment on Nancy Bauer Gonzales' leaving, and they have different points of view. Links to Recent Issues 08-27-01 Monday's OTR 08-22-01 Wednesday's OTR 08-24-01 Friday's OTR If you'd like to send a contribution to help keep OTR going, you can send ten dollars to Ron Fineman, PO Box 42364, Bakersfield, CA 93384 Or you can send $ on-line. Just click on the PayPal Logo. Thanks to our latest contributors, Geoff Nathanson, and Patricia Keating...who both used PayPal. Your help is appreciated! |
To get on the OTR email reminder list, email me at BRUIN74@aol.com. |
THE BAD AND THE TERRIBLE
A van had driven off the road last Friday. KABC anchor Marc Brown first called it a "bad" accident. Later he called it a "very bad" accident. When helicopter pilot Scott Reiff got over it, he called it a "horrible" accident. He reported that as many as 13 people may've been hurt, including kids. Six people were thrown out. In teasing the story later on, Laura Diaz called it "terrible", and at another point, Brown referred to it as "very serious." So many adjectives for the same accident. And though it may've been "bad", was it really HORRIBLE? Were there dead bodies all over the place? No, as it turns out, KNBC reported there were no life threatening injuries.
So you may ask yourself, is it possible...is it realistic for an LA TV news station to cover a story like that with giving their opinion...without adjectives? I can tell you the answer is a definite yes! During their 5pm news, KNBC covered the story with NO adjectives. All they did was give the facts. Can you imagine? Anchor Chris Schauble read a story which lasted a little more than 30 seconds, and there wasn't an opinion to be found. Now why can't everyone manage that?
ENOUGH ALREADY
Okay, I think I've said this before...so I'll be real brief. When I turned on the Fox News Channel this morning, there was the anchor, interviewing two radio talk show hosts about the Chung/Condit interview. Discussing new developments is one thing. But come on! The interview is five days old already. As much as the news media deserve credit for bringing life to a story that deserved it, it tends to undo the accomplishment by beating a dead horse. Also, I have to wonder....would Fox News be all over it as much if Condit were a Republican?
RIGHT BACK AT YOU
This week Governor Davis finally had something critical to say about Gary Condit. He said that Condit should've said more and said it sooner. I think we could say the same for the governor, and most other politicians on this issue, couldn't we?
ONE WEAK LEAD
It was like a KCOP moment for KCBS last week. Last Thursday Night at 11pm, their lead story were some statements from Maria Carey that we heard through a phone line. I think the most newsworthy quote from Maria was "don't believe everything you read." If she said 'don't believe all the crap you hear on local TV', that might've been a good lead.
C H R I S T I N A !!!!
To get in the sprit of this blurb, you need to remember the old Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon. All you young news writers...ask your new director about it. David Seville, who managed the Chipmunks singing group, used to yell A L V I N !!!, when he'd get in trouble. Seville was like a father to them in the cartoon show, though back in the early 60s, the law wouldn't allow a single man to adopt three Chipmunks.
Anyway, all of that is my way of poking fun at what I heard on KTTV last week. I don't find they make a lot of mistakes, so it's always nice to have something to say about em. Too bad this happened on a serious story, about the death of a college girl I mentioned on Monday. Christina Gonzalez was live in the field, but as is the customer, she had fed the bulk of her report ( a 'package' as they call in TV) via tape. But something was wrong with this tape. It started speeding up to the point where Gonzalez almost started to sound like one of the Chipmunks. Maybe I exaggerate, but not by much. It was bad enough to where I was wondering if they were going to dump out of it. But they didn't.....they hung in there with it. And what do you want to bet that tape machine was in the shop the next morning? MR T E C H N I C I A N!!!
SEAN HANNITY GOES NATIONAL
Don Barrett reports in LARadio.com that Sean Hannity's radio talk show will now be syndicated across the country. He'll be on noon to 3 on KABC in LA, which puts him opposite Laura Schlessinger on KFI. Considering his reverential treatment of her when he interviews her on his Fox TV show, I'm wondering if we'll soon see LA radio's first live inter-station ass kissing.
FOR SHAME
As crazy as some parents get about their kids' sports teams, and with many example of NCAA violations over the years, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. But we should be very disappointed. Sports Illustrated has a found a birth certificate which indicates this phenomenal 12-year old Little League pitcher who recently pitched a perfect game, striking out all but two batters, is really 14-years old. That makes him 2 years too old to play Little League. A 14-year old blowing down a bunch of 12-year olds isn't quite as impressive, is it? At that age, those two years make a lot of difference. Think how unfair it was for the teams that were beaten by Danny Almonte. They might've gone to the World Series if they could've face a 12-year pitcher instead of a 14-year old. At this point, it appears that Almonte's father filed a second birth certificate after arriving in New York from The Dominican Republic. That second one, which claims he was born in 1989, is the one that was given to Little League Officials. If his father is guilty of this, as it appears right now, he should be very embarrassed and ashamed. And think about the example this was setting for his son Danny. That's a lie that a child in that position shouldn't be living, whether he wanted to or not. No doubt his dad wanted his son to get a lot of attention, but now he'll be getting a lot more than he bargained for. It really is a shame.
COMING MONDAY
A well known LA anchor comes to the defense of former KNBC News Director Nancy Bauer.
THEY MUST REALLY THINK THEY'RE SPECIAL
Over at KABC-TV, they're really like the term specialists. Sounds like page 3 in the consultant's handbook. Call your beat reporters "specialists"...it makes them sound like heart surgeons. It bothers me most with Denise Dador. Calling someone a "health specialist", even though her bio doesn't indicate any health training, has always seemed deceptive to me. After all, when we hear the term specialist in the heath field, we think of a brain surgeon, or an oncologist, right? I'll bet you a lot of viewers think she has some of special health education....maybe some think she's a nurse. The KABC web site says she majored in communications in college.
Then the other day, Michelle Tuzee called George Pennachio an "entertainment specialist." I can just hear it now..."We need a celebrity interviewed, and we need it NOW! Is there an entertainment specialist in the house? Quick, get Pennachio! Oh George, thank God you were here. We almost had to rely on a general assignment specialist."
Let's face it, the words "entertainment" and "specialist" just don't go together. Better go back to entertainment guru. I imagine if they tried to call Bill Weir a sports specialist, he'd laugh them out of their new building.
KEEP AN EYE ON THIS ONE
The Bakersfield Californian reports today that Democrats may boot Assemblyman Dean Florez from the Committee on Energy Costs and Availability because he plans to vote against the plan to rescue Southern California Edison. Florez says he'll fight any attempt to take him off the committee.
HOW MANY CAMERAS DO YOU HAVE?
Last night I heard KTLA's Lynette Romero says that "our cameras" were back stage at an awards ceremony. It's a saying that is probably as old as television. And the way it was used back at the beginning, there probably was more than one camera. But typically these days, a news crew has just one camera. So why not just say so? I guess it's like the times when a station may only be sending a photographer to a spot news story. They'll still say "we have a crew on the way." A crew with many cameras, I'm sure.
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO ASK
The Fox News Channel was doing a live shot of the fire in Castaic, which is in the north part of LA County. Obviously, the anchor Laurie Duhe never heard of the place. Her mispronunciation was so bad, I really didn't know what she was talking about, until the reporter took over. I would think that if you are on a national network, and you are going to say a city you've never heard of, you might ask the reporter out at the location about how to say it. Preparation. What a concept!
BROADCASTEZE VIOLATION OF THE WEEK
Who: Marc Brown
Where: KABC-TV
What: "Little" Jay Saavedra
Put your hand on the monitor and count to three, one, two, three....HEAL!!
YOUR OPINIONS
They are always welcome. You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com. Unless you say otherwise, I will assume your comments are for publication.
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.
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