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A media critique... and then some! 9/14/01 - Friday Friday Letters are UP - more swipes at KTLA anchor Carlos Amezcua, a news photographer complains about the  behavior of his colleagues, and more. Coming Monday - What LA newscast accidentally aired 24 hour-old stories on 'latest' on the terrorist attacks? Links to Recent Issues 09-10-01 Monday's OTR 09-12-01 Wednesday's OTR 09-07-01 Friday's OTR If you like OTR and would like to help keep it going, feel free to send ten dollars to Ron Fineman PO Box 42364 Bakersfield, CA 93384    OR you can send $ electronically by clicking on the PayPal logo   My sincerest thanks to all of you who have contributed so far.   Your help is very  much appreciated! Send your opinions to BRUIN74@aol.com.

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RANDOM THOUGHTS

As I think about the events of this week, I feel like you can't say enough about those men who went after the hijackers on the flight which crashed in Pennsylvania. Thanks to the cell phone, they knew what had happened in New York, and so they realized they were headed for the same sort of fate. No doubt it was their resistance which caused the plane to crash in the ground, instead of a building.

I am disgusted by those Palestinians who celebrated the terrorist attacks, but I am not surprised. Remember when the Israel soldiers took a wrong turn, and were then murdered by a Palestinian crowd? As one body was thrown out of a window they cheered and chanted "God is great."

While I understand why so many events have been cancelled or postponed, I think Ravens coach Brian Bilick had the right idea. We should avoid letting the terrorists disrupt our lives any more than they already have. I can live without sports for a weekend.  But, I don't feel like playing football or baseball is a sign of disrespect for those who died. I know it is an arbitrary thing. Baseball is a bad idea on Sunday, but it's okay on Monday. The best way to show respect for those who died is to support our government as it goes after the terrorists of the world. As time passes, and innocent people die along the way, the support we have right now could waver. After all this isn't really about stopping one man, but rather, doing our best to decimate a movement. 

Except for those NFL players from New York, I am a little put off by those who say they just didn't feel like playing. If New York firefighters can do their job, which means looking for their friends who died on Tuesday, it should not have been that difficult for highly paid athletes to do their job if they were asked to do it.  

The first time, they played the Star-Spangled Banner at Buckingham Palace. As symbolism goes, it's hard to beat that one.

I heard one talk show caller yesterday blame this week's attack on Bill Clinton. The single-mindedness and sickness of the Clinton haters is sometimes hard to believe.

I heard that President Bush's approval ratings have gone up 20 points this week. This is predictable in time of crisis. So far, he's saying the right things, though I can't imagine any American president acting much differently.  Still, it is refreshing to see the people and the Congress put aside partisanship, and get behind the President.

It is disturbing to hear about attack of Arab-Americans in the US.  It is the height of ignorance to assume they would all support this sort of violence. And even if some do, as reprehensible as that is, it doesn't give anyone the right to attack them for what they think. As Americans, we need to be better than that.

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE

I was covering an anti-hate crime gathering last night.  In a poem read about Joseph Ileto, the mailman who was murdered by Buford Furrow two years ago, the line was repeated "no justice, no peace." One of the readers and writers of the poem, Tracie Kato-Kitiyama was wearing a T-shirt which said "no justice, no peace." The other writer of the poem told me he thought the line was appropriate, since he felt justice was too slow in dealing with Furrow. He also said it was a chant that he'd heard before and wanted to use it.

But doesn't "no peace" mean violence? Kato-Kitiyama said "I don't take it like that at all.  I think that it's a very positive statement. I think that basically we can't have peace without justice. When I say it, it's because we can't have peace within an environment of violence. So actually it goes against the idea of war. It goes against the idea of violence, ultimately to me. And I think because it is a political chant, activists are always seen as violent and militant. I think it's a lot deeper than that. For a family who loses a son and a brother so violently, they are now put into a situation of injustice, and they lost their peace. And that's what I think it means to me."

I don't understand how "no peace" can mean anything but violence. It struck me as a very inappropriate thing to say at an anti-hate violence event.  When I think of that chant, I think of the rioters after the Rodney King verdict. Someone told me that the phrase "no justice no peace" goes back to the 60s. I lived through that time, of course, but I can't remember hearing it before the Rodney King riots. But then again, my old memory is not perfect. Do any you remember the first time you heard it, and what it means to you?  How ever old it may actually be, how can it possibly be the right thing to say at an anti-violence rally?

JESSE VEGA RESPONDS

Reader Jesse Vega recently complained about the accent of KTTV reporter Christina Gonzalez and her heavy Spanish pronunciation of Spanish names. A KTTV insider decided to defend her, saying ""Mr. Vega's letter blasting Christina Gonzalez is completely off base. Christina's native language is Spanish... English is her second language. I heard her report and I think she was just trying to pronounce several
different long and difficult names - period. if you listen to her ENTIRE
report, you'll notice she pronounces most words with a Spanish accent,
since that is her NATIVE language! There's a big difference between someone
like Meeeeeeechelle Ruiz trying to SOUND ethnic, and someone actually being
ethnic. "

Here is Vega's response:  "Well Mister Smarty Pants, Spanish was the only language I spoke until I was 13. 

My co-workers and friends are amazed that I even speak Spanish, let alone am fluent, owing to my command of the English language.

My point is, if I can speak English without an annoying accent and if I can use Spanish words so everyone, English and Spanish speakers can understand what I am saying, then why the hell can't some news reader in Los Angeles. Isn't that what they get the big buck for? This IS the United States you know. If she can't or won't learn to speak English properly, then she can go to Gala Vison and be a ring announcer for "Luche Libre.  I looked at Christina Gonzalez' BIO and she was born in NEW YORK and got her degree in MIAMI! That doesn't strike me as being a "Native Spanish Speaker."

Jesse Vega

(The issue of how some Hispanic anchor and reports pronounce certain Spanish words and names is an ongoing one with readers. I imagine some people may dismiss the complaints as coming from bigots. Rather, I think to many viewers, it's about assimilation, and communicating clearly. In other words, even in our melting pot, without mispronouncing Spanish words, what is wrong an "American" accent?-Ron)

PART TWO OF OUR FRIDAY INTERVIEW WITH KCBS REPORTER/ANCHOR DREW GRIFFIN

(6) OTR - I think it might be interesting, especially for the non media readers, 
to hear some detail about how you do investigative reporting. If you wouldn't
mind...how about picking a recent story you've done. Take us from start to
finish. Where did the idea come from? Who decided that you would do that
story? How much help did you have in setting up interviews? Were there 
times when it looked like it wasn't going to work out? Tell us how you decided 
who you should interview for the piece. Did you feel some deadline pressure? 
How long did it take from start to finish?


Drew - "All our investigations begin with a hunch or a tip. Some are from sources, 
some are from anonymous callers, some are from disgruntled 
workers-husbands-wives etc....

Let me tell you one about a disgruntled worker at Dodger Stadium. Last year 
I did a piece about the ballpark selling 3-point-2 percent alcohol beer 
without telling anyone the beer is watered down. It was a fun story, because 
you can imagine the reaction from those beer drinkers paying $6 bucks a pop 
for a lower alcohol brew.

About 6 months ago an anonymous caller who saw the report let me know Dodger 
Stadium would have no beer on opening day because of ABC violations (selling 
beer to minors). I checked it out with ABC and found that the vendor at 
Dodger Stadium, Aramark Entertainment, had indeed been caught selling beer 
to a minor...and what's more it was the second offense in three years. But 
for some unknown reason the vendor had been allowed to serve its suspension 
in February.

When you are digging into stories, the layers often unfold like this leading 
you to the next level. Dodger Stadium's beer vendor serving suspensions in 
the middle of winter is obviously an "earperker" so we dug deeper.

I FOIA'ed the records of Aramark Entertainment and also asked for the 
California laws regarding selling beer to kids, liquor license laws etc....

What I found was a third strike of selling beer to minors would mean Aramark 
Entertainment could lose its license. And Dodger fans would not be able to 
have a beer at the ballpark. But when the FOIA records arrived (freedom of 
information act/California public records act) I noticed that after the 
second strike against its license "Aramark Entertainment" changed its name 
to "Aramark Summer Games". Why? Why? Why?

It was time to get on the phone with the Alcohol Beverage Control's top 
lawyer to find out. It turns out that transferring a license to a "new" 
corporation wipes that record clean. It may be the same company selling the 
same beer, but because of legal maneuvering on paper Aramark now had a clean 
slate, removing any threat of losing that license.

This led to another California Records Request: How many liquor license 
holders with two strikes against them, transferred their license to a new 
company?

When the results came back, I had my story. Hundreds of business's caught 
selling beer to minors were changing their legal names and wiping their 
records clean. Hardly any of these businesses lost their license. Like 
Aramark, they changed a couple of officer's names, dreamed up some new 
names, and transferred the license.

7-11 stores had hundreds of their franchises doing this...so did other chain 
convenience stores. Perhaps this is why all these operations that continue 
to sell beer and wine to kids can stay open.

Time for interviews: Dodgers refused, Aramark...still steaming from the 
3-point-2 beer story...told me to drop dead. I interviewed the top lawyer 
for Alcohol Beverage Control who confirmed the entire scam...and then I went 
to South LA to the Community Coalition. It's a group that tries to clean up 
those business in South LA that facilitate the delinquency of kids, and 
convenience stores selling beer to kids are some of their biggest problems. 
The Community Coalition was shocked that their efforts to use the three 
strikes liquor law were being diverted by this legal loophole.

To cap off the story, as we in TV like to do, we needed that one moment to 
emphasize the point. So our final move was to take a 17 year old to Dodger 
Stadium. Despite the Dodgers and Aramark telling us they are diligent in 
their efforts to stop kids from buying beer, our 17 year old (who looked 15) 
took out a fake ID and bought a beer. It was all caught on our undercover 
camera. Ironically, it would have been Aramark Entertainments Third Strike.

The story got some outrage from lawmakers. And something may come of it to 
shut down the loophole. But shortly after we aired the piece...the energy 
crisis took hold and the attention of lawmakers was drawn to power profits 
and blackouts.

I hope that gives you an idea how this story worked. They all have different 
twists and turns...and as you can see, take time to develop to their 
fullest. I could have stopped with the two week suspension in February, but 
the story only got better when I found out about the name changing and the 
fact that this goes on state wide."

(7) OTR -  Have you ever gotten in the middle of an investigative story, and then
decided it just wasn't coming together and had to give it up? If so, how 
did you come to that determination?

Drew - "This happens constantly. We move on stories only to find out they are not 
what we expected. I don't want to go into specifics on any one of them, but 
the biggest single reason is that the original premise or initial facts turn 
out to be false. This is expected, based on my earlier comments about tips 
from disgruntled people. Lots of times people try to use the media for 
revenge or business advantage. We must be very diligent in checking and 
re-checking facts."

Due to the events of the week, those were the only questions Drew had time to handle. At this point, I'm not quite sure if he'll be available for part three. We'll see how it goes next week.

NFL PICKS 

Just for the record, I was 1-2-1 last week. We'll pick up next week.

WEEK #1

49ers vs Falcons  - 3 1/2 WRONG

Dolphins  vs Titans   +6 1/2 RIGHT

Chiefs vs Raiders  +3 PUSH

Giants vs Broncos  + 6 1/2 WRONG

OTR ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK (9-13-00)

KREMEOLA

The folks at Krispy Kreme may figure the best way to get news coverage is with a little donut bribery.  With the opening of another donut shop in LA, they dropped off donuts to some (maybe all?) of the newsrooms in LA. I don't have a list of every station which covered the opening, and for all I know, some newsrooms which were given the free donuts may've sent them back.  But, you have to be concerned that any business can give their product to a newsroom, and then expect that it will get news coverage.  Sure I know that donuts are not expensive. It's not like dropping off a Cadillac and expecting coverage of a new Cadillac dealership.  But I think there is a principle to consider. A newsroom should not accept gifts of any kind from companies which are expecting coverage, whether the newsroom actually covers the story or not.

This is not to say that there may not be a real story to be told. In this case, Krispy Kreme opened a shop in an area of town which is in need of jobs and business.  To its credit, KCAL TV took that angle.  On the other hand,  KNBC had what seemed like a 20 second story on it, with an anchor comment about how good the donuts are. It seemed as much a Krispy Kreme commercial as it did a story. I wonder if they got their donuts Tuesday morning?

OH RATS!

I feel like there was an over-reaction from all concerned when it comes to that Republican TV ad against Al Gore, which showed the word RATS for a split second at the end of the commercial. On the one hand,  it is hard to believe that the producer of the commercial didn't notice it. Bush media strategist Mark McKinnon doesn't help the campaign's credibility when he challenges anyone with 20/20 vision to see the word at normal speed. I can see it, and I'm sure many others can too.  But if it was supposed to be subliminal, you shouldn't be able to see it in normal time. Right?

The "RATS" was full screen, and then turned into the word "bureaucrats." If the GOP wants to imply that bureaucrats are rats, or that Al Gore is a rat, so be it.  I realize this does make it little tough for George W Bush, since he's been talking dignity and changing the tone in Washington.  But Al Gore acted way too "hurt" over this ad. I think he should've laughed it off as silly name calling. 

Over on KCAL, they had an odd way of setting up the story. Anchor Mia Lee said "amid allegations of a conspiracy against Al Gore..."  What in the world does that mean?  Have they not covered politics before? The Republicans are conspiring to beat Gore,  just like Democrats are conspiring to beat Bush.  Big deal.

There have been some dirty political ads in American politics. But this?   I have to say I feel sorry for Bush, feeling the need to explain/defend the ad. He also ended up saying "subliminable" instead of "subliminal." Just what Bush needed, another chance to mangle the English language. 

NOW THAT'S A STANDUP!

At an evening public meeting, a school district superintendent said that trying to get to the bottom of a mold problem at one of their schools, was like fighting shadows.  So, KTTV reporter Ed Laskos repeated the line while walking along a wall outside, as the photog took a picture of his shadow. At the appropriate moment, the photog turned on his light, eliminating the shadow and panned to Laskos, who finished the standup. It was the most creative standup I've seen in LA in I don't know how long.

CHELSEA'S BOYFRIEND

I know I'm fight a losing battle on this one, but why should I, as a new viewer, care that Chelsea Clinton has a new boyfriend? I don't think any station missed this story(?) last week.  But shame on KTTV for taking less than the high road in teasing it. It went something like "What Chelsea Clinton's new boyfriend has in common with the woman who got her Dad in trouble." What they have in common is that her boyfriend is also a White House Intern. I'm sure they were just trying to be clever.  But, if Clinton was a Republican, you can just imagine how Republicans would blame the liberal media for picking on their president long after the scandal was over. 

A DOUBLE GAY STANDARD?

There was big deal at Dodger Stadium recently. A couple of lesbians were thrown out of Dodger Stadium for kissing. The team later apologized, paid the women some sort of settlement to prevent a lawsuit, and last week the team treated about a thousand gay men and women to a ballgame. As everyone covered the last part of the story, some stations showed video of the ladies re-enacting their kiss from a prior news conference. As I was watching this, I got to thinking....would any of the stations show two gay men kissing? Especially a LONG Al/Tipper sort of kiss? Not likely.  But the truth is, straight society is a lot more comfortable with two women kissing. So, I'm not criticizing the stations...but just thinking out loud in cyber space.

NOTHING LIKE A GOOD ROBBERY 

Last week, what appeared to be an attempted bank robbery ended up with a man holding hostages. Some of the newscasters called a "bank robbery gone bad." It's obvious why they said that. Yet, if the guy walked it at gunpoint and took a couple hundred thousand dollars, would they call it a "good bank robbery?" 

GOOD SAVE JONATHAN

There was an officer-involved shooting in which police say an 83 year old man pulled a gun on them.  While other stations had reported that the old man had not fired his gun, or it was not known if the man had fired his gun,  reporter Stacy Tobin at KCBS said the man did shoot. Wisely, anchor Jonathan Elias didn't let the apparent error pass. When she finished her live shot, he asked her to clarify if any of the cops were hit. It gave her the chance to say no, and that it didn't appear that the man had fired. No one likes to be corrected on the air, but  this was the time when that had to be done. And it was done in a way that let the reporter correct herself. 

SOME FRIEND

Did you hear about this one last week?  Some guy in Tennessee was called on the phone and told that if he brought in his marijuana plant to his local police station, he would not be arrested.  Apparently someone was playing a joke on the guy, and now he's looking at a felony charge.  The guy could end up in prison! KCBS anchor Gretchen Carr ad-libbed a friend of his was probably having a good laugh. I wonder. Anyone who plays a practical joke on someone, where that someone could end up in prison, is a pretty poor excuse for a friend.

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.