Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

When KCOP decided to let sports anchor Michelle Bonner go on Monday, it wasn't about her. Yes, to paraphrase one of the many memorable lines from Seinfield, news director Larry Perret might well have told her "it's not you, it's us." I've heard from several people at KCOP, and here is the deal: they've scrapped traditional sports in favor one minute of sports highlights, voiced by one of the anchors. Though on occasion, they will also do what they did Monday night, which is run a story about Michael Jordan as a separate news item...since Jordan transcends sports.

The reasoning behind this is not new. People who care about sports can get it anytime they want on ESPN, or elsewhere. There is no need to do a traditional sports report, when most viewers don't care about it in the first place. It is hoped that they might be able to keep a few more viewers at the end of newscast, by dispensing with the old-fashioned sports report. I also understand that they will stick with traditional sports on the weekend, when of course there is always a lot of sports and usually not a lot of news. Plus, you can expect to see weekend sports anchor Gerard Moncure do some feature pieces during the week on non-traditional athletics.

Given the sort of non-traditional news practiced at KCOP, it makes sense that they'd be the ones to all but eliminate traditional-sports during the week. And maybe there is some method to the ongoing madness. They've been #1 the last two nights in a row. Have a look at Monday night's 10pm news ratings, including lead-ins.

	9:45	10:00	10:15	10:30	10:45	Total
KCOP	3.9	3.1	3.8	3.7	2.9	3.4
KTLA	4.7	4.2	3.5	3.1	2.4	3.3
KTTV	7.2	3.6	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.5
KCAL	1.6	1.5	1.8	1.8	1.4	1.6

By the way, during that hour winning KCOP newscast, I found one of the worst pieces of TV journalism I've seen in a while. I'll tell you about it on Monday.

Considering the circumstances, and that Bonner left on good terms, I would like to have seen anchors Rick Chambers and Lauren Sanchez acknowledge her absence and explain what was going on. Once again, viewers are left to wonder why one of those people they're supposed to "welcome in their living room" as a friend, suddenly vanishes with no explanation. I have an idea. How about a lower third graphic just telling viewers to go to OTR? At least they'd have a better idea of what happened.

Once again, Rodney was arrested, and once again it was on the news. But why is it news every time Rodney King gets arrested? I understand that he was the center of one of the biggest stories in Los Angeles history. After he was given all that money, I can appreciate that it was newsworthy when he had his first brushes with the law. No debate there. But after a while it's become clear that Rodney King has problems which didn't end with a big settlement. But let's remember, he was important because he happened to be the victim of LAPD brutality which was caught on tape. And I realize we will not, nor should we ever forget what happened. But I'm suggesting that it should not follow that every event in this guy's life should forever be newsworthy. So he was arrested again? Does that surprise anyone? Does that affect your life? Yet, because of what happened to him 11 years ago, he's been given automatic celebrity status by local news. His arrests are reported as if he were a onetime rock star, or famous child actor. When the latest on King appeared on AP, did anyone in a newsroom even think, "is this really newsworthy?"

Only a few weeks ago, all local stories -important or useless- were put aside in favor of one of the biggest stories in American history. Suddenly, every newsroom knew what was really important. And when our government starts its offensive in Afghanistan, I imagine that will happen again. But it shouldn't take a national emergency to take a hard look at what really matters to viewers...what affects their lives. If you asked them, I'm betting another arrest of Rodney King would be pretty far down the list.

It isn't the most important thing, but I'd sure like to see consistency in how we pronounce names and countries. But since we could never got Elian right, what should I expect? One example right now is Pakistan. I have always the first part of the country pronounced like "pack." Then the other night, I heard Andrea Koppel on CNN pronouncing it as "pock". Then another CNN reporter called it "Packiston." Last night, I heard Leyna Nguyen on KCAL pronounce Afghanistan as Afghaniston. That was a first for me, since it seems everyone I've heard locally says "stan" for Afghanistan. It's just a question of how much of a foreign pronunciation you want to give to these countries. I remember how some people who never seemed to pronounce anything with a Spanish accent, suddenly used one on "Nicaragua." I just think when countries or new names suddenly become major parts of the news, every station should pick a pronunciation, and everyone at that station should stick with it. Sound reasonable?

It seems that everyone covered the story last week, when all proceeds from movie theaters on one night went to help victims of the terrorist attacks. On KTLA, Ted Garcia was at a theater to cover the story. Later in her entertainment report, Mindy Burbano also covered it. But for some reason she showed file video of movie-goers standing in line. If you've already got a reporter covering the story that night with current video, why would you have to show old video of people in line in another part of the newscast?

An OTR reader to wrote in to tell me that he was so offended by the outfit of KCAL anchor Mia Lee one day last week, he called the station's general manager to complain. A secretary took his call, who said she'd relay the complaint to the newsroom. He says he asked if they'd had complaints like this before, and she merely repeated that she'd forward his complaint to newsroom. I know the day the reader was referring to, and even for Lee, it seemed more over the line of good taste than usual.

Actually that situation may be one way to judge how much authority news director Nancy Bauer Gonzales will have. Will she be able to get Lee to dress like a news anchor? Of course some there think Lee decided to act on her own, having worn a turtle neck on Monday, Bauer Gonzales's first day on the job. Since Monday happened to be a very hot day in LA, even weatherman Carl Bell kidded her on the air about her choice of clothing. She did explain that it was sleeveless.

When I first saw the promos for Jason Alexander's new show, I was optimistic. The concept of Alexander playing a self-help guru sounded like a good fit for him. And I laughed at the joke in the promo, which 'advertised' his two books "I know more than you" and "I still know more than you." Too bad nothing in the first episode was that funny.

I know Alexander is a very talented and versatile performer...he can sing and dance as well as act. But in this new show, he was just too much George Costanza. Maybe that can't be helped. Maybe a better director would've helped. Certainly a better script. You've got Alexander, and Robert Klein, another big talent...but they're wasted on a show that is far more silly than clever. As one point, Klein says to Alexander "You are the Matt Daddy!" Alexander asks "What does that mean?" Klein answers "I have no idea." They also go for a few sex jokes which fall flat. For example, when a promo is shot of Patterson standing next to the much taller John Tesh, Patterson says "I look like I'm going to give him a Lewinsky." There were a few decent moments, including Patterson quietly telling Klein to call 911, after he gives a speech from a bed of nails. You figure Patterson had pulled it off, until he asks for 911 and you see all these red dots of blood on the back of his shirt. Not bad.

Part of the problem may be that we expect more from a Seinfeld alumnus. But the reality is that the show is not very funny. I would expect ABC to either have the show re-tooled in a hurry, or flush it. The idea of calling 911 toward the end of the first episode may've had more meaning than the writers realized.

Last week, KCBS reporter Michael Brownlee was doing a story about security at the airport. He reported "...tighter security measures airport commissioners voted unanimously to keep in place until at least October 2nd." Well, October 2nd was actually the following Tuesday. So why not say the measures will be kept in place at least "until next Tuesday?" No doubt "October 2nd" is exactly what officials said. But, when you give a date, the average Joe doesn't automatically zero in on it. I know I don't. But next Tuesday is next Tuesday. There can be no doubt how far away that is. It's just basic conversational writing, but sometimes, we need to think about it, or it doesn't happen.

No anchor has a way of saying things quite like KCOP's Lauren Sanchez. I've poked fun at her before, and now they they've been #1 two nights a row, she can certainly take it. Anyway, the other night she described outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hugh Shelton as "the 38-year old military veteran." Pretty young for that job, huh? On another night, she was supposed to read "hits U-S"...but before correcting herself said "hits us." I've got one hyphenated one word of unsolicited advice: pre-read.

On the plus side, Leila Feinstein, who recently filled doing sports on KTLA, is certainly better than Claudia Trejos. But this woman really needs to back off a little. She seems to be trying so hard to be enthusiastic and energetic. But too often, I think she sounds angry. I suppose you can put that into the categories of "needs more experience" or "trying to be something you're not." Too bad Michelle Bonner is off of KCOP. Bonner is a good example of how a woman can do sports, and do it well.

Like it or not, there are Arabs and Moslems who hate our country. This isn't new, but obviously we have reason now to be more cognizant of that. The fact that all of the hijackers fit the same profile cannot be ignored. An article in the LA Times on Saturday dealt with the federal government checking out middle eastern students who're here on student visas. In that piece, Corye Barbour, legislative director for the U.S. Student Association, which represents student governments at more than 150 colleges and universities said "We want to be sure that any investigation is done in a fair way and that it doesn't disproportionately target particular communities, especially Middle Eastern students."

So in other words, let's spend an equal amount of time checking out the backgrounds of students from Mexico, Japan, and France as we would on students from Syria and Egypt? Is she nuts? This is a perfect example of Bill Maher's definition of "politically correct." He defines it as when sensitivity take precedence over truth. I think most of us would agree we can't afford that.

On the other hand, some people need to get a grip. Those passengers who refused to fly on a plane because three Arabs were on there should be ashamed of themselves. But that is nothing compared to the nutcases who've been attacking and killing people who they think look to be Arab of Muslim. Just a few days ago in Lancaster, a couple of white guys attacked an Hispanic man because they thought he was Iranian. A month earlier they may well have been hunting for black people. You have to believe those doing these attacks were certainly hateful people before September 11th. In their own sick way, they just now feel their violence is justified.

Just a reminder, we're doing a poll on whether you think it is appropriate for anchors and reporters to wear flag pins and ribbons while on the job. The poll is divided between those in the news media, and those of you who are not. Please take a moment to go to the poll section on the menu, and let us know how you feel.

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.

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