A media critique... and then some! 10/17/01 - Wednesday Wednesday Letters - Opinions on what is  a hero, Sam Rubin, Israel and more. Inside LA TV - an insider tells OTR something KTLA should look out for with their new morning co-anchor. Links to Recent Issues 10-15-01 Monday's OTR 10-10-01 Wednesday's OTR 10-12-01 Friday's OTR OTR can use your help to keep publishing. If you like it, 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   Your help is very  much appreciated! Send your opinions to BRUIN74@aol.com.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF PAYING ATTENTION

This one come from an OTR reader who works in TV news. I'm told that KNBC took a live shot from West Palm Beach, after a third anthrax exposure. Reporter Steven Stock mentioned that this third victim was a coworker of the two men infected, who all worked in the American Media building. After Stocker's report, Moyer immediately asked if the woman worked in the same building as the other two.  I'm told the reporter answered the question, and was nice enough not to point out that he'd already given the information.  As I've said here before, IF anchors are going to ask follow up questions, they really must listen to the story.

PAYING ATTENTION - PART TWO

As it happens, this second case also happened on KNBC.  Dr Bruce Hensel was on set talking about Anthrax.  Right at the start, he explained that there are three different ways to get Anthrax...through the skin, the nose, and the mouth.  The majority of his report dealt with the first two methods. When he was finished, Michele Ruiz referenced those two, and then asked, "Is there another form?"  So, is there a rule at KNBC which forbids anchors from listening to other people's reports?

PAYING ATTENTION - PART THREE

I've saved the most ridiculous for last. It's so bad, we might as well have a little fun with it. So, I'll tell you what this anchor said, and if you like, you can drop me an email and guess which anchor it was. 

With video covering the following stories...this anchor read a piece about an Anti-American demonstration in Pakistan. The co-anchor then read the next  story which said "And in Iraq, a huge anti-American rally in Baghdad...thousands showing up to protest the attack of Afghanistan and sympathy with its people, saying they know what it is like to be under US guns." At that point the next piece of video was from the Barents Sea for a story about the Kursk. Instead of reading that story, this anchor read "And in Iraq, a huge anti-American rally in Baghdad...thousands showing up to protest the attack of Afghanistan..."  That's right, this anchor re-read half of the previous story!  At that point, they paused four to five seconds... and then said "Sorry about that. Barents Sea, we'll get back to that one in a second."

How do you get that far into a story before you realize it is the SAME story your co-anchor just finished reading???  Send me an email at BRUIN74@aol.com, and tell who you think this person was.

A LITTLE TOO FORMAL, DON'T YOU THINK?

KCBS reporter Michael Brownlee was doing a story in which he briefly recapped something reporter Paul Dandridge had said. He said " Just to reiterate what Mr Dandridge said early today...."  MR?  Paul may be a senior correspondent, but he's not that senior. I don't think anyone is.

I HAVE MY DOUBTS

Given Mike Boguslawski's track record with the truth, I was a little skeptical when I read that he had hired Johnny Cochran to represent him.  KCBS fired him last week, and Inside.com reported that Boguslawki said he had hired Cochran. That may be true. But I can tell you I called Cochran's office two days in a row, asking if Boguslawski was a client. On the second day, a secretary assured me that my message had been passed on...but still no response. Of course no return call to OTR  doesn't necessarily mean anything. But it does make me wonder. You know KCBS is serious about this. They've removed the "Mr Bogey" placard from his old parking space.

THE LEAD-IN MATCHING THE STORY

Last Saturday on KCBS, Drew Griffin read a lead which told that a fire keeps on burning in Santa Clarita. You had to believe this was turning out to be one difficult fire. But then the following live report from a chopper reporter said that it was almost fully contained. So obviously the writer of the lead-in and the reporter had two different ideas of what was going on....or, maybe just another case of a news writer trying to sensationalize a story.  There was a similar problem on KNBC, as Diane Diaz said that the the fire went "through Santa Clarita."  Actually, it was in the hills just above the city. Homes were threatened, but none burned. Let's face it, if you hear that a fire burned "through" a city, that makes it sound a lot more serious, doesn't it. You could imagine a lot of homes must've been destroyed.  Once again, it appears that accuracy takes a back seat to making a story sound more frightening.

ABOUT THOSE GUARDSMEN

My belief is, the terrorists already gave us their best shot where airplanes are concerned. Never again, will Americans sit by passively should their plane be hijacked. Al-Qaeda must know this. Nevertheless, I understand the reason for National Guardsmen at the airport. Their #1 goal is to make us all feel secure in flying again. But as I was reading a story about the Guard at the airport in the newspaper, on the same page was a story about an increase in gang crime in Orange County. I thought to myself, why don't we also use the National Guard against street gangs? People are afraid to walk the streets of their own neighborhood at night. This is nothing new. But why should we leave the problem to our understaffed police force? When you come right down do it, isn't the safety in our streets just as important as the safety in our sky? September 11th has caused us to see our world differently. A recent poll showed a vast majority of black Americans support profiling, at least where Arabs are concerned. Certainly, you can make a case that race or ethnicity can be a factor, in crime prevention, without being a blank check to harass a group of innocent people. Anyway, as long as we are taking a second look about all of this, I would suggest that National Guardsmen should be considered for our city streets in high crime areas. Not too long ago, I talked with some people in a high crime area, who complained that police weren't there when they needed them. Once the squad car drives away, the criminals come out. Don't those people deserve to feel as secure in their neighborhoods as we all should feel in an airplane?

TERRORISM AND GANG MEMBERS

I found it interesting that the president of the LA Police Commission was thinking along similar lines at a meeting last night. No, he didn't say anything about the national guard...but after a woman complained about living next door to a gang leader and being afraid to tell police....Rick Caruso said that if this guy were a terrorist, the law would be all over him. He asked the police to provide a report to compare how they treat gang members compared to how they would pursue a terrorist. As he pointed out, gang members are terrorists in their neighborhoods.  

ONE OF THOSE WEEKS

I'm reporting at KNX Tuesday thru Friday this week...which definitely cuts into OTR time. So I'll wrap up this edition now...and be with you again on Friday, along with the usual updates in the Letters Page. Also,  remember to check out the Poll for your opinions on Osama Bin Laden.

By the way....since I always like to let you know how we're doing here...Monday of last week...October 8th....saw more than 23 hundred hits on our Fastcounter. That's either a record for OTR, or close to one.  Now, if all of them were financial supporters, we'd really be in good shape, wouldn't we?  Anyway, as always, thanks for reading!  

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.