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A media critique... and then some!
Wednesday Letters are UP Inside LA TV - Guess who is back at work? And an update on the new ND at KNBC. Links to Recent Issues 11-05-01 Monday's OTR 10-24-01 Wednesday's OTR 11-02-01 Friday's OTR If you'd like to send a contribution to help keep OTR going, you can send 10 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...Gene Tackett*, Rachel Ehrenberg*, Paul Young*, and one person who asked to stay anonymous. Your help is appreciated! *Given more than ten dollars |
To get on the OTR email reminder list, email me at BRUIN74@aol.com. |
BOB PETTEE ARRESTED
Former KNBC pilot/reporter Bob
Pettee was arrested Monday on suspicion of possession/transfer
of two machine guns. The US Attorney's office says he was
pulled over by a police car near his home, and then was taken to
his home where ATF agents served a
search warrant on his house. US Attorney spokesman Thom Mrozek
says they did not find any illegal
weapons at his home.
The Feds say that one of their undercover officers negotiated a
deal in August to buy two automatic weapons from a man named Jeff
Miller. The buy was made for five thousand dollars. Miller was
arrested a couple of weeks ago. Miller said he was selling them
on behalf of Pettee. Pettee has been released on a 25
thousand dollar bond. If convicted...the maximum penalty is
ten years in prison.
Pettee's attorney, Charles Mathews held a news conference last
night, saying that Pettee would never knowingly break the law. He
also called the charge against Pettee bogus. In response to an
email from OTR, Mathews wrote back
"Mr. Pettee is not guilty of any crime. He did nothing
which should be considered violative of the law and has been
wrongly accused."
KCOP IRRESPONSIBLE, AGAIN
You may've heard about the 'don't go to the mall on Halloween' email which circulated after September 11th. I heard John and Ken read it on their radio show several weeks ago, and it was obvious to me, as it was to them, that it was bogus. Sometime between then and Halloween, the FBI officially announced that it was BS (I believe they used different words). Yet, when KCOP did a story from a shopping mall on Halloween, anchor Rick Chambers asked in the lead-in if the mall email was "just an urban legend?"
When reporter Sam Louie did his story, interviewing people at the mall, it seemed implicit that the rumor was unfounded, though I don't recall a clear cut "The FBI has already discredited that email." But by even posing the question, without immediately debunking it, that suggested that there may be something to it. We know the email was a fraud, so why not say so right from the start? I think it's clear the point was...let's frighten the viewer. This is nothing new for local news, but when it is done around this sort of story, after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, it is shameful. You wonder why people don't trust the news media like they used to?
MORE SUBTLE IRRESPONSIBILITY
I suppose there may be a frustration for those who work on weekend news. Not much happens locally, so maybe producers take old news from during the week, and try to make it sound current. Anyway, that is my setup for a lead-in read by Rick Romero on KABC's Sunday Morning newscast. As you'll recall, Gray Davis warned on Thursday that California bridges may be the target of a terrorist attack, even though the FBI could not say the threat was a credible one. (Yesterday they said it was not). Obviously, the announcement got some people worried, but nothing happened Friday or Saturday. Then on the KABC Sunday Morning News, Rick Romero said "There's new concern" about the safety of California bridges. Considering the story had been around since Thursday, wouldn't NEW concern mean something else has happened? It would if we were dealing with people whose first priority was accurate reporting. But let's face it, sometimes simply trying to make a story sound more current, can be very misleading. The fact is, there was NOTHING new about the possible threat to bridges on Sunday Morning. Yet, the story could've been written with a "today" peg, without misleading anybody. All they had to say was "The National Guard are still keeping an eye on California bridges...." Then, they could've explained the Davis warning from Thursday. How tough would that be to do? In a story like this, "new" is not a word to throw around loosely.
IT'S TRUE...BUT
Last week KABC anchor Gene Gleeson reported that anthrax is "getting closer to California," after some contamination was found in Kansas City. While it was accurate, I would suggest that the way it was written, it could frighten as much as inform the viewer. "Oh no! It's getting closer! HELP!!" Remember this anthrax problem is not like the killer bees, as they slowly made their way north from South America. It could hit California tomorrow, or it could never get here. I would not put this in the league with the examples above. I know some of you figure I'm being too picky. But my suggestion would be that you tell the viewers about the KC connection, but no need to play up the geographic proximity, since it really doesn't mean anything in this case.
NEW ND, SAME MIA
I had a feeling that with Nancy Bauer Gonzales in charge at KCAL, anchor Mia Lee might start to dress more professionally. Apparently not. It was hard not to notice her bra yesterday on the news, since she was wearing a see through top under her open jacket. Meantime, Jane Velez Mitchell is out in the field reporting, and managing to keep her underwear to herself. Go figure.
DOESN'T SOUND RIGHT TO ME EITHER
In a recent story, KCBS anchor Ann Martin said that a mother and her two kids have "critical, but not life-threatening injuries, apparently." I can see why she ad-libbed "apparently." I've always understood that critical means life-threatening. Of course the word "critical" has other meanings too. Like, it is critical to the success of a newscast for anchors to pre-read their scripts.
SOMEONE SHOULD'VE NOTICED
An OTR reader tells me that yesterday on KCAL, Jamie Garza mispronounced the name of the Secretary of Defense as Donald Rumfeld...forgetting the 's'. Obviously, it's not a good thing when the name of a man who is in the news nearly every day is said incorrectly by a reporter. But what especially baffled our reader, and me too, is that no one bothered to correct the problem. The mispronunciation ran during their noon, two and three.
THERE HE GOES AGAIN
Whether to paint the Hollywood Sign red, white and blue for Veteran's Day has been a local controversy. During a story on KCBS, honorary Hollywood mayor Johnny Grant said that he was in favor of it. Harold Greene then ad-libbed, "If Johnny Grant says it's okay, it's okay." Well, apparently it wasn't okay, since the proposal has died. Once again, should an anchor be inserting his opinion into a local controversy?
CNN SHOULD DO BETTER
The occasional typo/misspelling is one thing for this humble little web site. But I think CNN Headline News had me beat this weekend. They had a large graphic which read "Religous Reversal."
COMING FRIDAY
We begin our next interview, with KTLA Morning News Anchor Carlos Amezcua.
QUOTE FROM RAY ROMANO
His co-star Patricia Heaton won an Emmy for the second year in a row, while Romano has not won a best actor Emmy. Speaking on The KTLA Morning News, he asked "Does anyone have Paul Reiser's phone number?"
LITERAL VIOLATION OF THE WEEK
Who: Laurie Dhue
Where: Fox News Channel
What: the candidates for New York Mayor are running "literally neck and neck."
Does this woman even know what "literally" means?
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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