Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

Think whatever you want about our war in Afghanistan. But unless pictures of what is going on compromise our military, we should have the right to see it, right? Well, apparently some US solider thinks otherwise. On a piece which aired on KCAL, a news photographer was trying to take video of Americans who were wounded by an American bomb. A US soldier stopped the news photographer from taking pictures as he said "Come on, we've got wounded Americans!" All the more reason that the photog SHOULD have been taking pictures. Our soldiers are hurt by our bomb, but NO...the public cannot look at them. Who the hell made this soldier the arbiter of news and good taste? It reminds me of some police who try to do the same thing back home.

Obviously, I don't know exactly what the soldiers looked like. "Maybe it was too bloody" you say? Maybe. But let the American TV stations decide if it is suitable for them to show. If the public doesn't like it, you can be sure they would let the TV stations know. That is how an open society works.

Yesterday, I saw video of dead Taliban soldiers. It was graphic enough so that at least one station gave a warning in the intro. Obviously, we feel differently about our soldiers compared to how we feel about the enemy. But war is ugly. The president has warned time and again that we will suffer casualties. Suddenly we've got five of them, and the US military doesn't want us to see. That is NOT their job to make such decisions.

There are reasons to dislike and distrust the news media. Seems like I supply them here on a regular basis. But that does not mean there is not an important role for a free press to play in time of war as well as in time of peace. The restrictions to access are already troubling. Eight members of the news media have already been killed in Afghanistan. Clearly, their lives are at risk over there. Again, barring something which puts our soldiers at risk, let the news media do their job.

I watched the end of a pursuit on KCAL last night. The chasee ran for it, and then finally gave up. He was standing up with his arms out. Apparently, he was told to lie down, which he wasn't doing. He was obviously tired from running and certainly didn't look menacing at that point. Nevertheless, an LA Sheriff's deputy tackled him. Since you never know about what people may do, I can understand that. While he was on the ground, with five deputies over him, one of them slugged the guy three or four times. They were all over him, so he was hard to see from up above. But I could not detect any squirming or resistance from him. KCAL's Larry Welk described it as the deputies "subduing him." Welk made it sound so routine too. I think he should've called more attention to it. It also looked like another deputy may've punched him after the first one. When the video was shown again on their next newscast, as the first deputy punched the man on the ground, Welk said that the suspect was "still fighting."

I have little sympathy for idiots who endanger lives by leading law enforcement on these chases. And this guy may've been a car thief. But it appeared to me as if those punches may not have been necessary. Obviously, I can't be sure, watching it on TV. But whether it turns out to have been proper police behavior or not, I think Welk should've been more even-handed in his commentary. Even something like "the man is apparently fighting back" would've been an improvement. I'm not saying this is Rodney King again by any means, but I think there should be an investigation over how this guy was subdued. I'm guessing a lot of viewers are thinking the same thing.

A CLASSY GESTURE FROM KTLA AND KNBC

As you regular readers know, hard times have fallen on Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp. Yes, money is so tight, Fox could no longer afford to buy their working news staff Thanksgiving dinner. Last week, I suggested that people at other more prosperous stations might want to send a dollar over to KTTV to help out. Staff and the union ended up taking care of it. Here's an email from a KTTVer who wants to say "thanks" to the competition....

"Hi Ron,

Just wanted to let you know that while all of us KTTV'ers that worked Thanksgiving enjoyed the potluck, we also wanted to give a big "thank you" to our colleagues at

NBC4 and KTLA.

On Thanksgiving evening, someone from CH4 (after talking with CH5) called our assignment desk to see if we had a Thanksgiving feast and if not they would send food to us via a courier!

This shows what a class act our colleagues are and we wanted to make sure they

got a heartfelt thanks from us for their generosity and thoughtfulness. While we were

covered for Thanksgiving, the offer was greatly appreciated.

No doubt OTR played a part, but just wanted to make sure that our friends at

Channels 4 and 5 got the kudos they deserve!

A Stuffed, and Grateful, KTTV'er"

Since September 11th, we've seen CNN and The Fox News Channel run a constant crawl. While you see one news story being covered, you get headlines of other stories down below. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, they are a distraction. On the other, they let you know about other stories of significance. But like any good thing-assuming it is a good thing- it can be abused. As I was watching the Larry King Show last week, he was having a serious discussion with Bob Woodward about Afghanistan. Below was a crawl which said, "All dressed up, know where to go 2@CNN.com." So there you have it...crawl as CNN promo. We really don't need that.

On KABC's Sunday Morning news, they went to a live picture of a fire in Compton. The anchors knew absolutely NOTHING about it, other than we could see a lot of black smoke. They didn't know what was on fire, if any other property or lives were in danger...zilch. So what was the purpose of showing this? After a break, they came back with a little more info, but not much more. Why not wait to find out some FACTS before showing this? This common LA TV practice of show it now, figure it out later, is a pretty poor practice for responsible journalism, assuming that is still a goal for LA news.

Here is what a former co-worker of his, who asked to remain anonymous, has to say...

"Ron,

Boy, your column on Paul Mooney sure brought back memories. I used to work with him on the Roseanne talk show and he has to be one of the angriest people I have ever had the displeasure of working with. He sports one of the biggest chips on his shoulder I have ever seen.

Supposedly, he wrote jokes for Richard Pryor back in the day but I find that hard to believe as Pryor is one of the funniest people I have ever seen while Mooney is about as unfunny as they come.

Sorry you had to be exposed to him.

L.

P.S. Love your website. Keep up the good work!!!"

On KCOP, Sam Louie was doing a story about Thanksgiving travel. He mentioned how there was a 30 percent drop in air travel for the week. The point was clear, this was not going to be as busy as past Thanksgivings. Yet when the story was over, anchor Lauren Sanchez said "can imagine lines tomorrow. Wow." Wonder what story she was watching?

Target had started running a spot a couple of weeks ago with a great sounding bluesy song in the background. Now that seems to have vanished. Lately, they've been running one with Kathy Griffin singing...and not singing well. I tell you, even for a laugh, bad singing is often not worth it. That would be the case in this one.

Last night I saw new Mervyn's commercial featuring David Cassidy which I really liked. The Mervyn's woman, who I usually find pretty annoying in their other commercials, opens her door, and there is David Cassidy singing "Do You Believe in Magic?" They go outside, he sings to her, she dances a little, and they have a group of female singer/ dancers. When he finishes singing, the Mervyn's woman says to him "I think I love you." Cassidy has that "oh, not again" look on his face and walks away. Less yip-yapping by the Mervyn's woman definitely is a plus. Well done.

On Saturday, myself and The Amazing Christina will be heading to New York for a few days of vacation. We've never been there, so it should be a real experience. Anyway, that means no OTR next Monday or Wednesday. (I believe it's the first time I'll miss two issues in a row). We'll be back in time for the Friday issue, so I can continue to take her to school on NFL predictions. There will be an issue this Friday, but I just wanted to let you know, in case you don't check in on Friday. Btw, this Friday begins our interview with LA Times TV writer Brian Lowry.

They are always welcome. You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com. Unless you say otherwise, I will assume your comments are for publication. Remember to include your first and last name.

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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