Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

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Yes, it is true. I read on LAObserved.com that Wald is among those being honored as a Journalist of the Year by the LA Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. I haven't been this baffled by an award since the LA Press Club decided to honor Laura Diaz earlier this year. I normally like to go at least one year between baffling award moments.

Remember, it was under Wald that anchor Lynette Romero (along with Mark Kriski) co-hosted an infomercial show for cable outlets. I was never able to get Wald or his GM to comment on it. How can a Journalist of the Year allow that, and then not even be willing to defend it? As I recall, Romero suggested to me that it was not an infomercial show, but after talking to the producer of it, I had no doubt that it was a show of infomercial "news stories." I'm sure many of you remember this. So rather than admit to this unethical practice, Wald put his head in the sand.

Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

No TV news department is worse than KTLA when it comes to planting promos for their network as news stories. For example, you may recall this item in OTR from October: Hal Fishman read a story on the Friday before last, mentioning that Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill would be on channel 5 on the following Tuesday. He also told us that the LA Times would include a WB magazine in the Sunday newspaper with an "exclusive look at what is being called the WB's hottest season ever."

Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

As I've pointed out before, KTLA reporter Warren Wilson is biased. For example:

There was a story about LA County vaccinating health care workers for small pox, as part of bioterrorism preparedness. Wilson concluded "Given the time frame (for health officials) and the propaganda context for war with Iraq, makes this seem very urgent."

Exactly what he meant by "propaganda context" he didn't say. But the implication seems to be that Wilson doesn't trust what the Bush Administration is saying. The word "propaganda" is never used in a positive way, is it? It does not belong in the story, at least not if you're trying to do a fair one.

KTLA is also a station which more than others, tends to identify criminal suspects by race and ethnicity, even when there is no detailed description to go with it, and sometimes no description at all.

Wald is also the man who hired Claudia Trejos, Mindy Burbano and Jamie Chambers.

I've sent an email to the Society of Professional Journalists president to see why they've decided to honor Wald. I'll let you know if I get a response.

I've also asked some KTLA insiders what they think of this honor for their boss. You can check Inside LA TV to see what they have to say.

As you can see, KABC still wins everything except 11pm. While KNBC doesn't appear to be recovering from it's early morning doldrums, it is doing better at 5 and 6pm, though still trails KABC. KCBS is still a non-factor at most times of the day, though it did see some nice gains at both 6am and 6pm. 6pm? Isn't that the newscast that Gretchen Carr used to anchor? You know, the anchor they just got rid of. Yes, it was. KTLA has won narrow victories over KTTV at both 7am and 10pm. When you look at the lead-in KTTV has going into the 10pm, ND Jose Rios has got to be troubled. KCOP went from low to even lower at 11pm, but I don't think that should surprise anyone who's watched this poor excuse of a newscast.

When talking about cleavage during ratings last week, I forgot this one. This a promo for the KCBS early morning news. I realize the quality of this photo from the TV is less than wonderful, but I think you can see that Suzanne Rico now appears to be dressing like Lisa Joyner. Showing skin and bringing the news...just what is the connection?

SOMETHING MISSING FROM THIS STORY

For one of their sweeps reports, KTLA had a story about "Lesbian Chic." It gave them a chance to show the Britney/Madonna video again as they talked about the alleged popularity of young woman kissing each other, in order to get attention from guys. Such a fine piece of journalism also gave them an excuse to show some Girls Gone Wild video. They talked to a lesbian, who resented others who 'pretend' just for the attention. And they talked to some guys about their perception of this. But one thing that was obviously missing were any women who take part in this girl-on-girl stuff. If it really is so widespread that it is worthy of a story, then how come they couldn't find any of these women to interview?

THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER BY NOW

Not too many years ago, everyone reported that the Friday after Thanksgiving was the busiest shopping day of the year. Then someone realized that was false. By now, you would have thought everyone in the news biz would know better, right? Well not quite. KNBC's Michele Ruiz promoted their Friday coverage as it being the busiest shopping day of the year. But someone else reported that the busiest day is usually the Saturday before Christmas.

SANCHEZ WAS RIGHT ABOUT THIS

Yes, sometimes even Lauren Sanchez makes sense. This involved a story read by Maria Quiban about the number of times Paris Hilton went to the bathroom during a movie. Quiban began the story by saying "I can't believe that people pay attention." To which Sanchez added, "I can't believe we're doing the story." If Quiban thought it was so wacky that anyone would keep track, you have to wonder why she included it in her entertainment report. I suppose KCOP prides itself in being tacky, but they could've done without this one.

FIRST LOOK?

It's bad enough when a station is a day later than everyone else with the same story. But KTLA looked very silly last week. At least a day after everyone else, they ran the story about the nudity in the Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue. And they promoted the story by telling viewers they'd get their first look at the catalogue. When they ran a sound bite as part of the story, the only microphone belonged to KABC. So it would be my guess that they took the story off the CNN feed. There's no law against that....but the way they played it...not good.

WHAT WAS HE DOING THERE?

I was watching the KTLA Morning News lasts week, as Sam Rubin ran some soundbites from Mindy Burbano from the night before. Among all the celebs, there was KNBC traffic reporter Steve Truitt, which gave Rubin a good chuckle. "What's the KNBC traffic guy doing there?" It did seem rather odd, as I guess Burbano decided to slip in a TV friend. But at least he looked like he fit in.

SO FAR SO GOOD

My GI doc said everything looked fine in my colonoscopy last week. He also took some biopsies, just as a precaution. I haven't heard anything back about that, so at this point, I imagine they were negative.

This also gives me a chance to remind all of you who are 50 or more to be sure and get yourself a colonoscopy. It's not that big of an inconvenience, and it just might save your life.

BROADCASTEZE VIOLATION

Who: Many people

Where: Many stations

What: "slain" police officer.

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