SHEEHAN OUT AT KCBS/KCAL

I first heard about this a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't get it confirmed. But now the word is out, today was entertainment reporter David Sheehan's last day.  According to one source, the fear among some there is that Nancy Bauer Gonazales might right replace him with either Lisa Sigell or Lora McLaughlin, two of the ND's favs. I've heard no word yet on who, if anyone, will actually replace Sheehan. You may recall that after the merger, they found themselves with two entertainment reporters, Sheehan and  Cary Berglund.  The way I heard it then, the decision to keep Sheehan was an economic one, based on whose contract was up first.  Personally, even in LA, I don't think you NEED an entertainment reporter.  KNBC gets by without one. And you'll recall that after Lisa Joyner left KTTV, they did not put another entertainment reporter on their 10pm news. So it will be interesting to see which way they go.

SHAME ON SCHWARZENEGGER AND HIS CAMPAIGN

As you probably heard this week, Rhonda Miller, who claimed that Schwarzenegger abused her during the filming of Terminator 2, has filed a libel suit against the governor, campaign spokesman Sean Walsh, and the Schwartzenegger campaign.  And it looks to me like she has a strong case, at least against Walsh.

It was Walsh who sent an email to the news media during the campaign, which led reporters to an LA Superior Court web site.   According to the LA Times the email said:

"Once you have accessed the site, type 'Rhonda' in the 'first name' field and 'Miller' in the 'last name' field". Referring to Miller's attorney, Gloria Allred, the e-mail went on to say that "we have to believe that as a lawyer, Gloria would have thoroughly checked the facts and background of the individual she presented at a news conference today."  The memo from Walsh began by saying that they got the tip about Miller from the media.  It concluded by accusing Allred of trying to glom onto cameras and making a partisan attack against Schwarzenegger.

Reporters who went to the site found a long list of crimes, ranging from forgery to prostitution to drug selling.  Of course the problem is, this was the wrong Rhonda Miller.   

After getting the email, the Times found that when they typed in Miller's name with Miller's birth date, no criminal record was found.  

The Times also reported:  "Informed that using Miller's birth date turned up no criminal records, Walsh told a Times reporter that he had "worded that e-mail very carefully." Walsh did not respond to requests for comment Monday."

It is VERY CLEAR that Walsh was suggesting that the Rhonda Miller who was accusing Schwarzenegger was the same Rhonda Miller with the criminal record. Why else would he suddenly tell reporters to type in the name of a woman who claims she was groped by Schwarzenegger.  And to make the point even more clear,  Walsh said that Miller's attorney had not thoroughly checked out the background of her client. Boy is that accusation ironic!

An attorney for the governor claims that email did not suggest that Miller has a criminal record. I think it would be entertaining to see an attorney try to sell that to a jury.

I'm not a lawyer, but I would expect at least Walsh, and probably the campaign will eventually reach a settlement on this.  Exactly what escape hatch Walsh feels he left for himself by the way he worded the mail, I don't know.  But it is quite clear that he wanted the media to report that Rhonda Miller had a criminal record, and that is what some did.  

If you believe that Miller is a public figure after her accusation, then she must show that Walsh knew or should have known that she was not the Rhonda Miller with the criminal record. If she's a private figure, which is what law professor Erwin Chemerinksy says she is, then she only has to show that Walsh was at least negligent. In both cases, of course she'll have to prove damages.  Either way,  I would not want to be his lawyer.

THE GOVERNOR'S REACTION

I was especially disappointed in Schwarzenegger's reaction, when Sean Hannity asked him about this lawsuit.  The governor said that email came from the campaign and he really didn't know anything about it. And that was it! You'd think he didn't realize that the email was sent from HIS campaign. I have no idea whether he knew about it or not, though I would not be surprised if he didn't.  But since this was done in his name, he should be outraged!  Maybe he is trying to stay above the fray, and after all, he is being sued too,  but his "why should I worry" attitude about this is disturbing.

And it probably won't surprise you that Hannity didn't challenge him on this. He just let it go.  It was like Hannity felt obliged to bring it up, but was happy to dismiss it as easily as the governor did.  Now can you imagine Hannity's reaction if this had done in the name of a Democrat? This political double-standard that both sides practice is really disgusting.

THOSE WHO REPORTED IT

Shame also on those who reported this libel, without checking it out.  Among those are John and Ken, of KFI.  They eventually had to run an on air retraction.  But it is obviously disturbing that they didn't check it out more carefully before airing this false information. I realize they are talk show hosts, and not reporters, but they still should feel an obligation not to spread bad information about anyone.  I happen to like some of what they do, and something like this can only hurt their credibility, though probably not their ratings.  I imagine this isn't something that would lose them many fans.  I emailed John about this earlier this week, asking him if he was angry at Walsh, and whether this incident had changed the way they check things out before airing them.  John did answer one of my emails on another issue before, but not this time. Considering what an aggressive talk show host he is, it is disappointing that he didn't even respond.

Another person who wouldn't respond is KABC talk show host Kim Serafin. She spread the false information on MSNBC.  Once again, we're talking about a partisan, not a reporter.  

According to an article in the LA Weekly:  "That same day, Allred was ambushed about “Rhonda Miller’s rap sheet” on MSNBC’s Scarborough Country by MSNBC analyst Kim Serafin, the talk-show weekend host for KABC radio in Los Angeles and a former Republican operative for Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Richard Riordan. Serafin said she had “late-breaking news” during a discussion of the multiwoman groping accusations against Schwarzenegger: “This woman, Rhonda Miller, I just heard on the way over here, she has 17 convictions, 16 prostitution convictions, six drug charges convictions. She’s been convicted of theft, of felony. Once we start finding out, when we have more than a day before the election to hear about these charges, we are finding out that maybe these stories are not totally true.”

One my questions for Serafin was whether she's apologized for her rather serious mistake.  As with John Kobylt, it disappoints me that she has not responded.  I guess it's a lot easier to spread misinformation about someone than to talk about it later.

Let's do a poll on this.  

 

PR RELEASE AS NEWS

Every now and again, a story jumps out as sounding like a news release being read on the air. That was the case recently with a story read by a fill-in entertainment reporter on KTLA.  When talking about a parade, she said "The event promises to be an adventure, filled with eye-catching floats, marching bands and celebrities."

Tell me, who but a PR person would call a parade an adventure? And what how many news writers would say eye-catching floats?  Perhaps, her boss Jeff Wald, one of those SPJ Journalists of the Year, should have a talk with someone. I'm sure it would be an adventure.

MORE ANNOYING THAN SANCHEZ?

I recently caught Jennifer Gould and Michael Brownlee filling for Lauren Sanchez and Rick Garcia. And I actually found Gould to be more annoying than Sanchez, which is saying something. Where do they find these people?  Oh that's right, they both attended USC.

Anyway, as Brownlee was reading a story which listed names of actors, Gould interjected "hot" after a couple of them. Like we care who she thinks is good looking?  Then after he said something else, she made some joke, which I didn't even get, in which she said to Brownlee "Thought you were going to say summer was doing spring."  I suppose she was going for something sexual, which is certainly in the Sanchez anchoring tradition.

Wonder when ND Jose Rios will realize what a loser his KCOP news format is?  Or maybe he does know, but figures nothing else would work any better.

WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?

When the Grammy nominations were announced singer Moby made some sort of anti-Bush statement.  During an interview afterward, he talked about using  Bush  for "shameless self-promotion."  The weird part was that KCBS took the "shameless self-promotion" clip and then ran it twice right after Moby said it. On the first repeat the camera shot got tighter, and on second one it got tighter still.   This was a very odd trick to pull in another otherwise straight news story.  Why they did it, I don't know.  But I noticed that the KCAL version I saw later on was without the "special effects."

YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN

While doing a Michael Jackson story, KCAL's Lisa Sigell used a sound bite from former Santa Barbara Sheriff Jim Thomas, in which Thomas says that a second victim from ten years ago didn't want to testify  because it would embarrass him, and he didn't want his friends to find out. Right after that, Sigell said Thomas told CNN that the boy was ashamed to testify and didn't want his friends to find out.  

Doesn't Sigell listen to the sound bites in her own story?

PERSONAL UPDATE

Since I do like to keep you updated on my life, I want to let you know that my girlfriend of more than 10 years, Christy Knorr, and I got married last Friday.

MISPRONUNCIATION?

Unless this is the way this family would actually say it, I have to believe it was a bit of a mistake. KCAL's Sandra Mitchell pronounced Martinez as Martin-ez  as opposed to the usual Marteenuz.  It's been a while since I've heard anyone say Martin-ez, especially in LA.

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