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A media critique... and then some!
Wednesday Letters are up Inside LA TV - More on Kelly Mack. Insider reaction to Sanchez expose. Gould out as anchor? Check out Recent Issues 07-12-05 Tuesday's OTR 07-15-05 Friday's OTR
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MISSING THE STORY ON PENA
It is this sort of coverage which shows how of out touch LA TV news is, and unfortunately, how the politically correct liberal mindset rules the day. If I am wrong, I invite folks from the local newsrooms to write in and state their case.
The story which was largely missed on Friday was the revelation that Jose Pena - the man who caused the shootout which took his daughter's life - was an illegal alien. Why does that matter? For one thing, if our borders were properly enforced, he would not have been here. In fact, the LA Times says after he was convicted of cocaine possession in 1995, he was deported. Obviously he snuck back into the country. I first heard about this from Eric Leonard on KFI. In fact, his coverage on this, as he spoke with John & Ken, was more comprehensive than what was in the LA Times.
Criminal illegals are a serious problem. Sheriff Baca has said more than 20 percent of his inmates are in the US illegally. Armando Garcia, the man who murdered Deputy David March, was an illegal alien. NO, the point is not that most illegals are here to commit crimes. I think we all know better. But the point is, if you do not control the border, then you are going to be letting in bad guys too. And given what a hot issue the border is right now, it is journalistic malpractice not to report that Pena was in America illegally.
I watched every TV station on Friday, and
KNBC was the ONLY TV station which I saw which reported on Pena's
illegal status. And ironically, it was the reporter I have referred
to as Lefty Laurel, Laurel Erickson, who reported on it during their
5pm news. According to Erickson, "He was in the
US
illegally. Authorities say he was deported on
While I certainly give credit to KNBC for
being willing to report on a non-PC reality, I still have to
say that Erickson buried the lead. She didn't tell viewers about
Pena's background until one minute into her story. And I would
suggest that the anchor lead was weak. Here is what Chuck Henry
said: "Right now in
Why not tell viewers up front that the guy was an illegal alien, or for the politically correct class, an undocumented worker? Here is the way I would have written it: "It turns out the man at the center of a controversial police shootout was here illegally and had been deported. Laurel Erickson is in South Los Angeles, where family and friends of the 19-month old who was killed, are gathering to remember her."
You tell me... WHICH lead-in is more likely to make you watch the story? And further, the revelation of Pena's past was the BIG news of the day on the story. How do you NOT report that?
Btw...the Times saved Pena's illegal status for the 12th paragraph of their Saturday story. I emailed reporter Natasha Lee to ask her about that, but she did not respond.
Meantime I checked KABC at 4pm and 5pm, KCBS at 4pm, KCAL, KTLA and KTTV at 10pm and KNBC at 11pm. (KABC, KCBS and KCOP dropped their 11pm newscasts Friday night in favor of a truck pursuit). None of them told their viewers about Pena's past. A story which KFI had in the afternoon, and which KNBC had at 5pm. KNBC, which skipped the chase, also skipped his background during their Pena shooting story at 11pm.
How could all of these newscasts miss this important story? Could they actually not think it is significant. Could they be that out-of-touch with reality? Have they not noticed what a big issue illegal immigration is right now? It is all of this which gives conservatives strong ammunition when they complain about liberal media bias. Slanting a story is one thing. But withholding it is far worse.
I DON'T GET THIS ONE
KNBC's Angie Crouch said the oddest thing in her story at 11pm. When she was concluding, she said "Tonight police say they’re waiting for the coroner’s report for the final word on whether it was police bullets or Pena’s that killed him and the child."
What? Autopsy results already released two days earlier said it was police bullets. I can't imagine what final word they would be expecting on that. My understanding is that the autopsy left no doubts on that question.
COVERING THE MEETING
The LAPD held a community meeting at Parker Center about the Pena shooting. Everyone ran sound bites that were both angry and supportive. But I was impressed with a particular sound bite that Ed Laskos ran from the LAPD's Assistant Chief George Gascon. "If Mr Pena shot and killed potentially up to two or three hostages, you would be here, calling us a bunch of cowards."
I think that it a very worthwhile quote, and I give credit to Laskos for running it.
EXCELLENT JOB BY GRACIETTE
When the street demonstrations began earlier in the week, I was especially impressed by the story turned in by KCOP's Gigi Graciette. It was the best one I saw.
She reported that mother Lorena Lopez screamed in Spanish that she wants justice for her daughter Suzie. Lopez also said her husband was a good man "an innocent victim of police brutality." That was followed by the sound bite from Chief Bratton, calling Pena "a cold blooded killer."
Graciette reported that Bratton said hours before the shootout, Lopez herself had filed a police report against him. Bratton said "She alleged that the husband, among other things, had threatened to kill her." Less than two hour later, her 16-year old step daughter called 911. Pena had threatened to kill her, the baby, her mother and himself.
Then, Graciette said "Since only yesterday, Lopez told us she had no problems with Pena, today we asked her about that police report. 'Police will say anything because they know they’re guilty,' said Lopez, but she wouldn’t answer the question about the police report."
The only other reporter I saw who seemed to ask Lopez about that was KTTV's Christina Gonzalez. (Maybe because both of them speak Spanish). In the Gonzalez piece, she reported that Chief Bratton had said that Lopez had filed a police report against her husband. She followed that info by saying "Refuting that, Lorena Lopez, the baby’s mother. It was her 17 year old daughter, Pena’s own stepchild, who called police the second time that day…."
Of course "refuting that" is different than refusing to answer the question. And if Lopez denied making that report, that would sure put her credibility into question, wouldn't it?
But Graciette had something even better, which no on else had. She talked on the phone with Pena's mother in El Salvador. The mother told Graciette that Pena and his wife were in the process of separating and that Pena feared losing his daughter. According to her translation: "Just last week my son told me that when he died, his daughter Suzie would be in his arms."
That is not only compelling reporting, but I would think that is information that more people in the community should know. Makes it appear that Pena had been planning this.
On KNBC, Beverly White reported that police said Pena had recklessly exposed his daughter to gunfire. But a cousin of Pena told White "You need somebody to negotiate with him, but police didn’t do that. Oh they just rushed in. They didn’t care about the poor little baby. They just rushed in. They didn’t care."
That bite bothered me because White did not follow it with info that police did try to negotiate with the guy. That info was out there at that point, but maybe she'd not heard it yet.
On KCBS, Sandra Mitchell had a different angle. We learned that Pena had another family. This other woman says Jose Pena was her husband and father of her three kids. This said she is Pena' wife. So, in Mitchell's story, she referred to Lorena Lopez as "Pena's other wife." I certainly don't expect Mitchell to be able to figure out which marriage is legit, yet "Pena's other wife" sounded pretty odd.
On that Tuesday night, when everyone else was out on the scene, KTLA wasn't there. While there was still plenty to report from earlier in the day, KTLA was the only station not to cover the demonstration. Hmmm...they can send a report to Iran, but they can't one to South LA?
Lu Parker reported from the set on new info given out that day by Chief Bratton. And Jaime Chambers reported from earlier in the day on the family's reaction to the tragedy.
JUST THINKING....
I haven't seen every story on this subject by any stretch. But with Lopez obviously lying, based on her statements reported by Graciette and Gonzalez, I wonder how often reporters are bringing up her lack of credibility. In some stories, I would think that would be relevant.
THE POLL CONTINUES - FIRST ROUND VOTING
BEST LA TV FIELD REPORTER
The way the votes are coming in, we could have a runoff with four of five people...it's that close. Some people have voted for more than one person. In those cases, I deleted all of their votes. They are welcome to vote again, as long as it is just for ONE person.
Please click on the name of your choice, and the hit "send."
Dave Lopez - KCBS/KCAL
Marc Coogan - KCBS/KCAL
Beverly White - KNBC
Michele Gile - KCAL/KCBS
Craig Fiegener - KCBS/KCAL
Robert Kovacik - KNBC
Bill Smith - KTLA
Patrick Healy - KNBC
Sandra Mitchell -KCAL/KCBS
Gigi Graciette - KCOP
Elizabeth Espinoza - KTTV
Nischelle Turner - KTTV
Eric Spillman - KTLA
Pablo Pereira - KABC
Jane Yamamoto - KTTV
Jaime Garza - KCAL/KCBS
Gene Gleeson - KABC
John Gregory - KABC
Willa Sandmeyer - KTLA
Hal Eisner - KCOP/KTTV
Cary Berglund - KNBC
Kim Baldonado - KNBC
Gayle Anderson - KTLA
Angela Chee - KNBC
Vikki Vargas - KNBC
Patricia Del Rio - KTLA
MAKE UP!
Normally, you'll hear Mark Kriski introduce chopper pilot/reporter Desiree Horton. But on one morning last week, they cut to her without the intro, and there she was, checking her make-up.
My thanks to Don Barrett for pointing this one out. As Don said on his web site www.laradio.com, it did almost seem like the director was trying to embarrass her.
FOX BIAS
If it wasn't for Fox, where would we get the conservative bias to balance out the liberal bias you see elsewhere from time to time?
Said Brit Hume recently – "the feeding frenzy over Karl Rove enters its second day with another round of unanswered questions at the White House briefing."
Notice the negative terms FNC uses in reference to reporters. Feeding frenzy. Not exactly a neutral term, is it? Do you think Fox would call it a feeding frenzy if the target were a liberal? It's possible, but I doubt it. And look at how the graphic says the reporters are "rabid." I don't think aggressive responsible reporters are generally considered or called rabid, except maybe by those in their sights. And when you consider that they were given false information by Scott McClellan two years ago regarding Karl Rove, you sure can't blame them for pressing the issue.
I do feel sorry for McClellan at this point. Unless he knew he was passing along a lie, he really is just a guy caught in the middle. Now he has to sit there and be a punching bag. Then again, I suppose he could quit.
CLICHE PROVED TRUE
TIME
With Time Magazine turning over the notes of reporter Mathew Cooper to the special prosecutor while the New York Times Judith Miller goes to jail, I have come to realize that this proves a time-honored TV news cliche: Only Time will tell.
HOW ABOUT A PROPER INTRODUCTION?
I've been forgetting to mention this one. The first Saturday when Danny Romero joined KABC, there was no introduction. No "And we welcome Danny Romero, a new member of the Eyewitness News family...." Well, I can do without the bogus family stuff we often hear in these situations, but I did think it was strange that his being new was not acknowledged. In fact, I only noticed him being referred to as Danny. Brand new to the station, and viewers are supposed to already know him by his first name??
Sure some people had already seen him on KNBC. And maybe even a few remember him from KCOP. Still I'd never seen a new person come on board like that anywhere before.
NOT A GOOD IDEA
While KTTV's Liz Habib was doing a live shot for the new Harry Potter book, the crowd behind her was not making any noise. So she turned around and said "So you got quiet on me all of a sudden."
And guess what? At Habib's prompting, they started yelling. This is 100 percent WRONG. It is NOT the job of a reporter to stage a reaction to their story. You'd think it would be refreshing to have a crowd not playing to the camera.
THAT EYE PROBLEM ISN'T GONE
I thought maybe Habib had solved her "big eyes" problem, but apparently not.
I imagine it is not easy to control something that may come naturally. But I think she should work on it, because it can be disconcerting for viewers.
NOT QUITE
In a story about Magic Johnson, Sandra Mitchell called him "Irving Johnson." I realize that there is not a big difference between Irving and Earvin. But I did listen several times, and used my super duper double Matt Cooper hearing powers...and that is how it sounded to me.
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