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A media critique... and then some!
Wednesday Letters are up Inside LA TV - Kelly Mack is coming back soon. And a KTLA newcomer claims I misstated her job. Did I? Coming Friday - What reporter Chris Blatchford tells OTR that the chief of staff for an LA City Councilman called him. You may want to keep the kids away from computer when this comes on the screen. Blatchford also says he threatened Blatchford's job. And I'll tell you what the chief of staff has to say about all this. And yes, I'll identify which city councilman. Check out Recent Issues 07-19-05 Tuesday's OTR 07-22-05 Friday's OTR
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KCBS/KCAL SHOWS MISERABLE JUDGMENT - HAVE THEY NO SHAME?
KCBS and KCAL aired a story about a "possible" terrorist threat on Friday night, after they knew that the "threat" had been discredited by the FBI.
Here is the lead-in read by KCBS anchor Laura Diaz at
11pm as their lead story: "It would be a nightmare
scenario for
Sounds scary, doesn't it? But after that lead-in, Carter Evans, who was reporting live at the Federal Building in Westwood, said the FBI says that report "is not credible." How can Diaz say the Feds are taking it seriously, using the present tense, when they KNOW the FBI has already dismissed it??? If that isn't a LIE to the public, I don't know what is. And in fact the report did not come out "tonight" as Diaz implied, but much earlier in the day. What happened "tonight" was word that the FBI had exposed it as baseless. Yet, they did the story.
After Evans told viewers the FBI found the report not credible, they proceeded with his pre-taped story, which was apparently put together before the FBI dismissed the threat. In that story, Evan interviewed Brian Jenkins of the Rand corporation, who didn't think there was anything to be frightened about unless there was some corroboration. So at least they had interviewed someone with both feet on the ground. But the story also included details of this now non-existent threat, including 11 members of Al Qaeda here in California, ready to take part in the attack. Suppose someone tuned it right after Evans' lead-in? They wouldn't know the FBI had discounted it.
I took that graphic from KCAL's 10pm news, which ran the same Evans' story, after Evan had also told that audience the FBI had dismissed the threat. The lead-in read by anchors David Gonzales and Pat Harvey was similar in tone to what Diaz read.
I think it is questionable to run a story on unconfirmed and uncorroborated terrorist threats. Making it a lead story only makes matters worse. Especially when this supposed attack, which doesn't name any specific targets, isn't supposed to come until September or October. What is the point, other than to FRIGHTEN viewers? But when you know that threat has been discredited by the FBI, what possible news value can there be?
The truth is there on tape for all to see. KCBS/KCAL lied to viewers, and the only reason I can find is to frighten them in the interest of increased ratings. I know that "lie" is a strong word. It means an intentional deception. Look at what Laura Diaz said, knowing that the threat was bogus! I blame whoever wrote that script, whoever approved it and I blame Diaz if she knew that the threat had been ruled non-existent. Same standard goes for Pat Harvey, David Gonzales and the 10pm KCAL crew.
This is absolutely shameful. I would think that in a station with strong integrity those who approved of this deception could lose their jobs. But as the standards for Los Angeles television news continue to sink...as the local newscasts become more irrelevant....I wonder if anyone at KCBS/KCAL management even cares.
This story was based on a memo from the California Hospital Association to its hospitals. It is the sort of unconfirmed threats that the California Department of Homeland Security gets from the Federal government about once a month. The state then routinely passed them along to emergency personnel like hospitals. KCBS/KCAL had to know that, especially since it was first reported by KNBC at 5pm. The key difference between KNBC and KCBS/KCAL, is that KNBC ran it before knowing the FBI had dismissed it.
SPEAKING OF KNBC
As I watched this story lead their 5pm news,
I was convinced it was not a lead, and questioned whether it should
even be on the news. Colleen Williams said "Breaking
news....claims of a terrorist threat against the city of Los
Angeles." Paul Moyer continued... "A possible, underline
the word, possible terrorist threat against Los Angeles. Here is what we know. A government source has some uncorroborated
or unsubstantiated information.
It suggests that Al Qaeda has plans to attack
Conan Nolan did the story from the KNBC newsroom. He repeatedly emphasized that it was all uncorroborated. Yet, they showed video of County USC Medical Center with "Breaking News" over the video! Was that actually mentioned in the report? No. According to Nolan "we have no idea again if this was the target hospital, and we have no idea if this information is accurate."
Yet, there they were leading with this story as "Breaking News." I think it showed a real lapse in good news judgment. I really don't know...but I would hope Nolan did this story under protest. At the end of Nolan's piece, he said they'd just received word from Sacramento that they get this sort of unconfirmed terrorist report once a month. Had they known that ahead of time, you have to wonder if KNBC would've made such a big deal out of this one. In fact, I wondered if they would even report the story at 11pm.
HENRY'S POOR 'MOP-UP' JOB
Of course by 11pm, they knew that it was all bogus. So they had Chuck Henry do a story which appeared to be an attempt to justify why KNBC did the story in the first place. And this wasn't their lead this time, but came about five minutes into the newscast. Part of the problem was that Henry did not deliver what was promised.
Here was Moyer's lead-in: “More
proof tonight that we are indeed living in trying times. A written
warning about a possible terrorist threat was sent to hundreds of
On the one hand, at least KNBC admitted in their lead-in that there was nothing to it, unlike KCBS/KCAL. When Moyer said "perhaps scaring a lot of people," he should have been honest enough to suggest that it was KNBC which began scaring a lot of people by running the story in the first place! Sadly, such honesty from your local TV news is not so easy to come by these days.
Unlike what Moyer promised, Henry never showed us "how it began," other than what we already knew at 5pm. Henry said that it is "actually quite a story." It wasn't. Henry's intro concluded "It is this letter right here with very lengthy details of a possible threat. But why was the letter sent if the threat was without credibility?"
He recounted some of the recent terrorist attack like what happened in London and Egypt. He reference the increased security in New York subways. As if to make KNBC sound like some confused victim in a dangerous world, Henry said "People and governments are becoming almost schizophrenic about what the public should know."
Frankly, I don't even know what that means. Governments have turned psychotic? They're having trouble with reality? They can't decide what to release? I don't know. But it wasn't the government which asked KNBC to do the story, though it appears that KNBC would like to blame them for their poor news judgment. Henry interviewed someone from the state Department of Homeland Security who said that people would rather know than not know what is going.
Henry also was 100% inaccurate when he said that the California Hospital Association memo, which KNBC used as the basis for their story at 5pm, was released "tonight." Honestly...after they did the story at five pm, how could Henry said the memo came out "tonight?" Or is he just used to saying everything on the 11pm news happened "tonight" in order to fool viewers into thinking the news is more current than it is? Again, it was the invalidation of that report which came out "tonight."
Henry also interviewed Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona who said he had not even heard of this threat and advised people to stay calm. He said if something was really likely to happen, either local law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security (federal, I assume) or the FBI would say something. In other words, I think Corona was saying, don't get your terrorist threat information from the California Hospital Association.
Henry concluded "So how did an unsubstantiated threat get
distributed. All the state Department of Homeland Security here in
What KNBC should have done -- and this would take journalistic courage -- they should have explained their thought process in running the story in the first place. Did they ever hesitate? Did they debate it? Did they consider the problems with running an uncorroborated terrorist threat as their lead story at 5pm? Would they do this again? They were the ones to break this "story." Rather than dance around it, they should have faced it head on. I believe the viewers would have respected that. I know I would have.
LET'S NOT FORGET KTTV
KTTV was unique in that they were the only
station to run the story after the FBI had discounted it, without
knowing that. Christine Devine read the following story at
10pm: "There is word of a new Al Qaeda threat targeting
Near as I can tell... KABC, KTLA and KCOP stayed away from the story.
WHY WOULD KEVIN TAKUMI SAY THIS?
I received the following letter from KTTV/KCOP chopper reporter Kevin Takumi.
Dear Ron,
In regards to the big rig pursuit last week, I think you should have
finished the sentence I said about the CHP discussing the PIT
maneuver.
I reviewed the broadcasts of both KTTV and KCOP and both times I did
say that the CHP had discussed the PIT maneuver, but a CHP
supervisor said that it probably would not work, and told officers
NOT to try it.
Please be the journalist you would like others to be, use ALL the
facts, not just the ones that suit you.
I hope you get well soon.
Sincerely,
Kevin Takumi
-----
What I resent about Takumi's email is that he is accusing me of withholding relevant info which he feels would disprove my point. That would be wrong, unethical and I did NOT do that.
I can't speak to what Takumi said on KTTV because I didn't see it. I only critiqued the chase on KCOP, which I made quite clear. In fact, the two times I heard Takumi mention the PIT maneuver, he said nothing about a CHP supervisor suggesting it would not work. Never happened. I will give Takumi the benefit of doubt and say that he was not trying to deceive anyone, but rather maybe was just sloppy in his listening.
I wrote back to Takumi, and told him that I heard him mention the PIT maneuver just twice between 11 and 11:30. Neither time did I hear what he claimed was there. While that shoots down his accusation right there, I did tell him that if there was another mention during that half-hour which I could have missed, please let me know so that I can listen. He did not write back.
Here is what he said on the air - word-for-word - at 11:03: "They have talked about, there was some mention of trying to do a PIT maneuver, and also trying to set up some spike strips, but so far they've been unsuccessful in getting ahead. Those spikes strips, are usually.... the spikes themselves, are only about an inch to two inches long, so it's unknown whether or not trying to do a spike strip would have any effect on bringing the tires flat and bring this to a stop."
At 11:16 Takumi said "They wouldn't try anything as drastic as a PIT maneuver with a person in the cab, possible hostages as well. It may turn into something much more tragic if they tried to forcibly try to bring this to a stop."
Here is how I referenced that 11:16 comment in OTR last Friday..."Later, after talking about the possibility that there was someone else in the truck, Takumi said 'they wouldn’t try anything as drastic a pit maneuver with a person in the cab….' Again, no question or comment from the anchors about trying a PIT maneuver on a big rig."
I am certainly fallible. Though I criticize mistakes made by others, I've never suggested I don't make my own. Readers are welcome to point them out, or just disagree with my analysis. But I don't take kindly to being accused of leaving out information which is relevant in order to alter what really happened. THAT is a serious charge. Before Takumi makes such an accusation again, I suggest he makes sure he has his facts straight.
LET'S HEAR IT FOR TU CIUDAD
In the new issue of Tu Ciudad Magazine, reporter Daniel Vargas did a story on KCOP news. And as part of it, he interviewed me. I thought he did a very good job in balancing the piece, giving my point of view a fair hearing. I don't suppose readers got a good picture of how ignorant Lauren Sanchez is, but all-in-all.. .a pretty good job. And of all the times I've ever been interviewed since I started OTR, I'd say Tu Ciudad gave me the most ink, which I appreciate. It shows they weren't after just some puff piece. Good for them!
There was one major inaccuracy. Guess what? That's right, Vargas said that Lauren Sanchez had a communications degree from USC. I imagine he wrote the article before I exposed the truth on that. I don't know if he got that from Sanchez or from the KTTV web site.
Anyway, Vargas interviewed Sanchez, Barcia and Maria Quiban as well as news director Jose Rios. It's worth checking out. And yes, I know I misspelled Rick Garcia's last name. That's because in the article, he said you could say what you want about them, as long as you spell their names right.
Hey, I do what I can.
RUNOFF CONTINUES
BEST LA TV FIELD REPORTER
The first round votes are in, and after 103 votes.... we have a runoff between Patrick Healy, Beverly White and defending champ Dave Lopez..
Remember, just ONE vote per person. So if you already voted in the best reporter finals, please don't vote again.
Please click on either Healy, White or Lopez, and then hit "send."
Patrick Healy - KNBC - 18
Beverly White - KNBC - 14
Dave Lopez- KCBS - 13
NOT THE ANSWER THEY EXPECTED
During a recent Dodger game on Fox, Eric Gagne was in the booth with the announcers, as they interviewed Dodger pitching coach Jim Colborn.
The Fox announcer asked Colborn "What's it like not having him around right now?"
Colborn answered "Nice. I like it."
I enjoyed hearing the baseball humor there instead of getting the obvious answer you would expect.
CRUZ ON THE RADIO
KNBC's David Cruz has started a radio show on KPPC from 7 - 9pm Monday thru Friday. It's called Past Sunset and it's running on a pilot basis for two weeks. Good luck to Cruz!
THANKS
As I start my third round of chemo today, I want to thank all of you for your words of support and offer of prayers. It's also meant a lot to me to hear from those of who feel that what I do here really matters. Yes, I do hear that from time to time. But yet, so often I get the sense there are just no improvements of changes in behavior based on what I do. And so it matters to me when I hear from people in the business, as well as viewers, that what I do is important. It gives me another reason to fight this disease. Thanks to you all.
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They are always welcome. Please include your first and last name. You can reach me at BRUIN74@aol.com. Unless you say otherwise, I will assume your comments are for publication.
OTR's main page IS PUBLISHED MONDAY AND FRIDAY. Letters are added Tuesday - Friday.
