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A media critique... and then some! 6/16/06 - Friday Friday Letters are up Inside LA TV - Magers allegedly pokes fun at Diaz over a billboard update. An insider opinion on Jeff Soto. Check out Recent Issues 6-06-06 Tuesday's OTR 6-09-06 Friday's OTR              Send your opinions to BRUIN74@aol.com.

If you'd like to know when each issue is ready, and receive email news updates which occur between issues...  email to Bruin74@aol.com

COVERING THE FARM RAID

I don't know that anyone covered all of the bases, but from what I saw, I think I got the most out of KNBC's coverage. KTTV's Christina Gonzalez  did the worst job, which surprised me, because normally I find her reporting to be solid.  In all of the coverage I saw, I don't believe I saw one reporter ask one of the farmers WHY they had the right to stay on land that is owned by someone else. Shouldn't that at least have been asked?

KCBS's Paul Dandridge came close when he pointed out to a woman that she was under arrest, that obviously her side was losing. But she said that she was "still very hopeful."  He said that whether the farmers could invalidate the sale or get owner Ralph Horowitz to sell, raised the question whether this woman was "out of touch or overly optimistic." And he said, without realizing the double-meaning that  "some still clung to the hope of buying the farm."  Maybe "buying the land" would've been better.  

Dandridge also said he talked with the land owner, saying "Horowitz says he is so bitter about this and the way he was treated, he told me he wouldn’t sell it to the farmers for 30 million dollars."

Dandridge also hit on this key point regarding media rights; "Sheriff’s department also keeping the media a block away  or so. This is not a crime scene. And in my view keeping the media away illegally. So we could not report on this as clearly as we might. But I think we got it all."

KNBC's 5pm  news began with this lead-in. "The passionate protest and fight to save the urban garden has really lasted for weeks, even longer than that."

Hmmm. If it is longer than that, than why say it has "lasted for weeks" in the first place.

Cary Berglund got the story going with a package that focused on a phone interview with developer Ralph Horowitz (he doesn't want to be seen on TV).  Said Berglund: "He has been portrayed as the villain in this story. A landlord kicking out poor farmers.  But today he finally broke his silence, telling me enough is enough"

Berglund covered some valuable ground. Horowitz told him:   "What they should have said to the taxpayers of Los Angeles and to me is this is a gracious country.  Thank you very much for having these gardens here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you."

The story was then recounted that Horowitz was originally forced to sell the land through eminent domain When the city's plans didn’t go thru (an incinerator) the city was forced to sell the land back to him.

Mayor Villaraigosa said that the Annenberg foundation had come thru with 16 million and made a proposal. But Horowitz told Berglund "Even if they raised a hundred million dollars this group could not buy this property. It’s not about money. It’s about I don’t like their cause, and I don’t like their conduct. So there’s no price that I would sell it to them for."

Though Horowitz also said in an interview with John & Ken that he was never given a formal offer of 16 million dollars. He said the option to sell buy the property ran out in May, and that the 16 million was not a real offer.   

Horowitz also asked:  Where does this kind of "you owe me mentality" end? And how good is that for America? Everyone says you owe me. They owe us free gardening spots for the weekend. Is that good for our country that everybody is owned and nobody is obligated? I don’t see it."

Of course it was Horowitz's own decision to keep quiet all of this time. But it was refreshing to hear the other side of the story.

Meantime, Angie Crouch was out among the demonstrators, getting the feel of the street as the raid and arrests were underway.  

One protester told another that she was not helping by sitting in the street. Crouch asked  "When you say this woman is not helping your cause by sitting in the street, explain why not." The Protest leader answered  "Because the police want us to move now because she is sitting here and it is very important for us to be in this location. We have a press conference scheduled at 12 o’clock ."

But the most interesting part was when Crouch tried to interview Mark Williams of the Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles. He was shouted down - in Spanish - so that Crouch could not conduct the interview.  And notice how Crouch goes after those who are stopping her from doing her job.  This is the second time in the last week or so that I have noticed Crouch standing her ground. This woman has moxie!   

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

I emailed The South Central Farmers to get a comment about shouting down Williams.   The group's Tezozomoc responded:  "Mr. Williams verbally assaulted Rufina Juarez, elected representative of the South Central Farmers, by calling her a "BITCH".  Obviously, the community was very upset.  He went down there to try to steal the media.  Additionally, on many occasions Jan Perry has used them to try to create a perceivable race issue.  Black vs. Brown.  We have never subscribed to that... nor will we ever."

I emailed Jan Perry's office for comment, but I got no response.  I also emailed Williams' group late yesterday, but so far have had no response.

I also asked Tezozomac about whether he thought their cause might get better support if they chanted in English.   He answered:  "The Spanish and English issue goes back and forth.  Most of the farmers speak spanish.  Spanish chants have been used to solidify outside support with them... we do both... english and spanish."

KABC's coverage at 4pm was certainly weaker than what I saw on KCAL at the same time, or what I saw on KNBC at 5pm. Miriam Hernandez did the story. She apparently had not talked to Horowitz as Dandridge and Berglund had done.

 
KTLA devoted three stories to the subject, which included Hal Fishman reading quotes he got from Horowitz in a phone interview.  Fishman quoted him as saying that in 2003 he gave farmers 60 days to harvest crops after he had re-purchased the land. Something he did not have to do.  Instead, he said they went attorney shopping. After 60 days they asked for the property without any payment.

On KTTV, Christina Gonzalez quoted the mayor:  "Even after meeting his asking price, Mr. Horowitz told me he would not sell the property to the trust for public lands and the Annenberg Foundation."  Gonzalez said  "16 million dollars, not enough for the landowner."   Unlike others, Gonzalez obviously had not talked with Horowitz. So she was not aware that there was never an actual 16 million dollar offer, nor was she aware that Horowitz had decided he would not sell to them at any price, as Cary Berglund reported hours earlier.  The lead-in read by the anchors did refer to the farmers as "squatters."

Besides the farmers' attitude,  Horowitz was also upset with some serious anti-Semitism directed his way by farmer supporters from the anti-Jewish web site Aztlan.net. These people are as bad if not worse than the Nation of Islam. But as Tezezomoc of South Central Farmers pointed out to me, his group condemns such statements and he says they have no connection with the group, and they've told that to Horowitz.

MY OPINION

The idea of an urban farm seems like a very good one. However, Horowitz has been paying taxes and mortgage on the land for the last few years with nothing to show for it. He has every right to let someone build a warehouse on his land if that is what he wants to do.  He is right when he speaks of this sort of entitlement that these farmers seem to feel they have.  They are in fact squatters.  And while it is not politically correct to bring it up, I expect illegal immigration plays a part here.  I imagine many of these Spanish speaking farmers are not here legally, yet they have brought with them a culture that says they somehow have a right to use land which belongs to someone else.  Obviously, they have American supporters like actress Daryl Hannah, Joan Baez, Danny Glover and non-celebrities too. And I assume some of the farmers are here legally.  I have no way to know what the percentages are. But I think it would be naive to thing illegal aliens were not part of the picture.  And with some flying the flag with a picture of Che Guevara, and the attitude that Horowitz speaks of,  I think we are looking at a real culture clash here. And as long as our government looks the other way on the illegal immigration issue, it won't get any better.

RTNA OBJECTS TO MEDIA TREATMENT BY POLICE

This is a problem that comes up from time to time. And of course the problem is, once news media access to a news event is unfairly restricted, you cannot un-ring that bell. So what must come from this incident is a clear understanding of how the law applies to coverage of news events, and when police may restrict access and when they may not. Chief Bratton and Sheriff Baca should make sure that every single officer and deputy understand the law in this regard.

The following is a news release of a letter written by RTNA General Counsel Royal Oakes.

NEWS ORGANIZATIONS PROTEST “UNREASONABLE” RESTRICTIONS ON COVERAGE OF URBAN FARM ACTION

Los Angeles –– Media organizations today strongly protested yesterday’s restrictions placed on them by police officers at yesterday’s evictions of protestors from a so-called urban garden southeast of the civic center.

In a letter to both Los Angeles police agencies, the Radio & TV News Assn. of Southern California demanded an explanation as to why reporters were “precluded from gaining clear access to a news story of substantial interest to the public.”   Earlier an attorney for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) also queried the actions taken by LAPD.

Text of the protest letter follows:

Dear Chief Bratton and Sheriff Baca:

”This office represents the Radio and Television News Association
of Southern California , an organization whose members include the major
news outlets in the Los Angeles area.  This letter protests, in the
strongest possible terms, the unconstitutional restriction on the rights
of journalists to cover the Urban Garden eviction in Los Angeles on June
13, 2006 .  For no valid reason whatsoever, reporters were prohibited
from gaining access to a public sidewalk, on the east side of Long Beach
Boulevard at 41st Street .  Instead, the journalists were
ordered to stay to the west of train tracks that ran parallel to and
west of the sidewalk.  As a result, the media were precluded from gaining
clear access to a news story of substantial interest to the public.

----------

MARC BROWN STILL MOST POPULAR KABC ANCHOR, OHLMAN STILL AT THE BOTTOM

The order of popularity of KABC anchors is almost identical to last year. You can tell by looking at the GPA in parenthesis, which is last year's GPA. Marc Brown, last year's winner for all stations, actually increased his GPA this year. Obviously he'll be tough to beat.  His co-anchor Michelle Tuzee dropped slightly, but still stays in second place for Channel 7. The only new anchor to the list is Leslie Miller, who replaces Karen Carlson.  Micah Ohlman gained a little from last year, but still is clearly the least popular anchor at KABC according to OTR readers.  His style still remains a turn-off to viewers.

HOW THEY STACK UP SO FAR

Three Most Popular

1) Marc Brown (KABC) - 3.69

2) Colleen Williams (KNBC) - 3.4

3) Michelle Tuzee (KABC) - 3.12

Three Least Popular

1) Cher Calvin (KTLA) -  1.44

2) Micah Ohlman (KABC) - 1.55

3) Lu Parker (KTLA) - 1.62

Talk about consistency. Last year at this time, the top three were exactly the same. The only difference in the bottom three has Lu Parker replacing Laura Diaz.  But of course we still have three more stations to go.

GRADING KCAL ANCHORS

I hate to be a broken record, but I still am finding readers voting twice. I realize this is not like a vote for president, but I want it to be fair. And I'd really rather not have to take the time to delete the extra votes.  Also, last night some of you graded anchors after 6pm, which meant they didn't count.  So if you are familiar with the anchors, please do vote, but please do it before 6pm on Thursday. Thanks!!  Just click on the appropriate link and then hit "send."

Dave Gonzales

Gonzales - A

Gonzales - B

Gonzales - C

Gonzales - D

Gonzales - F

Mia Lee

Lee - A

Lee - B

Lee - C

Lee - D

Lee - F

Harold Greene

Greene - A

Greene - B

Greene - C

Greene - D

Greene - F

Ann Martin

Martin - A

Martin - B

Martin - C

Martin - D

Martin - F

Pat Harvey

Harvey - A

Harvey - B

Harvey - C

Harvey - D

Harvey - F

Sylvia Lopez

Lopez - A

Lopez - B

Lopez - C

Lopez - D

Lopez - F

Dave Clark

Clark - A

Clark - B

Clark - C

Clark - D

Clark - F

Leyna Nguyen

Nguyen - A

Nguyen - B

Nguyen - C

Nguyen - D

Nguyen - F

Mary Beth McDade

McDade - A

McDade - B

McDade - C

McDade - D

McDade - F

MISSING COMMA CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

While covering the pit bull attack on an 11-year old girl, KTTV/KCOP reporter Hal Eisner ended up saying something he didn't mean to.  At least this is how I heard it. What he meant to say was that according the San Fernando Police Chief, the girl screaming in the bathroom was not one of the girls being chased earlier by the dogs.  But listen to how it came out:

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

Eisner could have avoided the problem by simply starting the sentence with "The Chief says...." or, he could have paused more between "The girl screaming in the bathroom" and "says the chief."  But as it turned out, he said "The girl screaming in the school bathroom says the chief wasn’t one of the two being chased, but an entirely different 11-year old."

While I expect most people realize the chief was not being chased, it still came out that way.  Just goes to show you, even an old pro like Eisner can get a little sloppy.

SO WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

Yesterday the LA  Times ran a story about the arrest of more than two thousand illegal aliens nationwide, including 722 in Southern California. This was a crackdown to go after illegals who've broken criminal law in this country, including some child sex offenders. But oddly enough, the reporter never gave a breakdown of where the illegals came from. Yet Amanda Covarrubias did manage to mention a couple of those arrested locally were from Tonga and Romania. She also mentioned 367 gang members arrested, which included those from a notorious gang from El Salvador.  There was a mention of one Mexican being arrested.

If the total stats on country of origin were not available, the reporter did not say.  Given the ongoing problem of illegal immigration from Mexico, one has to wonder if there was a conscious effort by Covarrubias to leave out the statistics, which may well have included a lot of people from Mexico. I don't know if there was any bias involved, but it at least looks suspicious.

I emailed her to find out why she did not include the stats, but she did not respond.

A LITTLE SHORT

This issue has fewer items than I had anticipated...but to tell you the truth, it is now past 4am, and it's time for me to get some sleep.

WHO ARE YOU?  

I invite all you to write in and tell your fellow readers a little about yourself. What you do for a living, why you are interested in TV news and anything else you'd like to include about yourself.  You can email to Bruin74@aol.com .