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7/11/06 - Tuesday Inside LA TV - what the red logo means on KCBS/KCAL. Why Bob McCormick is done at KTLA. Check out Recent Issues 6-27-06 Tuesday's OTR 7-07-06 Friday's OTR          Send your opinions to BRUIN74@aol.com.

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FORMER CHIEF PARKS FIRES BACK TO OTR ABOUT BRATTON COMMENT ON KTLA MORNING SHOW

As you may know, the LAPD has adopted a policy which allows recruits who have used drugs in the past.  Chief Bratton feels that otherwise good candidates for the police academy should not be kept out because of a past experimentation, since he says a zero tolerance plan rules out too many people.  On the other hand, three city council members, Bernard Parks, Dennis Zine, and Greig Smith feel differently.  Zine is a former sergeant and currently a reserve office, and Smith has been a reserve officer since 1992. And course Parks was the chief before Bratton.

While on the KTLA Morning Show last Thursday, Bratton defended the policy.  He said "With all due respect to the two city councilman raising this issue, they don't know what the hell they're talking about."

Based on an LA Times article last month, the three council members I mentioned above were against the policy, so I'm not clear on why Bratton only decided to refer to Parks and Zine.  And yes it is clear he meant those two. Because he also said the following:  

 “Chances are they might not have been able to be hired under the new standards we have which are much tougher than the standards 35 or 40 years ago..." - Chief William Bratton.

I felt like Amezcua or Calvin should have followed up on that statement and asked Bratton just where he believes Parks or Zine might have failed. Seemed like a natural follow-up.

Bill Smith did a story about the drug issue for their 10pm news that night in which he spoke to Parks and used bites from the Bratton interview.  But he also didn't ask the former chief about Bratton's comment regarding the hiring of Parks and Zine. So I decided to do it. I sent emails to both Parks and Zine.  

Zine sent this brief note to OTR on Tuesday:  "Talk about Bull Shit....Standards in 1968 were much tougher than today. It was no drug use and much tougher physical standards...."

Zine added in a separate email that "We are preparing a letter to the police commission on this matter."

From Councilman Bernard C. Parks: "I am amazed that someone who has been a member of LAPD for merely four years, who did not go through the L.A. Police Academy, who did not take one exam for promotion has not passed a background, a medical and, most importantly a psychological exam can stand in judgement of two
individuals who have accumulated over 75 years of police experience
within LAPD. This reflects just how outrageous his perspective is and
how exaggerated his view of himself is. Although Councilmember Zine and
I do not always agree, we have both spent more time on lunch breaks
during our law enforcement careers, than Chief Bratton has spent on the
job or in town for that matter. His statements are so ignorant that they
do not warrant any sensible discussion. It's unfortunate that the City
of L.A. has to be subjected to such over the top outbursts and
unbalanced perspective. But, we shouldn't be shocked because anyone who
has followed Chief Bratton's career would know that these are the same
type of comments that he routinely made as a member of several east
coast police departments. The City of New York found that they were so
poorly served under Bratton, that Mayor Giuliani fired him."-

I sent a copy of Parks' and Zine's comment to the LAPD, so Bratton is certainly welcome to respond.

SOMETHING MISSING IN COVERAGE

There were two incidents on the 4th of July in which children where hit and killed by a car in the street. One driver, who Dave Clark said had a beer in his hand, was caught on scene by angry neighbors in South LA. The other was a hit-and-run in Santa Ana.

There you can see where the boy in Santa Ana was when he was hit.   

I understand that the story is that two children were killed.  But in none of the stories I saw was it pointed out about the risk of children playing in the street. Nowhere was there a suggestion that parents were not properly supervising their children. Shouldn't that be part of the story too?  We often hear safety tips from fire and police officials depending on the issue, so why not here?

Anaheim Police Department PIO Rick Martinez thinks that makes sense. I emailed him about this and asked if he might like to give a statement on this practice.

Martinez writes:  

The National Council on Fireworks Safety offers great advise on firework safety, but as I review many websites, I cannot see any mention of roadway safety. This tragedy would have been an excellent opportunity to remind people of this basic safety rule since it is not mentioned very often."

MISSING INFO AND MAYBE SOME BIAS TOO? 

Recently there was an accident on the freeway near Norco. (Both sides give different versions of who was at fault). The driver of one car took off, and he was followed by two men in the other vehicle - a pickup truck- who happened to be off duty Sheriff's deputies. They followed Rodolfo Mejea to his house and then pulled him out of his car. Witnesses said they beat him up.

Through an interpreter, Mejea told KCAL's Dave Clark that he drove off because he does not have a driver's license. Wouldn't that make you suspect that he may be an illegal alien? Clark never addressed it. However, KTTV's Jane Yamamoto did.  Mejea's niece told Yamamoto that her uncle didn't have a license or insurance. In her stand-up close, she said:  "When I asked her if her uncle is a legal citizen, first she said no. Then she changed her answer and said 'I’m not sure.' 

Even though Yamamoto didn't get an interview with Mejea as Clark did, her story was still better.  Yet, I think KTTV allowed some bias to creep into their coverage.  Consider this banner which ran during the story.

I don't know whether the deputies were rougher than needed with Mejea. Certainly witnesses felt they were. Above, a woman has her hands behind her back, demonstrating what the deputies did with Mejea.  But what about "Road Rage Beating?"  Even with the question mark, is that fair, knowing all of the particulars? Could they not just as easily have said "Illegal Alien Hit and Run?" 

But the greater lack of balance was in Clark's story on KCAL.  He never even made mention of any attempt to get the other side of the story.  At 11pm on KCBS, he added that there was "no official comment from police."

Yamamoto said that the CHP was investigating. But she was actually able to present some the deputies' side through her interview with Mejea's niece. The niece said they claimed they tried to detain him, but he resisted. She said he didn't resist, but at least she was able to present another side to this. I didn't get that from Clark.

When both Clark and Yamamoto were reporting on Monday July 3rd, officials were not saying what departments the two members of law enforcement worked for.   Yet, neither reporter told that to the viewer. So I was left wondering why they weren't telling me what departments these guys worked for.  I only found out it was LA and Orange County, after reading an article two days later in the Riverside Press Enterprise.

The paper also reported "A Riverside man who said he was beaten by two off-duty law enforcement officers opted not to file a criminal report, Sgt. Earl Quinata of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday."

The article also said:  

"The peace officers attempted to make an arrest, since they witnessed a crime and were also victims of it," Quinata said. Quinata said that the Sheriff's Department stood by the scene until the CHP arrived to take a traffic report.

Duarte was charged with misdemeanor counts, including hit-and-run and driving without a license, said CHP spokeswoman Jackie Parent."

I wonder, have KTTV or KCAL/KCBS followed up give viewers the rest of the story?

SO....

Maybe he didn't file complaint because he is an illegal without a license or insurance.  Or maybe because he knew he hit and ran.  And maybe he did offer some resistance.  If not, then the deputies seemed to have over-reacted.

Regardless, this incident is a perfect example of the problem with illegal immigration.  You have a guy who hit and ran because he didn't have license or insurance. Then when the deputies caught him, he could only speak Spanish.  And so if the deputies told him who they were, he wouldn't understand. Likewise, they couldn't understand him.  Maybe they showed him their badges; I don't know. But if he didn't know or believe they were deputies, he might have resisted because he didn't know who he was dealing with.   But needless to say, if our country enforced our immigration laws, none of this would have happened.

SO WHAT IS WITH THE STRIPES?

As  I was watching KCAL news last week, I couldn't help but notice the stripes. And just why Dave Clark didn't have a striped tie, I don't know.  Are stripes suddenly a  fashion fad that I didn't know about?

Hmmm. Looks like Elsa Ramon and Ted Garcia like the look. And stripes can go in different directions, can't they?

Yes I am getting the feeling that stripes are in.  What removed all doubt was when I had a look at KCAL's newest reporter.

WHAT IS PAT HARVEY SAYING?

In this clip, Pat Harvey is teasing a story. But just what is she teasing? I knew that what I thought I heard didn't make sense. I asked someone else for another opinion, and they heard something different.  I finally figured it out, and was able to verify it when the story came up.  Anyway, have a look and listen. 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

If you'd like to hazard a guess and send it in.  Feel free. I'll have the answer on Friday.

ISN'T THIS UNUSUAL?  SOUNDS LIKE A STORY TO ME.

Have you ever heard of marketing a movie by calling up people and asking them to go see it? I never have, until now. The other day I got a pre-recorded phone call from Al Gore. He said that he and the Sierra Club were asking me to go see his new movie about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.

Maybe I've missed it...but wouldn't that be a good story? Talk to the Sierra Club about using this technique, popular at election time, to get people to see a movie. Then I would talk to a movie studio and see if they've considered the same method for other types of movies.  Would you be more like to see the new Johnny Depp film for example, if you got a phone message from him? Or could you even get stars to make such recordings, without sounding desperate? 

TIME TO VOTE FOR KCOP ANCHORS

As always please vote only for the anchors you are familiar with. Please click on the appropriate link and then hit "send." Thanks much.  We did have a couple of readers vote too late this time, so please do take note:  the voting closes Thursday Night at 6pm.

Lauren Sanchez

Sanchez - A

Sanchez - B

Sanchez - C

Sanchez - D

Sanchez - F

Rick Garcia

Garcia - A

Garcia - B

Garcia - C

Garcia - D

Garcia - F

Michael Brownlee

Brownlee - A

Brownlee - B

Brownlee - C

Brownlee - D

Brownlee - F

Maria Quiban

Quiban - A

Quiban - B

Quiban - C

Quiban - D

Quiban - F

I THINK CALVIN WAS CONFUSED

Last week on the KTLA Morning Show,  Mark Kriski - fresh from a vacation in Costa Rica - was explaining that they don't have formal street addresses in the country.  Sounds crazy, but it's true. However, Carlos Amezcua and Cher Calvin did not believe him.

Later Calvin begin reading this viewer e-mail:

At first Calvin thought it proved Mark wrong.   But then Kriski told her to keep reading. But when she reached the km, she paused, apparently not knowing what km stood for.  So Amezcua bailed her out, explained that it meant kilometers, and finished reading the email.

DOES ANY SPORTS FAN TALK LIKE THAT?

This is consistent with my observation that KTLA has the worst news writing, which would include sports.   As you may recall, I find it real tough to listen to Leila Feinstein read sports. But I did catch her saying the following about the World Cup:  "Host Germany meeting upset minded Italy."

Remembering that TV writing should be conversational....have you ever heard a sports fan refer to a team as "upset minded?" Not a chance. That is something a sports writer might put in an article. All she had to say was "Italy hopes to upset host Germany." Or to really write like people talk, "Italy hopes to upset Germany, which is where they're playing."  There are many ways to say to same thing, and actually say it in conversational form.  I  suggest the KTLA sports department throw away their book of clichés.

IF YOU CAN'T SHOW YOUR BREASTS...

I guess you can wear a see-through top so viewers can see your bra. Pretty classy operation they have there at KCAL, huh?

LITERAL VIOLATION

Who: Lt. Joe Hartshorne (LA Sheriff's Dept.)

Where: KCAL (Jaime Garza story)

What: "She just literally fell off the face of the earth."

LETTERS TO OTR

If you want a letter published, please be sure to include your first and last name.  Also, it helps me if you can  write "LETTERS" in the subject line. Thanks!

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 .