TV NEWS & VIEWS

Collective Talent Takes a Break

The Collective Talent Tampa newsroom and staff is undergoing a two week renovation and rejuvenation. We will not publish our continuously updated daily news section beginning Monday July 12th. We'll return on July 29th tan, rested and ready. See you here then!

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Newspeople, You Don't Want to do This

Three KARK on-air employees and a photographer have been fired in the aftermath of two profanity-laden spoof videos posted to video-sharing website YouTube, ArkansasBusiness.com has learned. KARK reporters Pete Thompson, Courtney Collins, Jake Hatley and news photographer Chris Jameson were fired Thursday after ArkansasBusiness.com first reported on the videos. In addition, up to five off-air employees were suspended for three days. The videos have been pulled from Youtube, but you can view them here.

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Oil Spill Coverage Losing Steam

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the top story among a mix of media for the week ended July 4, but there are signs the story may be "losing some steam." That is according to the latest Project for Excellence In Journalism's weekly news coverage index. The story captured 15% of the news hole, down from the week before, when it had 23% for the number two spot behind the General McChrystal story. Two the environmental disaster commanded 44% of the news hole. It was the lowest percentage of coverage since April 19-25, when the oil rig first exploded and the underwater gusher began.

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KPTM Outsources Newscasts

Omaha’s local Fox Network affiliate will soon outsource some of its news operation to Davenport, Iowa. KPTM has entered into an agreement with Independent News Network to assemble and produce its hourlong newscast at 9 each night. The agreement takes effect Sept. 6. Randy Oswald, KPTM’s general manager, declined to comment on any specific personnel changes in the news division. In a released statement, KPTM indicated that it would “increase the number of award-winning enterprise reporters who will cover local news.” The release, however, did not specify how many reporters would be employed, in what city they would work and who would employ them.

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When Minorities Are a Minority

With Jacqueline London gone, there are no minority anchors left on a weeknight evening newscast of the major network affiliates in Orlando. You’ll see minority anchors in the morning (WKMG’s Laura Diaz, WFTV-Ch. 9’s Vanessa Echols, WESH-Ch. 2’s Syan Rhodes, WOFL-Ch. 35’s Mike Dunston) or on the weekend (WKMG’s Louis Bolden, WESH’s Eryka Washington, WFTV’s Nancy Alvarez).

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KMBC News Team Shrinking

Is that a slimmer, trimmer KMBC-TV9 meteorologist Bryan Busby viewers are seeing these days? Can you now see more of the weather map and less of him? The answer to both questions is "yes!" as the affable weather guy has dropped 30 lbs. since last October thanks to a new nutrition and fitness plan designed by Mitzi Dulan. The rest of the team is shrinking too!

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Bob Sirott to Co-Anchor WFLD Late News

"The only thing that everybody's in agreement on," Bob Sirott said of the WFLD-Ch. 32 9 p.m. newscast he soon will co-anchor, "is that it won't look the way it looks now." Change is in the air in television news, which is not the same as on the air in TV news. But sure as there's "more after this," it's a start. WFLD has cast its lot with Sirott, who, a few weeks shy of his 61st birthday, is determined to upend the cliches and unnecessary conventions of a medium not much older than he is.

 

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Taking Risks at WXIA-TV

“TV news stinks.” A year ago, WXIA-TV News Director Ellen Crooke posted those provocative three words for a class of University of Georgia students. Local TV news tends to be “boring, repetitive, irrelevant and too depressing,” she told local blogger and former WAGA-TV news reporter Doug Richards, who she later hired. Crooke, who came to Atlanta from Buffalo in 2008, ditched the often successful (yet often derided) “if it bleeds, it leads” mentality and has tried to make the station more user-friendly. And given the station’s position behind WAGA-TV and WSB-TV, taking risks is a prerogative

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Can Women Grow Old in the Anchor Chair?

Following the "retirement" of KSTP anchor Cydy Brucatto Minneapolis News Blogger David Brauer asks: "Who will be the first woman to grow old in a local anchor chair? When it comes to silver hair and AARP, will we ever have a female Don Shelby or Dave Moore (WCCO-TV)?"

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FOX Stations to Air Mike Huckabee Show

Twentieth Television will present a six-week preview of first-run, hour-long topical talk show The Huckabee Show on the Fox Television Stations (FTS) in New York (WNYW), Dallas/Fort Worth (KDFW), Boston (WFXT), Atlanta (WAGA), Detroit (WJBK), Tampa (WTVT) and Minneapolis/St. Paul (KMSP).

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WKMG Cuts Anchor Vet Jacqueline London

Jacqueline London, one of the most recognizable anchors in this market, has left WKMG after nearly 14 years at the CBS affiliate.  Her final broadcast at the station was 6 p.m. Thursday. WKMG General Manager Skip Valet released a statement this morning exclusively to the Orlando Sentinel: “After a lengthy discussion based on this tough economy, WKMG has decided it is not feasible to employ three anchors for our 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.  As part of this decision WKMG and Jacqueline London have decided to part company.”

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Unrest At CNN

Larry King's leaving is not the only problem at CNN. The cable news network is plagued by high-profile departures, low ratings and - TheWrap has learned - widespread resentment among producers and anchors. Speaking on background, one CNN on-air personality told TheWrap that most of the anchors were jealous that Anderson Cooper sucked up resources by going to Haiti and the Gulf of Mexico, leaving them unable to build their profiles at the network.

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Oprah's Numbers Tumble

Oprah is not going to go out on top. Last week was the lowest rated in the 24-year history of her show according to Nielsen. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" has been in reruns for several weeks but compared to the same week last year -- which was all reruns, too -- the ratings were down an eye-watering 23 percent, according to tvbythenumbers.com, a ratings Web site. The audience for Oprah was just over 4 million viewers -- the lowest it has ever been since the show first went on the air in 1986.

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Larry King Calls it Quits

In the face of falling ratings, the CNN host Larry King announced Tuesday evening that he would end his long-running talk show, “Larry King Live,” this fall. Jonathan Klein, president of CNN’s domestic channel, said that Mr. King, 76, was ending the show “on his own terms,” just after his 25th anniversary. Mr. Klein said he would announce a new 9 p.m. program over the summer.

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