Moreover, the 33 year-old Rosenthal's fist-pumping never went over well inside the newsroom and this was well before the fake names la affair with Tori Campbell. Rosenthal might escape this major blunder that has forever tainted KTVU's gold-standard image and reputation but Cox Media, leading a low-key internal investigation of the matter, may not be so forgiving. As a leading station insider told me, "in the end, someone has to go." Indeed, and Rosenthal might have company. Stay tuned.
*Some of you have barked, "Enough of this, (KTVU), already." Really? I have news for you: This is the talk of EVERY TV news operation in the country. From big-market NY City to small-town Iowa! For better or worse, this indelible blunder has been THEE talk of the back room where anchors, reporters, producers, editors; the whole shebang. I know this because several prominent industry people told me. And when people like Stephen Colbert and the late-night comics are referring to this, you know it's reached cultural critical mass. I rest my case.
*My two cents: The Rolling Stone cover with the Boston bomber was intended to sell magazine covers and create controversy and buzz. They got it; that's the good news. Bad news is that Rolling Stone long ago lost its influence and cachet. The only relevant thing over there is Peter Traver's movie reviews.
*Follow me on Twitter
Do you think most folks are aware that the RS cover is no glamour shot? The photographer of the Tsarnaev cover..was Tsarnaev himself. It's a selfie..taken well before the bombing, in his kitchen, pressure cooker on the stove behind him.
ReplyDeleteThat's largely irrelevant, because none of that is clear in the photo itself, which looks like a glamour shot. Depiction is what matters on the cover, because people who pick up that magazine and decide to purchase it are not going to be thinking "well, this looks like a selfie taken before the bombing, with the bomb in question potentially in the background." If you don't think the way it was cropped and presented didn't get a lot of consideration from the editorial staff in how it portrayed Tsarnaev, you'd be mistaken. There are plenty of other ways they could have promoted this story on the cover. Making Tsarnaev look like a teen idol is why the magazine is receiving the criticism.
DeleteSo you are saying that RS "made him look like a teen idol"? The fact is they didn't make him look like anything at all. He took his own picture and it has been widely seen, well before the RS cover. Imagine him posing carefully to look like a teen idol..kiss kiss
DeleteThe picture can be cropped, turned purple, whatever. it's the same exact image that has been out there..for months. How do you think, precisely, that it was changed?
It doesn't matter who took the picture or the motivation for taking the picture or what was going through anyone's mind at the time the picture was taken. The overall effect of the cover is to glamorize Mr. Tsarnaev.
DeleteRolling Stone magazine editors, whoever, created the cover in question with full awareness of the impact the image would have on people viewing that cover. For better or worse, they are responsible for making that choice.
They had multiple other pictures from which they could have chosen, and a multitude of other ways to convey the fact that they were examining Tsarnaev. You keep saying "well the picture was there all along." No.. not as it was cropped and presented. Editing of details is a way to manipulate the tone, idea a picture conveys.
DeleteI'm not saying that they were 'wrong' to use that picture, but I think it's pretty obvious why they are receiving criticism. If you think the manner in which this photo was taken has any bearing on the reaction that people would have when seeing it, I think you are (a) far over-estimating the knowledge people would have about how it was taken (nothing in the photo indicates how), and (b) far under-estimating the editorial decision making that went into the picture selection.
Media is manipulation. It's good that you are critically thinking about it, but your analysis, imo, is way off.
Analysis?? I'm merely stating the fact that the picture was not a glamour photo shoot from RS. It's a selfie, taken by the subject
DeleteHow was it cropped to change the original intent of the photographer/subject?
Here's some analysis though, since you insist.It demonstrates that someone's appearance tells you little about their real identities. Or as the wise sage said, "Beauty is only skin deep".
Let's see how he looks when he does another selfie in a few years.
RS is not just about the music industry, of course, having done blockbuster reporting in the past on wars, global politics, etc. etc. etc. quite famously. I wonder what Jann Wenner would say?
Christine proves yet again she can't think straight and makes another stunningly idiotic arguments perhaps for no other reason than to battle about something.
DeleteHer quote, "So you are saying that RS "made him look like a teen idol"? The fact is they didn't make him look like anything at all."
Really? You mean to say that the experts at one of the world's major magazine don't design their covers with a specific, clearly calculated understanding of the psychological impact the cover will make on readers and potential covers? You must be kidding!
Covers sell magazines and dictate how the magazine is perceived. They are meticulously, tweeted, adjusted, whatever to produce the precise effect the creators desire.
A couple of years ago there was a major controversy about how the cover image of Obama on either Time or Newsweek had be shaded to create a different perception.
Christine seems to be intent on bragging about how she somehow knows that the image in question was taken by Tsarnaev himself. Congratulations Christine, for being the ultimate smarty pants. Your point is totally irrelevant. What matters is how the image is presented, the context, and Rolling Stone Magazine is entirely responsible for that.
Please spare us yet another one of your long, pointless, self-aggrandizing personal stories, like your great grandmother, Annie Oakley Kodak Craft invented the camera.
You keep creating strawmen to strike down. I said nothing about RS and what they have or haven't reported on in the past. That's a totally irrelevant side-bar you're bringing up; has absolutely no bearing on the image they chose to show.
DeleteIf you don't think the way an image is presented makes a difference in what it conveys, then you have no concept of visual literacy or the power of media. Context is everything. While that image may have been 'out there' for awhile, that, as others also have noted, is irrelevant. Who took it, why it was taken.. none of that is 'evident' in the photo, and I've seen nothing in your responses to explain why people should have been aware. In fact, your very first post questioned whether people would be aware.
That context has nothing to do with RS decision to use it. That's where your argument falls flat. Was it cropped? Yes. In the original photo, you can see the arms extending to take the 'selfie.' In this you don't. You only see an image that bears a striking resemblance to, imo, the Jim Morrison cover from years ago.
http://www.secretsofthefed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BPVWubYCQAEJmYM-1.jpg
Now, that may not be info that many people who see it know, either, but the RS editors certainly do. And that's the point that many others are making. They know the visual context that the image conveys. They had a choice of images to choose from.
I don't have a problem with the image, myself, but I fully understand where that criticism is coming from. They could have found a different way to present the topic. This is what they chose, and they should be willing to face the consequence of that choice. Simple as that.
Congratulations Christine, you know what a selfie is. Whether this image originated as a selfie or not the public has formed the opinion that it presents Tsarnaev as something or s rock star.
DeleteYour little factoid about who may have taken the photo is irrelevant to that discussion.
Shouldn't the question be about the ARTICLE, featured in the magazine?
DeleteAs Christine pointed out, it's a photograph taken before the March 15 bombing, and we've seen it before. It's not as if Rolling Stone had him coiffed, and otherwise groomed, for a "shoot" in a posh photography studio.
I haven't read the article, but neither have I heard an outcry that this man has been, somehow, canonized in the pages of Rolling Stone.
I recall TIME magazine running a "version" of O.J. Simpson's mug-shot, on their cover, with the color of his skin considerably darkened. They took a great deal of flack for that ... and rightly so.
Did Rolling Stone alter this photograph, or just put it on the cover?
Certainly the article itself can be discussed but that's not the question here which is the impact of the cover on people viewing it. The publisher is responsible for the cover of their magazine, what's on it and how it's presented.
DeleteRolling Stone elected to present Tsarnaev in the glamorous context of a rock star. I'm not arguing about whether this is a good or a bad thing BUT that is what hey have chosen to do and they are accountable for that decision and its implications.
Just try to go out and find the magazine today, as I did. Whole Foods which usually has it, didn't. Instead they had a Rolling Stones RS tribute mag. I realize that businesses in Sacramento is much more likely to censor it than San Francisco ever would,but has anyone actually seen a copy? I'd like to read the piece before yakking about it tomorrow on the radio. I have looked at the original picture of his royal pouty self taken by himself,but really detect no differences in the online pix of the cover. Having been on a few covers and in a few magazines myself(including TIME and LIFE), I know I'd prefer the professional shot to the self-inflicted image.
DeleteSomeone above thinks they are schooling me about how magazines are edited.Who knew? What specific changes did RS make in the selfie? Powder? poufing? cheek color, shinier curls? puhleese, inquiring minds want to know
Tsarnaev is a terrorist and mass murderer. To put him on the cover of any US-based magazine in a favorable light is simply disgusting and offensive to the families who lost or had crippled loved ones. My only hope is a trial convicts and executes him. Do you think that will make the cover of the RS?
Delete"I'd like to read the piece before yakking about it tomorrow on the radio."
DeleteWhy, it's never bothered you before. You yakked about Fruitvale Station before you saw it. That's what you do best, yak about things you know nothing about.
Oh Christine has been on a few magazine covers herself, how come I'm not surprised. Is Hoof and Heifer still publishing?
Deletedear 4:47, I've never talked about seeing the movie,"Fruitvale Station".I talked about not seeing it. I talked about a review in the San Francisco Chronicle in which the film's maker admits that it a dramatization with contrivances added which are not true. Would that make you more or less likely to be persuaded by the movie, if you know it is contrived.?
DeleteWhen, specifically, since you claim "it's never bothered you before", did I claim to have seen a movie I hadn't seen. I await your example, which should come immediately to mind, yes?
4:51 I was on a LIFE magazine cover, several pics in Newsweek, TIME, US NEWS,PEOPLE(multiple stories) etc. etc. But being on three segments of the LETTERMAN show was the most fun of all.
As far as "hooves" go, one of the PEOPLE magazine pieces included my horses. We all looked swell.
Americans are such reactionary drama queens. Bunch of whiney jokers the lot of you. You dummies espouse freedom of speech, freedom of the press in name only. I side with Christine on this issue. The paternalistic corporate entities at Rite Aid, CVS pharmacy, Walgreens and many others have decided not to carry the magazine because of the few loud morons who are "outraged". No wonder this country is the laughingstock of the world.
DeleteChristine, did you make the cover of "Losing Plaintiff" magazine? God knows you deserve it.
DeleteGreat Christine, thanks for reminding us all, yet again, that many years ago you were on the Letterman show. How many decades ago was that? Seems like he stopped doing that Stupid Pets segment ions ago.
DeleteBTW, what does that have to do with magazine covers? Don't you ever tire of bragging about your few, meager accomplishments. People who really have something to brag about don't need to.
I don't understand why people get so upset over a magazine cover. Hasn't Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Hitler been on many magazine covers? In several picture Osama does not look especially evil, more like a middle eastern sheep herder. Rolling Stone had Manson on a cover back in the seventies. I was listening to Frosty on 910 today, something I rarely do, since I don't think he is very good, and he like Gil does not take calls. However he had a good point about the cover, saying the picture reflects what people thought the bombing suspect (sorry forget his name) was, a normal kid, going to college, going to parties, but he turned out to be a monster, a real wake up call for many. I think Frosty has a good point. He (Frosty) also mentioned that the article was very detailed. Why not read the article before making a judgment. Heard Sussman and Katie (I guess this was my day to listen to bad hosts, also listened to Gil a little, he is really bad these day, so many stories that is not relevant to anything) they had a typical kneejerk reaction, saying "of course a liberal publication like the Rolling Stone magazine would glorify the bombing suspect". The KSFO morning show is bad, not because it is conservative, but because it is so predictable.
DeleteLiberal bad, conservative good. Did listen to Ronn discuss the subject with listeners, thank god, was actual a good show. Of the subject have watch Brian Copeland on Dr. Drew during the Zimmerman trial and verdict, he was very good. I know Rich does not like him, but I do. He challenges his callers, he has a different perspective, and with so few good hosts in the Bay Area, he is getting to be one of my favorites.
Certainly he is better than Gil these days, Frosty is a nobody. Still hoping to hear more of John Rothman.
Updated coverage of this KTVU incident clearly goes to the heart of "what's right" and "what's wrong" in today's television newsroom, at least in the U.S. As a 47-year veteran of news ops around the world, I have seen a lot of coverage mistakes go by with both immediate consequences (dismissals, demotions, suspensions) and no management reaction (I walked away from that operation after 4 months, it was that bad). Rich, please keep updating those of us who actually care about what happens. Many thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhat that bumpkin Rosenthal didn't know is that this Market is different. We don't take shots at each other. It's amateurish. Hopefully he gets what he deserves and is booted out of town. He doesn't belong at this party.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rich is 100% right. This is the talk of EVERY newsroom. It's still fresh. I feel sorry for some of the great TV people at that shop but for now, everyone is still laughing. They are the butt of the joke.
The Rosenthal hire was made according to a management source at KTVU because Rosenthal had raised the profile of several Cox owned stations in the Midwest in the social media. (The only major market Cox owns a TV station in is the Bay Area...the rest are in flyover states in the Midwest). First off, when a hire for a broadcast news operation is made on the basis of this persons "social media" expertise, it shows that news gathering and journalistic integrity are not even a priority.
ReplyDeleteIn fairness , Rosenthal was hired to raise KTVU's name recognition on the Internet and social media platforms, and I have to admit, he has been wildly successful.
Yeah, he's been a bit TOO successful in making sure KTVU is trending on twitter. Ha!
DeleteI thought Rosenthal came from a Tribune station, WXIN. And Cox has a few major market stations outside KTVU, like WSB-TV in Atlanta, KIRO in Seattle and WFTV in Orlando.
DeleteKGO-TV GM's background is in social media background and a promo guy. Can't be worse than that. He needs to go back to LA where he belongs.
DeleteGet over it Keeshan.
DeleteGM wanna-be Kevin Keeshan will NEVER get over it. Its a stunning thought, but if I were Cox I'd reach out to the ABC castoff because he's is the "Obudsman" of NBC which is really.....I can't get a job without Valari Staab.
DeleteHere's why Keeshan wants to leave NBC:
He's a nobody. Miserable and confided to friends like Dan Ashley. Didn't want to leave Walnut Creek. FYI, Keeshan was the driving force behind KNTV's We Investigate...15-million and counting..was it worth it?
Here's why KTVU/Cox will find out:
Weak, self serving. Opened KGO staff meetings with lines like.... "I'm like a head football coach", blah, blah. You could hear the crickets two blocks away. Passed over for the GM job at KGO, after bragging it was his... horribly embarrassed, and rightly so. Good with money/budgets... so if just kept his big mouth shut he'd probably be GM right now.
Here's who Cox should call:
BEG former KGO EP Dennis Milligan to leave the friendly confines of WBTV country. Milligan was a natural manager without thumping his chest. Old KGO managers- Ross, Ahern, Koz, Weiss etc respected Milligan and despised Keeshan. Its a fact... Captain Kangaroo! People "you think" are in your camp... aren't. And we all know you read this.
Point of clarification:
ReplyDeleteLee Rosenthal has never worked at a COX station. He was fired in Columbus Ohio from its powerhouse WBNS (Dispatch Broadcasting Group) and worked at WXIN in Indianapolis (owned by Tribune) for just a few years. That was his first ND job
He's a complete cancer in each newsroom
It's not the updates, it's the fact that you really haven't uncovered anything new in a while and you're just repeating. When you have real developments, get back to us. Right now you're like one of those reports with a helicopter flying overhead and the anchor just repeating the same few facts over and over because they don't know anything more and they're trying to hide that fact.
ReplyDeleteMatt Taibbi's investigative reporting in Rolling Stone has been excellent. If you are passing that up you are missing some very good journalism.
ReplyDeleteNews reporting is in a sad state. It's all about who can be first and tough if the facts are incorrect. What happened at KTVU should be a warning to all news operations in all media. Being first is not necessarily good. Being right and accurate is always good. If that putz at KTVU was hired to boost KTVU's social media presence, that's a bad hire. If you have the content to raise presence, then that takes care of itself.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is an incident like this should raise awareness in all newsrooms these days. It's like a plane crash. The safest time to fly is following a crash because you damn well know the pilots and all involved are being extra careful. Yes, I know what I just said and I know this involves...a...plane...crash. How ironic?
I stand corrected on Rosenthals Cox background, but not his expertise. Atlanta...ok..perhaps a mid major market...KiRO as well. Splitting hairs.
ReplyDeleteAnyone in print and/or broadcast long enough has war stories. Like one of mine. Came back from vacation to find a close family friend had her name misspelled in about a 60-point bold headline on an inside page.
ReplyDeleteRich is correct. It's reached cultural mass, especially among those in journalism, whether print or broadcast. It is too bad that one anchor has to suffer such humiliation, but it is an iconic moment in television, and we all make goofs. Some bigger than others. I still find the anchor in question credible. She made a mistake.
The question is why, how, etc., and that's for Cox to find out. Cruel hoax is what it sounds like.
For those of us who have done broadcast (I've anchored radio, not TV), I can see how it could happen. I don't think the anchor should be terminated from her position.
As far as The Rolling Stone, I would suggest that Matt Taibbi's reporting is among the most factual and honest financial reporting on the financial crisis that has not ended.
Investigating Lee Rosenthal is the next step in this story.
ReplyDeleteWhen the news broke on the plane crash, it was the veteran team of KTVU that reacted and went into motion. Lee had little to do with the coverage.
But Lee had a chest thumping promo about being number one in crash coverage - literally hours after their live coverage concluded THAT day. This is not only a rookie move, it's also in extremely poor taste. Everyone knew KTVU kicked everyone's ass in coverage that day. It wasn't even close. But in a disaster, where lives are lost, let others say how good your coverage was... not you.
Then came Rosenthal's PRESS release about the coverage, naming each of the competitors in the market, and listing how far each was behind in the coverage. Again, very poor taste. This was not good station marketing, this was bad, ego driven, self-promotion.
What Lee has blatantly NOT done, is come out publicly, and taken responsibility for the pilot naming fiasco. He should have stepped forward as the LEADER of the newsroom, and apologized publicly, and issued a statement saying he was reviewing the newsroom confirmation and vetting processes, to make sure nothing like that happens again. Instead, Lee has made sure to tell his bosses that he was no where near the newsroom at the time of the blunder. He then has hidden behind the skirt of Tom Raponi, the station GM who has taken all the responsibility. Lee has proven he is bush league and not able to lead a great newsroom like KTVU. That is why is stock is falling fast.
Lee took over a Tribune station in Indianapolis, that was already number one.
His 'social genius' really came from another News Director in the Tribune family, who really is a social genius. Lee just picked off his ideas.
Lee then took over a number one station in the Bay Area.
But he was not, and is not the driving force behind either.
As one of his former colleagues put it... "Lee has just been lucky to be at the right place at the right time." Eventually that catches up to you.
> As one of his former colleagues put it... "Lee has just been lucky
Delete> to be at the right place at the right time." Eventually that catches
> up to you.
Sounds a lot like KTVIU's ND several NDs back, Andrew Finlayson. Mind-boggling that since then it's gotten even worse.
I'm new to this blog- but I can tell you, I have experience with Mr. Rosenthal. He's a joke. He didn't do ANYTHING for WXIN's social media growth... he just jumped on the bandwagon. The new and former webbies are the ones who got that station where it is. Don't believe me? Ask Detroit.
DeleteAs for as the person who placed the helicopter analogy, welcome to news. Rich has uncovered significant developments in this blog. The ND has lost the credibility of his newsroom and if he survived one of the worst screw-ups in television news history, Cox owners don't like the fact that he shoved his excellent 100% accurate coverage in the competition's face. It's classless, tacky and it speaks to his integrity.
ReplyDeleteName one thing that "Rich has uncovered" that wouldn't otherwise be news.
Deletelee Rosenthal is probably going out the door.
Deletethe staff is losing confidence in the news director and the family who owns cox doesn't like the "we rock and you suck" news release that was hand written by the news director.
they understand the mistakes involved in namegate but it was the pompous news release that has gotten the family angry.
those are new developments. questions?
The comment about Atlanta and Seattle-Tacoma being mere "mid major markets" makes me laugh. I'm sure NY, LA and Chicago think the same about the SF-Oak-SJ market. I can imagine them saying something like, "We didn't have to triple-hyphenate our way into major market status."
ReplyDeleteSame thing for DFW, which displaced the Bay Area as the #5 DMA. Atlanta and Sea-Tac are #9 and #12 respectively.
WSB-TV is the flagship for Cox with a 65-year history and an industry-wide reputation for the volume and quality of its local news.
When I was growing up in what was then the second-smallest TV market in the country in western Kansas, I thought Topeka was a major market.
JW
One small positive from this embarrassment: I've never had more faith in KTVU's ability to get the names right in its news stories. One big negative: the channel continues to be reckless in its reporting. When a huge crowd of idiots took over a freeway and stopped traffic, Channel 2 thought the way to report the effect of this dangerous and frightening incident was to broadcast interviews with two drivers who had some sympathy to the rioters cause. No concern at all for the drivers who were pissed, scared, or horribly inconvenienced. I wonder how the news director would appreciate it if a crowd chose to voice its opinion by blocking access to KTVU?
ReplyDeleteAlso, when people assemble to make known their objection to something the most precise word is protest; when they act together to cause violence or destruction it is a riot. To use the word rally -- a passive, nonjudgmental word that does not match the facts on the ground, is to slant the news and give these thugs -- who are terrorizing an entire city, an aura of decency they do not deserve.
So it's your view that KTVU should tell witnesses to a crime what to say? Or, in the alternative, if those witnesses say something that you might not like,not to air it? really?
DeleteHow heavy a dose of psych-meds is required for one to extract that conclusion from what I wrote? As I stated, the station chose what to broadcast, and by cherry-picking was able to report exactly the opposite of how drivers typically react to unnecessary and dangerous disruptions to the flow of freeway traffic. Since you apparently came away convinced they got the story right -- that no upset drivers were interviewed because none could be found, it proves that the station is right that at least one segment of its audience is gullible enough to fall for its biased and incendiary nonsense.
Deleteso you were there? You are part of the team at KTVU and you know for a fact that they interviewed several people, most of whom thought it was outrageous and said so, but then KTVU only aired the opinions of those who agreed with the protestors?and with you? That's the only way you could know that,isn't it?
DeleteAs I inferred in my comment, the news media delivers a biased product, custom made for fools like you to swallow. I suppose had KTVU provided interviews with two morons claiming to enjoy paying $4.20 a gallon for gas you would have come away pleased that motorists were no longer being gouged at the pump.
Deleteyou can't "infer" in your comment..You can "imply". You implied that KTVU interviewed lots of people who were angry about the freeway incursion, but that KTVU only used interviews with people who weren't. Unless you were there, or in an edit suite, you would have no way of knowing that, which you clearly don't.
DeleteMuch like the admonitions about watching sausage being made, having done so much of it in my life, I rarely if ever watch television news.
Lee Rosenthal sounds like arrogant little jerk off who needs to get shown the door by KTVU. And now Rich, enough please of this 'Name-Gate' story which has taken up way too much of your blog.
ReplyDeleteYour loyal readers prefer it when you rip on Raddy, Kate Scott, 'P-Con' (tell me what you really think of this dysfunctional idiot Rich!) and others who don't deserve to work in the sixth largest market. Am I leaving anyone out...? Oh course I am....Half of the numb-nuts on the air at Comcast, which not one watches, and a few more of the nerds and ner'do wells at 'the Sports leader' and 'the Game' (they are both jokes!)
Here's what I still don't understand.
ReplyDeleteWe, in the media, press agencies and businesses for comments for our stories. We demand it, give them deadlines, or we are going with the story regardless. Our bosses dictate our process.
Now that the lawsuit talk is off the table, why do news directors and general managers say nothing when THEY become the story?
It's the hypocrisy that drives me crazy. We expect the moon from people who we have proven made mistakes or were involved in wrongdoing.
In this case, KTVU admitted they made the mistake.
So--now that the lawsuit is off the hook and the internal investigation appears to be over, tell us what happened.
Was it minutes before noon, a news release comes in, it's given to a producer or a reporter or a manager, and they called the NTSB and said what?
Hey, did you guys release the names of the pilot and an intern said yes? Or--did a manager call the NTSB after the screw-up to save face. You released the names, right? Yes, we did release the names.Whew! We're off the hook.
KTVU demands answers outside their walls but when they are the story, they can't be reached for comment.
Pathetic!
> Here's what I still don't understand.
Delete> We, in the media, press agencies and businesses for comments
> for our stories.
Here's what I don't understand: that sentence.
We in the media hold public officials, businesses, and so-called scammers accountable.
DeleteSomeone screws up in public and we demand answers.
We PRESS for more information, a comment, some kind of response when a story breaks and during an investigation.
Yet KTVU hides behind a lawsuit that isn't even in the mix anymore.
Do you need me to spell that out for you?
Hey idiot, press is a verb...meaning we are going to press them on this issue.
DeleteOy Vey!
Anon at 12:10...Atlanta is 8, Bay Area is 6......Sea-Tac not a major market in the top ten. We all know NY-La-Chi- and Boston are above the Bay Area in market /population size....you are free to leave if you find the Bay Area too Podunk for you .
ReplyDeleteYou have "acid reflex". The quick gulping of tuna with the tomatoes (especially) does ths, not to mention other stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe water only encourages the "reflex".
Take an antacid.
Take a Prevaced.
ReplyDeleteWXIN was not the number #1 station in Indianapolis. WTHR was the #1 station. WXIN fell to #4
ReplyDeleteWXIN was #4 before he got there, it became #1 or #2 by the time he left. Supposedly, he was pretty well liked and respected there, and pretty well thought of here so far. The press release definitely hurt that but I think he still has a chance of being okay, depending on how he does with the staff following this, time will tell.
ReplyDeleteWhat???!!! WXIN has the number one morning show. Don't get me wrong, that's great but they aren't the number #1 station in the market. Far from it!!
DeleteNO ONE liked Lee Rosenthal in Indianapolis, especially in his own shop. Make cold calls to the station and you'll find out.
DeleteWhat's funny is Fred Zehnder showed how to make KTVU a juggernaut: hire talented people from the field they will be working in: Consumer Reporter Vacar was a consumer advocate and one of Nader's Raiders before he worked at KTVU. Health and Science (and often Aviation) reporter John Fowler has a science background and is a pilot. Beat reporter Rita Williams was a seasoned crime reporter. Shandobil bled politics. Then let these people do what they do with minimum of interference. It worked. Fred did the opposite of managerial "wisdom." He did not hire haircuts from Fresno who know how to hold a stick mike but don't know how to even spell subpoena. He had an eagled-eyed copy editor who worked with reporters and in-house writers all day. Nothing got past that guy.
DeleteHe left and rather than continue his proven techniques, they went down the same road as their competition, the very people they used to slaughter. Sometimes now it's hard to tell their reporters from KRON's wet-behind-the-ears VJs.
But Fred showed how it's done. They considered him "lucky" and said after he left they could do better on a smaller dime. Ten years have proven they can't, and all the conventional management thinking doesn't work. The way back is very simple. Yet they'd rather go down with the ship than do what any bright 15-year-old could see they have to do.
They'll tell you times have changed. They haven't, except that times are always "changing" They were changing when Fred was in charge too. They'll never stop changing. It's like what Warren Buffett tells other investors: there's always "uncertainty." Name one time when things were certain, except in retrospect.
The answers are very simple. So much so that anyone who actually suggested doing them would be looked at as though he had three heads and would be kicked out of management. Even that that's the very person who could make things better for everyone.
Hey, Rich, here's an idea for something you can write about: you yourself were saying you were not impressed by the over-hyped America's cup event (I still laugh when I think of your line "Larry ellison sipping Dom with his sixteen girlfriends." How true.) It seems now that SF residents agree with you:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/americas-cup-2013-fizzling-san-francisco-residents-concerned-170600745.html
I've never seen the lure either, and I am sympathetic with the teams who are boycotting/protesting. I get the vibe that SF is just hyping the crap out of this hoping to create another "event" franchise (esp. since we're not getting the Olympics). But it's all about $$$, not about the sport, which, I agree with no, nobody but a few rich playboys care about. That would make a good colulmn instead of recycling "Namegate," at least until there s a new development in Namegate.
As some other's have stated already news has changed. When I was a kid the news came from three sources...if it was breaking KGO/KCBS radio was usually first. If I wanted it visually I'd watch the 5/6 O'clock news to see the story "live." If I wanted to read the game notes after a game those came out the next day in the paper.
ReplyDeleteIn the mid 90's it changed as the web became the main new source. Now it's moved even faster with Twitter most stories are on Twitter before they can be checked let alone double checked. Everyone wants to be "first" which means they are not always right. This will I am sure be one of those stories college students read about in journalism and PR classes about making sure your info is correct before you go to break it to a mass audience. Also double check where the news release came from. For many of us we look at a webpage address to see if it's legit, maybe that's what needs to happen from news/PR releases is it from a # you know?
I still enjoy hearing about THE GAFFE, but I am wondering why Mike Mibach (?) is filling in for Dave Clark, when Brian Flores is available? Wouldn't you think that Brian would just continue on after 5 a.m. instead of going out into the field ?? I like all of them, Dave Clark, Mike Mibach, Brian Flores even though I had a hard time getting used to Dave and really had hoped that Kraig Debro (even though I guess he was a pain) was going to take over for Frank .
ReplyDeleteAnyway, is Brian Flores heir apparent to Dave??
OK, guys and girls, this KTVU embarrassment has been hashed and rehashed. Please, somebody, let us know when the perp has been revealed.
ReplyDeleteTill then may we move on?
For instance, what's with anchorette Elizabeth's and reporter Da Lin's whispery voices on KPIX? Are they using the same voice coach? Is there some competitive advantage to swallowing that last vowel?
And then there's Scott Pelley painfully slow enunciation: "It's so great to be with you Allan and Liz, there in the Bay Area"
I'm telling you, Rich, print and broadcast have become such a commercial shill. I'm about to bail.
Good question!
DeleteHey friends,
ReplyDeleteThe KTVU is a national story, one of the biggest embarrassments in television news history. While we probably won't find out who the culprit was, we will find out who dropped the ball, the fall-out, firings, and the reduction in advertising revenue, etc. That's the story.
And as much as I'd like to hear about Elizabeth and whispery voices at KPIX, no one cares.
So bail because I guarantee the rest of the country is reading this blog to find out the truth. What happened at KTVU will be taught in colleges and j-schools all across the country.
I guarantee every journalist wanting to break a story first will get another source, pursue the truth in a more dogged fashion, get a second pair of eyes on a story, all because of what happened at KTVU.
But enough about monster journalism lessons, let's gossip about Liz and Da Lin.
This Rosenthal dog pile is hilarious. I'd like a head count of just how many of you numskulls have actually ever held a conversation with the man that you're crucifying.
ReplyDeleteAs for Rolling Stone, are they even relevant today? Buy 3 copies and you probably have a controlling interest in the company.
We've all worked with Rosenthal, idiot.
DeleteI wonder how far you've been up Da Lin's scrotum.
No, we really don't want to know that and c'mon, nobody cares about rolling stone.
Tell Liz we say hello.
Stupid is as Stupid does.
DeleteHey, 3:31--
ReplyDeleteTo me, the symbiotic relationship you mentioned was broken in the 90's...when TV stations started going into overdrive with live-shots. PRetty soon every station had more than one live truck (and a sat-truck,too). Stations started acquiring their own choppers--or going into partnership ownership.
Management then realized that it just spent a ton of money on these "toys"--and felt like they ad to justify the cost...but rolling out the live-trucks and choppers EVERY SINGLE DAY (around the same time that stations started adding more newscasts; gone were the 6pm & 11pm shows...to be replaced with 5,6 &11...and then morning, noon, 4/5/6/11 shows.)
Computers also caused the downfall--by allowing cut-and-paste scripts, instantaneous lineup changes, late story additions made easier/instantly (such as what happened w/the Asiana fiasco).
I started in the biz in the early 80's...and by the mid late-80's got into producing. I definitely noticed these changes.
So...... who wrote the script and ordered the graphic?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that relevant anymore?
hey 10:14 - can you elaborate on his firing from BNS? That's new information
ReplyDeleteActually it's old information. Lee Rosenthal was a polarizing manager in the WBNS newsroom. Many people within Channel 10 couldn't stand him. When cuts needed to be made, his boss listened to the complaints from inside WBNS and tossed Lee, and kept another executive producer with more experience. Lee was abrasive, arrogant, and we were stunned he landed a job as a news director.
Deletesorry, meant new info to us ere in the Bay Area. Sounds like he hasn't changed that much. We har a lot of respect for WBNS as one of the finest news operations in the country, and would love to hear more specifics if you want to share.
DeleteLee's boss couldn't stand him, he fired him from BNS, the boss went to Indy to be GM at the Indy powerhouse, and Lee got a ND job at a loser station. Lee was infamous for getting on twitter and insulting the competition. Don't listen to WTHR sports guy, he sucks. That story from Channel 6 was crap. What news director does that?
DeleteI like Matt Taibbi's columns at Rolling Stone.
ReplyDelete***shrugs shoulders***
Matt Taibbi's articles are the very reason I'm a longtime RS subscriber. As long as he turns out articles, I will always read RS.
ReplyDelete+1 . I love Matt Taibbi's columns.
ReplyDelete