While the mood is somber around the Jack London Square studios of KTVU over the firing of some veteran news staffers, a sense of relief, albeit temporary, permeates the station.
For one thing, Wednesday's mini-bloodbath, however dreadful for those who got the hook, was not shocking for many.
"We're definitely down," a longtime air talent told me. Although the word of the dismissals was announced by News Director, Lee Rosenthal, rumors started fast and furious at the Oakland Fox affiliate. Even some of my most dependable insiders were reluctant to talk, on or off the record.
I got word midday about the developments and tried to gauge reaction and what's in store for the future.
QUICK BULLET POINTS---
1. Cox sent its own media attorney to Oakland to head the internal investigation. Ever mindful of its image and brand, which has taken a beating over the Asiana Airline name gaffe, Cox was adamant that it got to the bottom of the affair.
2. An e-mail that made its way to the newsroom the day of the gaffe, was seen by 4-5 people, (Brad Belstock, one of the staffers fired, was not a part of the gaffe, but his tweet, "Oh Shit", immediately after it was read, was let go because he violated station social-media policy.)
3. Cox and upper management suits at KTVU have not completed the investigation. The matter is not closed. Keep in mind that this is the worst mistake that has ever happened at KTVU, (duh!); it's a matter so stark and disturbing, the possibility of more firings is likely.
4. ND, Rosenthal, is safe for now, (he's only been here barely 3 months), but his much-ballyhooed PR release only a few days after the crash, left many disgusted and added to the embarrassment --don't think Cox high-ups were too pleased with this sheet.
5. Tori Campbell, who read the dreaded script, is also safe and is most likely spared. For one, she recently re-signed a contract extension, (for fairly decent money), and letting her go would be fraught with legal issues and financial matters.
By the way, Campbell is not on the air this week--she's on vacation, (which has nothing to do with Namegate--the vacation was planned months ago.) Probably good timing.
**Developing...
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Fired? Why not give them a week or two, unpaid suspension. That would be a fitting punishment. But FIRING? Why destroy four people's careers and lives, over a tasteless prank that got out of hand. Yes, they should have caught this - no excuses - but they should not be terminated.
ReplyDeleteWhy not? It was not only tasteless, but bordering on racist. A suspension is like a slap on the wrist. It's not a true deterrent. Make people think twice before putting something out on the airwaves. If you want to play, you have to pay. You may not think it's serious, but my friend, you are so in the minority.
Delete@8:56 So why does Tori get a slap on the wrist? Not even a suspension? I guess when you make the big bucks you don't have to be accountable for your mistakes.
DeleteSuspension doesn't send the message. Like sitting for three games after a dirty drug test for an athlete. Lifetime ban, that's what you do for egregious and you cannot imagine the quaking in the big offices over something like this.
DeleteIn the grand scheme (perpetrator) Tory is not the guilty party. It's hard to explain, but if you've ever done any acting and read a script with no rehearsal, sometimes, you do not process the words, you are just making sounds. I have played tapes of my radio newscasts back and heard things I never knew I said. Also, I did a couple of newscasts an hour most of my career. The written stories got refined as I went, because I heard them out loud as I delivered them.
I consider myself helpful in Tory's career (this is a joke folks) because I covered radio shifts in Pleasanton, while she pursued the big time at KGO radio and KTVU. She is a thorough professional and I am sure she was a mess as soon as she realized what had happened.
Dean, It's her fucking job to process the words.
DeleteThese names are as racist a name as Mike Hunt and Seymour Butts.
Delete8:32 and 11:59 are spot on/within reason.
DeleteWhat's done is done so the silver lining for the terminated folks is that they don't have to work for KTVU anymore...they can get better employers to work for and entertain juicy wrongful dismissal suits.
I bet everyone of Lieberman's lynch mob is the first to play the "it's not my fault" card when things go wrong in their day to day lives.
To be fair "Mike Hunt" and "Seymour Butts" are not racist...
DeleteIt was a prank but these people should not be fired. Gosh Americans can be so punishing when it comes to things like this.
Haven't you got bigger issues to worry about - like crime?
Way back when we used paper for prompters I had a member of the studio team that ran the prompter read through each script as she was taping them together, as a way to catch mistakes. And she did. Enough of them that my super-small shop was saved more than once from the kind of public shame that KTVU is experiencing. She went on to ultimately become a medium market News Director (now out of the biz). Another studio member who followed her, an intern (as we cut costs..) not only checked each script one segment ahead of airing, but would also do things like ask the anchor if they needed any sort of pronouncer for the odd names/locations. That kid now runs a good size B2B consulting firm.
DeleteMy point is that protocol doesn't always need to be with the "most" experienced (though I also had a few of those folks in place). Sometimes adding a voice from a different part of the food chain can help you out, more than you realise.
I bet there are a lot of shops now thinking out-of-the-box for solutions to their potential humiliation.
Well congrats are in order, Rich. You're officially a news source.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/KTVU-producers-fired-over-Asiana-pilots-fake-4685627.php
Tori is untouchable, eh? Raj Mathai & NBC11, you've just won a new viewer.
ReplyDeleteTori should have been the first to go. She absolutely had to know Capt Sum Ting was wrong...Then to keep on reading???
DeleteStoopid, stoopid, stoopid!
At the end of the day KTVU Cox is a Business nothing more. As in any Business when it is made to look bad by it's staff That is all anyone there is. The company will let people go. We must remember KTVU Cox did loose some money in this whole mess. I would bet this is more of a win for the company than a loss of not so valued Staff.
ReplyDeleteExactly right. Asiana Airlines likely dropped their lawsuit plans after the public apology and private assurances by Cox that an independent (outside of KTVU) investigation would be done and heads will roll. When this is all done, Cox can stand proud that they have a zero tolerance policy for events like this and that when it happened, they took decisive action. It will make for good cocktail conversation within the elite Atlanta social circles.
DeleteWin for Cox. Loss for KTVU.
For some reason, I picture the "elite Atlanta circles" to look like a party thrown by Paula Deen. #TheSouthSucks
DeleteI agree Drive by opinion.
DeleteBusinesses MANAGE, they don't witch hunt or seek truth. I realize the idealists may believe otherwise but that just isn't their objective.
The need to manage their reputation,perception, the FCC, and the bank account. Taking the initiative to set up a sequence of events (pink slips) that lead to an affordable out of court settlement with 3 dismissed employees is far easier, cheaper, and tidy then to let other groups determine the perception of the business. They appear proactive, moral and brimming with virtue.
To those here that believe the terminations were well deserved, consider yourself "well managed".
Finally a little clarity. Bullet point #2 is worth discussing though, that's going to be come a hot topic I think not only in journalism schools but in legal forums as well. That's a little hard to digest and if memory is correct he Tweeted "Oh sh*t"
ReplyDeleteI would have to think that if Brad still wants to do news he is going to get snatched up really quickly.
Uh oh! Whoopie & company are discussing "KTVU-2-Lo-gate" on "The View!" today! Watch "The View" on KGO-TV7 at 10 a.m. PDT.
ReplyDeleteWow, just saw The View segment. This thing is crazy.
DeleteWow, that sucks to get fired for saying, oh shit. pretty draconian.
ReplyDeletewithout knowing the facts on why the two established producers were let go, I'm still baffled. Special projects and investigators are not in the daily mix of rundowns and newscasts. When this so-called investigation is over, will the gag order be lifted so we can learn more. Maybe Rich can get the people fired to add some insight.
ReplyDeleteTo those who don't understand why special projects and investigative producers were fired I offer this...
ReplyDeleteAt the stations I've worked at, whenever there was a huge story, special projects and the investigative units were usually called upon to give the story more attention.
A fatal commercial airliner crash is not the stuff of the typical daily mix of news. It's a huge story that management likely tasked the special units to devote more resources to coverage.
called by whom?
Deletethe news director who supposedly claims he wasn't there?
from what I hear, the news release came in right before air. who made the calls and who called the shots?
I can understand that if the plane was crashing. I can understand that if lives were lost.
DeleteBut, according to reports, there was an email of pilot names.
The fired producers were so crazy geared up to get them on the air. Why?
I've worked in special projects and as an investigative reporter--why the rush to put names of the pilots on the air.
Furthermore, these were veterans. I don't buy it. I think management threw these producers under the bus.
Yep. Why not wait 5 minutes, and get it right? or wait for the 5PM nws to get it right.
DeleteAnd what happened of the journalist's credo of getting TWO (2) sources? Opps... I guess the "intern" qualified.
If this Brad person didn't have a hand in the fake names, but only tweeted, "Oh sh#t", then he should be suspended, not fired. I'm assuming it was his personal twitter account so while it was bad judgment on his part, I don't think it's a fireable offense.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to me that these veteran producers were fired and Tori Campbell wasn't. If the script was a late add and she truly read it cold, then I KIND OF understand why she was spared. But if she was truly plugged in and a conscientious anchor, she would have known something was up with the script, in large part because two of the four names were released earlier in the week. A good anchor would have questioned why this was "breaking" and noticed that the names were different. And then of course, as she was reading it, she should have caught the joke.
I feel bad for everyone at KTVU, except for the News Director. He sounds like a total douche.
Lee Rosenthal is a douche. Can someone please call his former stations? WBNS and WXIN to get a clear view of who this guy is. It's a sad day for journalism that this guy still has a job. Ask everyone at KTVU. Can someone tell the Cox lawyer to hire a private investigator on this guy?
DeleteLee Rosenthal had never won an emmy. When he got to WXIN, there was a morning breaking news live shot where someone was tased live.
DeleteInstead of putting the anchor and photographer responsible for getting the money shot live,
Lee put his name on the Emmy, and never included the photographer.
This is the news director of KTVU
Lee put his own name on the Emmy, with the reporter's name and not the photographer who got the money live shot.
DeleteThe staff was so incensed that the Emmy went missing.
Hello San Francisco, meet Lee Rosenthal.
Wow Rich, SFGate identified your blog in their Matier/Ross report dated today as the breaking source on the terminations. Congrats!! This is going to hurt all those condescending "Journalist" snobs always trying to minimize your contributions..
ReplyDeleteSo Belstock was fired for tweeting "oh shit" after the gaffe. And that was a violation of KTVU's social media policy. What happens when Belstock's attorneys submit 300 violations of the "social media policy" and nothing was done?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Wondering if the EFF is going to jump on this case since they're all about digital media and rights and such.
DeleteIf he can find a lawyer to take it on contingency, maybe.... but it was then picked up in the UK / worldwide, which didn't help.
DeleteHonest question:
ReplyDeleteI get the firings, but why weren't the chyron person, the teleprompter person, the person who verified the names and Tori all reprimanded?
I get contracts and legal issues, but you have a woman who read 4 names and didn't at any point feel that something was wrong until later in the show. The same goes with the other 4.
Being first is great but not having any common sense to wait for a few minutes shouldn't be rewarded.
Imagine this hypothetical: If three of the names had been authentic and only one comically contrived, what would have happened? There are, in fact, many actual Chinese and Korean names that make Americans snicker, because of the similarity to American swear words. I wonder if there is, in the whole world, someone actually named "Ho Li Fuk"? The whole reading only took a few seconds. Tori has to assume that her crew gives her accurate info when they hand her"breaking" info to be read on the air.This is true of all tv anchors. Don't assume that Tori Campbell is the only anchor who would done exactly what she did.
DeleteIf KTVU is automated like the station I worked for, there isn't any "chyron person" or "teleprompter person." A writer or producer inputs the script to a computer, which generates the graphics and prompter copy.
DeleteChristine, you are correct. I had an engineering class at Fresno State with a guy named Fok Yung.
Delete//made for an interesting first day of class when the Professor did role call, last name first.
That is funny there was a Kid from Japan in my drivers ed class named Draper Dong
DeleteCox Media and Cumulus are both headquartered in Atlanta? Is Cox the ones hiring people like Rosenthal? We know what the Dickey brothers have done to KGO. What is it about Atlanta and the media?
ReplyDeleteTori Campbell needs to go. Even her mother would agree.
ReplyDeleteWonder if Janice Gin had anything to do with this. Makes you wonder?
ReplyDeleteExcellent point about Janice. She had motive...passed up for ND, and the ability. Rich is convinced its not her, but I worked for her. This is her DNA.
DeleteWhy isn't the emailer identified?
ReplyDeleteFrom Matier & Ross' blog today:
ReplyDelete"Sources tell us the fake names - which had been posted on the Internet at least two days before - came to the station via e-mail from an expert source who had provided information to the station in the past."
Expert source with an axe to grind? I can't believe this "source" didn't know what they were doing when emailing the 4 bogus names to KTVU and surprised this isn't as big a story as the producer firings.
Why is Tori not being punished? She read it or is she a robot and has no culpability. She came off as an incredible Ass!!!
ReplyDelete1:29pm Totally agree with you!! TV Anchors will repeat whatever the Teleprompter tells them to say no matter how Dim-Witted or Egregious--Tori most of all needs to be fired!!
ReplyDeleteClearly you have never read off a prompter. To be blunt, you really have to turn your mind off because if you think about what you're reading you'll get behind.
DeleteI completely understand how Ms. Campbell could read those names, especially as she hadn't written the copy.
It is really unfortunate that good experienced and talented people were let go, but what does a special projects producer and investigative producer have to do with the Noon show? And you mean to tell me that no one else from the writers, to the editors, the directors, or anyone else at the station didn't notice these four Asian names. How about the person who typed their names up for the full screen graphic? Something smells fishy in Denmark. KTVU used to be highly respected and is now the laughing stock of the entire world...
ReplyDeletecan I ask a question? Why did rosenfuck bring amber lee to the aaja conference? did she have a role or was she Asian and they needed an Asian representative?
ReplyDeleteThat's nuts!
@5:02 Amber is actually a good reporter. But you're right, bringing her to the meeting smacks of pure tokenism.
DeleteWhy not bring the young Asian lady who actually made the graphic, questioned the names (because they appeared Chinese as she is, but the pilots were Korean). She, the Chinese-American employee, was then told the NTSB confirmed it, and so they went with it. Inside sources confirm this is EXACTLY what happened.
So why not bring her to the AAJA meeting? I'll leave her name out of the discussion for now....but everyone on the inside (and many outside) know exactly who she is!
That's nuts? Not nearly as nuts as rummaging for new reasons to complain about the way KTVU has handled the aftermath of Asiagate.
Delete7:54...
DeleteI know what happened here. The Asian (Chinese) graphics operator saw the names, expressed her concerns to someone because the names were Chinese, not Korean.. (Who did she go to?) and that person claims no, go with it, it was confirmed with the NTSB. but Rosenfuck failed to bring the graphics operator to the meeting with the AAJA...Am I wrong?
All this nonsense.about KTVU, and Tori Campbell, being racist is just politically correct.bull puckey. The "joke" was racist, and in very bad taste, but to blame the station or Tori is ridiculous...whoever put it on the teleprompter.should.be sent packing, but stop labeling. I'll bet Tori is pretty low about now..time to let up and let it go away
ReplyDeleteThe names are never read had the NTSB intern not confirmed. That is the bottom line. That was an incredibly lucky break for the prankster and a death sentence for the unfortunate producers who were fired. Unless there is a smoking gun yet to be fired, it doesn't appear anyone at KTVU acted covertly, with premeditation or malice to get the names read on air. A rush to break news and information-yes. A conspiracy by KTVU to offend-no. Therefore, the terminations, IMO, are a massive overkill.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm beginning to understand why Alen Wang at KGO pronounces his name like Wong.
ReplyDeleteAll publicity is good.Send them all home for a week and bring them back after that.
ReplyDeleteSum Yung Guy
Whether or not Tori should've caught it in the heat of on-air, why wasn't there someone else, after staring at the graphic for several seconds, screaming into her IFB "Tori! Stop NOW! Go to commercial immediately!" Or is that now, like the chyron and prompter, just so 20th century.
ReplyDeleteHell, someone could've just cut it off, even if to black. Much easier and far less damaging to explain the abruptness and awkwardness of that, after the break. Whoever hit the button gets to be a hero, once the reasons are clear - even Tori gets to be a hero, by saying We caught this terrible deed and had to stop. Might've even served, even with the breach, to preserve reputation, unlike now. Ah well, hindsight...
Firing is completely out of line. I am enraged by KTVU's treatment of this affair. What went on the air was a mistake, not an exhibition of racism. Those who put this on the air were punked--they did not realize what it was. One of those fired definitely had nothing to do with it, and we don't know the extent of the other three's involvement, if any. But none of them came to work that day saying I think I'll put something racist on the air. Their mistake in the rush of a hundred stories to deal with in no time flat (company speed-up) was not recognizing what was obvious in hindsight and should have been obvious from the beginning--if indeed any of the three actually looked at the whole thing--we don't know. There was no intent to ridicule. There is no evidence of racism. Suspension at most. Ending people's careers over a mistake is just higher execs covering their asses for running a system that invites disaster. They should be hiring people to provide extra eyes to prevent such mishaps, not firing people. My response to KTVU--You're fired. You disgust me. I'm not watching your newscast again until you start treating your hard-working employees with respect and stop the gag orders and ruling by fear.
ReplyDeleteThe news biz has become so bad that anything goes. Look at the major networks, they don't even pretend to be neutral. It is all for a buck. People are so afraid of losing their jobs that all have become robots. Brainless is the word.
ReplyDeleteProducers type up their own fullscreen graphics these days. Few if any stations have cg ops anymore. I worked at Cox's station in Atlanta...everybody's fingers were getting in the pot of those newscasts. Too many chiefs, overworked minions.
ReplyDeleteno they don't.
DeleteI have worked at three top ten markets.. type them myself. Could not see why Cox Atlanta at their flagship station would be any different. Especially on a noon show.
DeleteI read all these comments and it seems that everyone forgets that three young girls lost their lives in the Asiana crash and this whole KTVU debacle only exacerbated the anguish and grief felt by the victims' families and those involved affected by the tragedy.
ReplyDeleteIf another news station had made a similar mistake regarding the Aurora or Newtown, heads would have rolled too.
There are way more important things in the universe to be worried about than this botched news report! People wake up! America is being destroyed and none of you even care to notice! Distractions from what is really going down in this country! This is nothing but a how do I make myself look good in the eyes of the boss while keeping my job operation. The vast majority of bay area residents don't give a flying fig over this snafu at KTVU! Get a life folks it depends on it! Sorry about the lost lives but people die every second of the day worry about yours now, it may be over tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteWhy would they want to get names out? The pilots were in trouble, and had lost lives on their heads, and people wanted to expose their identities??
ReplyDeleteGreat. That would allow all the extreme psychos out there, to exact revenge on them--even though it was an accident.
At least they were fake names; not classy. Embarrassingly racist.
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ReplyDeletePleasanton criminal lawyer