Many of you--in and out of the business, have shared your expressions about this affair. That this continues to be a hotbed topic is fairly evident; (among other things like: what is PC, what is not; newsroom protocol, KTVU tainted brand, etc), I invite all you to state your opinion, talk, converse, whatever. You get the idea.
Today on my radio show at KSCO/KOMY: Click my page on the website and click the streaming audio sight. A podcast will be up and running later in the day.
The phone number to talk: 831-477-1340.
*Follow me on Twitter
*NOTE: I will also talk about the latest developments.
Rich, why do you think you end up arguing with anyone who phones in? You are a belligerent big mouth.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. Imagine when Rich drinks. I can tell he's one of those angry drunk tough guys. Good thing he claims he doesn't drink anymore (wink wink).
DeleteHi Rich,
ReplyDeleteS**t.
FOUR PEOPLE LOST THEIR JOBS at KTVU over what turned out (in your estimation) to be a joke that was e-mailed to a staffer from the outside.
What kind of world are we living in?
A cold, unforgiving world, I guess.
Call me naive, but I think it's a terrible thing that four staffers were fired over this. I feel slimed.
Dock some pay? OK. Suspension for x weeks? Sure, why not. Counseling? There's an idea.
But FIRING FOUR PEOPLE over a stupid sophomoric e-mail that somehow got on the air? Taking away their livelihoods and their ability to provide for their families?
Really, now - isn't that using a shotgun to kill a gnat?
We're not talking about giving away state secrets here - we're talking about a dumb, tasteless joke. A JOKE.
What the hell ever happened to simple human forgiveness?
The only folks this sorry action will ultimately benefit are the lawyers who will be hired on both sides when the four staffers sue KTVU for unlawful termination.
Pathetic, Cox Media. Just pathetic. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
- Greg from SF.
PS: I said in a previous comment that I would continue to watch KTVU News. That was before the firings. Well, listen up, Cox Media: you just lost a viewer. (One of many, I'm sure.)
4.51pm has a good point, when did we (Americans) become so unforgiving on so many issues? Maybe that's what happens when a company becomes as huge as it is faceless. Its easy to disable or destroy a 'blip' on a monitor when done thousands of miles away from that particular ground zero. Things we should stay mad about like the slow drip recovery, the high unemployment, the gobbling up, dismemberment of our privacy, that's forgotten about and laughed off by our leaders, or called a phony war.
DeleteWell, let's see. In a workplace setting, an inappropriate email gets sent around and is read on television which tens of thousands of viewers see. It then goes viral on the internet where it gets millions of views from around the world. The company you work for is humiliated, lawyers are involved, and your coworkers have to go on television to apologize repeatedly for inappropriate behavior. I would say those responsible should be fired. Good riddance!
DeleteGreg from SF, I'm happy they got fired...they deserved it. It's not funny to them now is it? You, just like the fools that got fired, thought this was no big deal. Well, enough people felt otherwise and therefore FIRED they were. Well, Rich didn't fire anybody, COX did and they did it for a good reason. You should pass this same joke around your office, see how well you do with it dumbass. You're probably the stupid family member of one of those idiots, good luck JOB HUNTING. You will see how small of a matter it is WHEN THEY APPLY FOR A NEW JOB.
Deleteto 5:48 AM,
DeleteYou are a sad, sad person, and are to be pitied.
I bet your folks never taught you the Golden Rule.
Good luck to YOU, friend.....
- Greg from SF
ReplyDeleteI still like KTVU, but if Ken Bastida were on at 5, 6 and 11, I would watch ONLY KPIX!! He is on right now!! He is the best of all the local anchors and a native San Franciscan!
Lieberman has been fanning the flames of outrage for weeks and DEMANDING a significant response from KTVU. Now that KTVU has responded by firing 3 (or 4) employees, Lieberman is crying crocodile tears about the 3 (or 4) employees who've lost their jobs.
ReplyDeleteUh'm, how about a little consistency? And how about letting it go. We are beyond beating a dead horse.
This is Rich's m.o. he fans the flames and goes nuts over any media related controversy. Once this dies down in the next day or two Lieberman will go back to his usual routine: bash Radnich, Kate Scott, Copey and mattress man.He's such a big mouth jerk with a sense of self aggrandizement it'll be fun to see him crash and burn.
DeleteAgree 100% 9:04.
DeleteOnly surprise is that Rich didn't censor your message.
The 9:04 post has management fingerprints. Trust me you won't crash and burn, your blog is a hit- just like I told you so six months ago. You didn't create the problem, poor management at KTVU did. Sounds familiar doesn't it?? We don't fan the flames of the poor economy, social unrest, out of control gun violence,i,e. (KTVU,etc) FOR PROFIT, we're just the "messenger." Keep it up Richie, your blog scares the s-out of gestapo managers.
DeleteThe paranoid lunatic crowd, spurred on by Rich's incessant, incendiary postings are never satisfied by ANYTHING KTVU does or doesn't do.
DeleteI marvel at the paranoid claims that KTVU management fingerprints are on comments from anyone who has the good sense to question the obsession with the endless minutiae of this story.
It is evident that no matter what questions are answered, those answers can always generate new questions, regardless of how absurd they are. That's what's going on here. For those of you who will never let this story end, it never will.
Because the almight ego ("We all have them," Rich says) is so fragile and precious to us, I'm sure that this will not be a consideration.
ReplyDeleteRich, you've not considered this idea, and that's ok -- it only goes to show why you are an arrogant, beligerant, misinformed, boob.
Rich, the idea is this - fire yourself from both KOMY / KSCO and this worthless blog.
Dennis J. - Altos
If those who were let go were indeed responsible for the gaffe, then I say they got what they deserved. Perhaps a good housecleaning was in order.
ReplyDeleteWhat will the saturation point look like in this NameGate business? When will we know we've seen the top of the bottom, when the station goes off the air? When 24 hours after an evening news cast, all past employees are replaced, like, overnight? What more could we rightfully or wrongly expect that has not already happened? We've been staring at the same 17 fish in a dark and dirty fish bowl for what. two weeks now. Is anything interesting going on in Egypt, or maybe New York's mayoral race?
ReplyDelete@11:00pm. Why exactly are you reading a local media blog, if you're not interested in hearing about the biggest story in local media? Just curious. Maybe you should be reading Perez Hilton, TMZ, or the Huffington Post. I hear Gawker has been covering the New York mayor's race, how about you go there.
DeleteAmen, 8:07! WHY are people reading, and commenting, on Rich's blog if they think it's so silly??
Delete@8:07, you make a good point. There are other places to go to get other news.
DeleteYes, a local media blog should legitimately cover Asiagate and its fallout. The problem I have is that RL isn't merely covering it, he's attempting to drive the story. He's not only reporting what's happening, he's expressing an enormous amount of outrage, making extraordinary demands of KTVU and then continues to pontificate about what they should do in a highly opinionated way.
So basically there are a few loose ends with this whole thing. We still don't know the source that caused this whole mess. From a distance I would say the best way for it to come out is if one of the 3 who got ousted takes legal action. Or who knows maybe all 3 go after KTVU. Or some other entity tries to extract it.
ReplyDeleteAnd now comes the other part: who is going to land the interview with these guys. Might not be too easy considering there are probably legal hurdles to be cleared depending upon how they parted ways with the company. And there's always the caveat of them preferring to just stay silent and get on with their lives.
@8:08 one of the fired employees, Roland Dewolk, already did an interview with media bistro . He didn't say much though, but he did say lawyers were involived. It was a few days ago.
DeleteStupid Roland De Wolk tried pulling a fast one months earlier when he arranged for an interview with Micah Lee from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. De Wolk told Micah that he was there to interview them about "doxing." Later, De Wolk took Micah's statements and mixed them in with a totally separate topic called "swatting." De Wolk is a piece of shit.
ReplyDelete"
ReplyDeleteFrom a distance I would say the best way for it to come out is if one of the 3 who got ousted takes legal action.
"
Employees goofing off on the job is grounds for dismissal, and you want them to sue??
Put down the crack pipe.