KTVU veteran reporters, Tom Vacar and John Fowler--both with over two decades of tenure over at Jack London Square, have been stripped of their "Editor" status. Worse yet, the indignation was told to them by co-workers and not by the ND, Lee Rosenthal, who did the dirty deed himself!
How coincidental.
Word is that both Vacar and Fowler were outraged, according to a station source.
Vacar was KTVU's Consumer Editor and Fowler, the Health and Science Editor. Both have won numerous industry awards and local Emmys.
**In another outrageous move, according to my sources, Jeff Holub, the PR director, had reporter, Eric Rasmusen's, wife, one of their best promotions writers and producers escorted out of the building when he learned she landed another job.
Another producer in the department is supposedly going to a Cox station in Oklahoma, so she gets to stay for her last two weeks, and is given a heroes send off.
It used to be at KTVU, if you were being wooed by another offer, KTVU would do something to keep you, and failing that, they would win you the best, allowing you your last two weeks. Now their intent is to humiliate you as a shot across the deck as a warning to all the worker bees in the hive.
**Rich Lieberman 415 Media Exclusive
**Follow me on Twitter
Come to think of it, very few KTVU personalities left for competing station, nor did 2 sign away talent from around town. I may be forgetting people. But if local news operations like viewers to think of the anchors as "family," and it's often baloney, the KTVU team really did seem like a close knit group.
ReplyDeleteRemember when their slogan was, "There's Only One 2!" Now the new on-air promo slogan should be: "We 2 Low!"
ReplyDeleteThey sound as bad a Cumulus. These poor young schlubs, who take the jobs of experienced, credible reporters, have no idea how much the state of broadcasting has gone into the toilet since the Media Deregulation Act of 1996.
ReplyDeleteThe decline in responsible, credible media mirrors what is happening to many other American businesses, as the '1-percenters' continue to consolidate their wealth by showing no loyalty to veteran workers. The only thing that those veterans represent to these cold-hearted bean counters such as the folks who own Channel 2, or the 'Dick-Heads' with Cumulus is cold, hard cash, and they don't want their precious profits and bonuses effected.
Naked greed, pure and simple, that is now sanctioned by a U.S. government which has been bought and sold by the monied interests in this country. And we wonder why we've fallen so far as a nation!
The good workers will then leave the domain of the one-percenters, and the one-percenters will have no one but the dregs to hire. It's easier to start your own business these days than ever before.
DeleteI have sat in hot tubs with one-percenters bitching that "kids today don't want to work, don't want to get an education, they're lazy, they just want to tweet and listen to hip-hop." Then moments later they're talking about how they got these "brown-skin Indian kids" to work for them for five dollars a day. They complain that today's kids don't want to compete, then they talk about how they're giving an important, well-paying post to their nephew as soon as he gets out of college (on a football scholarship, pulling a 2.8 GPA). They don't see the hypocrisy of their positions, how one is not compatible with the other. Doesn't bode well for the future of America.
2:07, you forgot to add that they're also the ones who preach that American is a "meritocracy." That line of thought started with that ex-president who got into Yale via a legacy and pulled a 2.7 GPA, then got out of fighting in Vietnam for reasons we'll never know since his records are sealed by fiat, then went AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard for reasons we'll never know because his records are sealed by fiat. God Bless America, land of Hope and Democracy.
DeleteWow, this is not good news.
ReplyDeleteThose are two quality reports especially John Fowler.
I still remember him from the days when Barbara Simpson was co-anchoring with Dennis Richmond (1981?).
You begin to wonder about the management style and culture when two employees are "escorted" out the building.
ReplyDeleteWorked alongside both Tom And John. OK people, nothing special among street reporters. Vets like Vic Lee much better...both have (OMBWD) Old Man Boring White Disease. They'll be gone soon.
ReplyDeleteI've worked alongside all three and I can say you're full of ca-ca.
DeleteOf course they'll be "gone soon." They're both homing in on 70.
Vic Lee if the man. I agree 2:50
DeleteBefore you agree why don't you learn to spell and proof? John Fowler and Tom Vacar wouldn't make that stupid mistake.
DeleteMaybe I'll start recording a earlier news broadcast from a station I like and play it at 10PM when I want to fall asleep...Cox/KTVU is not going to benefit from my eyeballs gazing at their shows anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe folks over at the NSA must be having a blast with the stuff coming out of KTVU!
ReplyDeleteSuch is the culture when you have employees who know more about the market better than the bosses do. Management gets tired of feeling insecure and inferior around their employees so they pull this kind of stuff.
ReplyDeleteMan, I just don't get managers some time.
Anon at 2/:07pm...a brilliant post, and sadly, it really hits the nail on the head. The disconnect between the hypocracy and sense of entitlement from that strata of society is what enables the lobbyists and powers that be to continue to sell out the future of this country by loading the dice in the favor of a smaller and smaller group of people.
ReplyDeleteAnd it will be amusing to watch them eventually start to feed on each other, as will happen. Someday the "one percent" will be dining on the "one percent." At that point I suggest we start calling them the Donner Party instead.
DeleteIt seems like Rosenthal wants them to get mad and retire on their own, so he doesn't have to fire them.
ReplyDeleteSo after Lieberman complains about repetitive coverage of the Bay Bridge, he comes back to the insignificant story that he refuses to let die, angst at KTVU.
ReplyDeleteNow that's really newsworthy; two people were "outraged" when their job titles changed.
I'm old enough to remember Edward R. Murrow, John Chancellor, Eric Sevareid, Jessica Savitch, Howard K. Smith, Bernard and Marvin Kalb, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Sander Vanocur, Walter Cronkite, Charles Collingwood, and Peter Jennings.
ReplyDeleteLocally, I had the honor of watching/listening to the likes of John Weston, Belva Davis, Aaron Edwards, Pete Wilson, Sylvia Chase, Faith Fancher, Ben Williams, Wanda Ramey, Barbara Simpson, and Roger Grimsby.
REPORTERS. TRUTH-TELLERS.
No, I didn't have to look up these names. They are in my memory as a touchstone of what the best can be.
What the HELL has happened?
The Internet. Technology. 24 hour news. Blogs.
DeleteThe Corporate Media, which was allowed through deregulation (agreed upon and signed into law by our brilliant Congress and Senate), to act like the fox in a chicken house, did just that. Approval was given to companies such as Cumulus, Clear Channel, Comcast, Infinity, and others to swoop in and buy many more stations per market than was previously allowed, and then downsize their air staffs, replacing many of the veterans with underpaid, overworked, unqualified neophytes. Just listen to some of the drivel on the local radio (especially KNBR) these days, and you'll see what I mean!
ReplyDelete> What the HELL has happened?
ReplyDeleteSuits, consultants,* and a populace that prefers Twitter to real news.
*Consultants are people who failed at the same job themselves once, who now set themselves up as experts in areas they could not master.
Getting escorted out of the building isn't unheard of. It means you either got fired or took a job with a close competitor. Welcome to TV where a 2 week notice can get you tossed out the door in 2 minutes.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete