The TV News Management business is a lot like pro sports. When a new GM comes to town he usually hires his own coach, not always mind you, but definitely more likely then not.The same would apply to what's going on at KTVU and what bodes for the future.
With Fox's acquisition of 2 and the subsequent move by Tom Raponi to leave Oakland and take a new job in Boston does not bode well for certain players.
Gregg Kelly is headed to Oakland as GM and will run both KTVU and KICU. He's probably going to want his own News Director.
Combine that with Lee Rosenthal, currently the ND in Oakland, and who was largely a Raponi hire and his lame-duck status at 2 Jack London Square. A prominent station source tells me Rosenthal is "polishing up the resume".
I asked the source on a scale of 1-10 the likelihood of Rosenthal leaving, with 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. 8 was the answer. Rosenthal is all but gone.
Rosenthal never warmed up to staff at KTVU. His post-Asiana press release was the beginning of the end. The ensuing fake-name imbroglio and its aftermath has never been erased nor will be. The string of continuing embarrassments regarding misplaced graphics, out and out mistakes, internal bickering and a slew of personnel turnover is squarely on Rosenthal.
Cox Media, a company sensitive to its brand and run by an old-school Atlanta family, was never forgiving on the Asiana matter and seriously wanted to 86 Rosenthal. Only Raponi stepping in and firing the four newsroom staffers saved Rosenthal's job, I'm told.
Rosenthal, with a new ownership and GM hovering will not have that cushion of protection when Fox comes on board.
I don't have a timetable on when Rosenthal will take off but it's imminent.
Meanwhile at KTVU, I'm told, "people are apprehensive." Not entirely shocking.
UPDATE 3: 27 PM: Rosenthal's East Bay home is for sale, just posted on a real estate site as of today.
*Follow me on Twitter
So Raponi traded those 4 for his 1 to appease Cox?
ReplyDeleteAfter almost a year, Lieberman is still fanning the flames of Asiana, attempting to make it into something bigger than it was and trying to justify his personal obsession with the story.
ReplyDeleteWhile it never blew up into something bigger the way he kept promising, at least in and of itself, it's safe to say that it was a major factor in the departure of the clowns in suits. When your station only appears in far-off newspapers like The Times of India once, for one story, that's embarrassing. When you Google Tori Campbell there's nothing else that comes up. I'm sure Cox is not happy about that.
DeleteI disagree that "it's safe to say that it was a major factor in the departure of the clowns in suits."
DeleteThat's your opinion. It was a an enormously embarrassing mistake. Anything more than that is simply a matter of speculation.
@9:23, I beg to differ. Asiana was, and continues to be, a HUGE deal. It broke the once-venerable brand. Grew up watching them and haven't since. I'm not alone. I happened to tune into the Noon News the other day when the NTSB report came out and the only thing I could thing of when Tori Campbell was reading the story was "Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Ding Ow."
DeleteSince "the graphic heard 'round the world" the product has suffered and myriad mistakes have been made, least of which was the way the station handled the whole situation.
It's not "fanning the flames" it's calling out the truth. For all his faults, Rich is and has always been spot on with his coverage of KTVU's Asiana Affair. There are some great people who still work there but since that day, it's been nothing but downhill at 2 Jack London Square.
As a longtime editor who ran multiple newspapers, including dailies, the KTVU Asiana f-up wasn't blown out of proportion. It was not covered enough by other media. TV stations are all for investigative reports if someone else is involved, but an investigative report into the KTVU goof up was warranted. If I were running the lowly Chronicle and the even worse Merc, I would have put two reporters on it. This major mess up will be taught in broadcast journalism for years at schools worth their salt, if any are left. If you don't like what Rich writes or how much he writes about it, don't read his blog. Go read the free-falling Chron or the Hedge-fund-owned San Jose Mercury News ~ a ghost of itself from the past. Both are Bay Area embarrassments (along with almost all conflict-of-interest rich tech media). If Rosenthal had any integrity, he would have admitted guilt, saved his staff, and resigned. I no longer watch KTVU. Used to be my first choice for news.
Delete> That's your opinion. It was a an enormously embarrassing mistake.
Delete> Anything more than that is simply a matter of speculation.
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were stabbed to death. Anything more than that is simply a matter of speculation, too.
As someone who worked with this dude in Indy, it's called KARMA! He ran off tons of talent in Indy, drove down moral and basically was hated by everyone.
ReplyDeleteMaybe now he's saying "Holy LEE Huk".
Still can't believe that guy is in his mid-30s. Looks way older.
ReplyDeleteEARLY 30s. 32.
Delete"Still can't believe that guy is in his mid-30s. Looks way older."
DeleteYup. Waaaaaay older.
10 or 20 years experience at being 32?
DeleteHe should just retire and use his Senior Citizens discount at Denny's.
Delete> A prominent station source tells me Rosenthal is "polishing up the resume".
ReplyDeleteShouldn't that be "putting lipstick on a pig"?
What is it with some of the people who are hired as front office types in broadcasting anyway? Why are there so many dysfunctional folks in the profession, and how do they get promoted into important positions? I guess the 'grey matter' of those doing the hiring is not very heavy!
ReplyDeleteI was just talking about this to my wife last night. She works in a normal industry, where the bosses just praised everyone for the great jobs they've been doing before handing out very generous mid-year bonuses (there will be another round of bonuses at the end of the year). The top people thanked everybody. They always treat everyone with respect. Yelling is not permitted, and any manager who yelled at an underling would immediately be dismissed. I told her the types of people I've found running every TV station I've worked at, and I've worked at all of them in the Bay Area. And it's not just TV news, it's film, TV entertainment, magazines, advertising--any of the "glamor" professions. They seem to attract both untalented and narcissistic people--"damaged goods." Why I don't know, other than barriers to entry are often quite low--a braggadocios attitude combined with a willingness to kiss ass of anyone above you, is often enough.
DeleteI realize you are referring to TV stations and other media, but as a news director for two radio stations, I never yelled at anyone, as an editor (which I also did while being co-employed as news director at a radio station for a few years) at all my newspapers, I never yelled at an employee. Not once. Never. I would like to know why so many J-school grads cannot spell. What is it with American education? And, no, it's not texting. I saw the trend beginning in the 90s. KTVU could hire me. My employees loved me, except for the ones I had to fire because they couldn't spell (yes, they were given multiple warnings, etc., yes they were given pre-employment testing). I've never run a TV station's news dept. The largest I ran was a 63-person print-radio team. Days of old. And, I'm not that old.
DeleteThe reality is that anyone who takes a management position knows they will give up the chance to "do" journalism and will instead spend their days answering corporate memos, doing schedules and otherwise being miserable having given up the rewards of the profession to move up a ladder that leaves you in a silent and sad little bubble. No wonder so many of them being assholes. They either were talentless boobs willing to give up the challenging and rewarding part of the business or they were decent journalists who have now become bitter.
Delete> I would like to know why so many J-school grads cannot spell.
Delete> What is it with American education?
That is very simple to answer. We no longer worry if the kids are being educated. We worry about enrollment numbers. It's appearances, not reality. I know a SoCal woman with lots of money, sent her three munchkins to a very pricy private school. One was doing very poorly; she got on the phone and told the school she was pulling not just him but his two siblings out of the school if his grades didn't improve. (And she and her real estate husband paid the tution--there were no loans or grants. We're talking a lot of money, upfront, every year.) Lo and behold, his grades got better. The kid went to college and did barely mediocre, but landed a job shortly thereafter, with no experience, at Oracle. The same mother has husband-and-wife friends who work there in high positions. Kid got in through them. "He could have gotten the job without them," she said to me with a straight face. "That had nothing to do with it." Then why'd you go through them? I asked. She gave me a look that could melt lead.
Other child got accepted at Stanford on a football scholarship. Parents hired a private tutor to teach him placekicking for several years prior to his graduating high school. This teacher has taught members of the 49ers and Raiders. So the kid became good at kicking the ball through goalposts and got in. Mother immediately got on the phone with Stanford admissions and told them NO WAY was her son going to read all the material in the freshman English course, works by those "Commie writers" like Orwell. They said he had to. She threatened to remove Stanford's star place-kicker if they did. The reneged. He doesn't have to read Orwell. Think any professor would DARE flunk him from a course?
These people I'm talking about aren't super-celebrities or anything, though, as I said, they do have money. But they are expert at gaming the system and so are most of their friends who have very similar backgrounds. All the breaks--tax breaks, money breaks, legal breaks, academic breaks--seem to go for them. But little of it is earned.
People--and Republicans in particular--are always talking about what a meritocracy this is, but they're better than anyone at gaming the system. I've found through the years that the people who go into the meetings waving their copies of Ayn Rand are the ones who typically have been helped every step of the way. Or, as the great Harvey Mackay once said, Show me someone who thinks he's a self-made man and I'll show you the easiest mark in the world.
"Football scholarships" are one of the biggest things wrong with American education, and why Europeans don't tend to take someone with one seriously, not even if it's Harvard or Yale. In Europe is about education; in America is about how to make money. A recent report showed that American universities rank in the lower third worldwide, even though most Americans think they're No. 1.
DeleteI remember you used to rip on Jared in this blog Rich, and I have to tell you that although he was one of the brightest guys I ever worked with, I could see how some people didn't especially care for him. Jared was kind of like a brilliant artist who was very quick, creative, and very smart...but his people skills were sometimes lacking.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you move up the food chain in broadcasting, you often get an inflated opinion of yourself, especially if it happens in your 20s or early to mid 30s. I've seen this far too many times. Guys or gals get a little power and then behave capriciously, sometimes blowing up or yelling for what seems to be a minor reason.
Perhaps some of these folks think they are perfectionists and probably don't understand why everybody else can't pick things up as quickly as they do.
Others are simply insecure bullies who were treated poorly by their parents or peers growing up. Hopefully they mellow in time, but I wouldn't count on it.
People's behaviors usually don't radically change once they're in their 20s. In a 'people' business, where open communication is imperative, it constantly astounds me how many folks in management lack people skills and the ability to communicate clearly.
People at KTVU are apprehensive. Wow, that's a scoop.
ReplyDeleteI know nothing about him, but upon viewing that photo, I see a man who smiles with his mouth only. His eyes look very suspicious, perhaps even hostile in their wariness. The smile is perfunctory, so no one can say 'he never smiles'. His more natural expression would be closer to an angry smirk or grimace. I am an 'unlicensed "Faceologist".
ReplyDeleteYour first five words are exactly right, everything else is worthless drivel. I am an unlicensed "Commentologist.:
Deletethat's a smile?
DeleteThe smile looks totally fake and the eyes look like "I will backstab you in a NY minute". He should run for a political office -- I believe he could be president. He has all the skills.
DeleteHe looks like the lead character in the "Wallace and Grommit" cartoons.
DeleteWell we know of at least 4 people who are smiling about this whole thing. I am surprised no one has ever gotten a comment out of any of them. They got screwed, especially the guy who did the Tweet. I would guess those 4 have a nice drink on ice waiting for the axe to swing.
ReplyDeleteIf they commented they'd never work anywhere else. You can't speak out in this industry. It's very oppressive.
DeleteWhat's incredible is that a year ago he bought the home. One year later he's selling it. If you want to see where Satan resides, there's an open house this weekend.
ReplyDeleteHe will be 35 and looks 55
ReplyDeleteTrust me, the four that got the boot have ear-to-ear grins. One I know for sure is doing even better than he/she did at KTVU
ReplyDelete