Tori Campbell, KTVU: 2013 SF Bay Area Media Person of the Year

 Time Magazine has its annual "Person of the Year"--it features a person or persons who had the most impact, for better or worse, on the year's news.

 

In the Bay Area, I'm inaugurating the " SF Bay Area Media Person of the Year"and in 2013, it's a no-brainer.

 

Tori Campbell, KTVU's inimitable morning and noon anchor is my unanimous winner.

 

If you just got out of a coma or were on a Mars vacation, it was Campbell that read the infamous fake Korean airline pilot names. It caused a storm. It stained prestigious Channel 2. It made otherwise normal media people ponder.

 

Stephen Colbert was handed a double-size buffet of red meat.

 

There were consequences, of course, over the big TV news brouhaha, but the bottom line was that it was Campbell that evaded the sudden fate and wrath that begot others. Why, some people wondered, myself included, was Campbell allowed to carry on without nary a mild suspension or outright termination? Good questions.

 

In any event, this still mind-numbing event; the talk of both the local and national TV/Radio newsrooms to this day; a parody only it was real and SNLish, is, hands-down, unequivocally, the Bay Area media event of 2013 and Campbell, the 415 Media "Person of the Year."

By the way, did she really read it? I must still be dreaming.

 

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Exclusive: Ex-KTVU ND, Chapuis, Was Told By KTVU MGT To Fire Senior Staffers; Newsroom Angst Over Fired Asiana Personnel

  MORE KTVU EXCLUSIVES!

A source close to KTVU tells me, exclusively.

*Ed Chapuis: The former News Director, according to my Insider, ,has been telling people that he was ordered to fire "higher-paid, senior people without contracts" (Chapuis was not present during the Asiana affair, having long been let go months earlier.)

Chapuis refused, said the source, because supposedly, he, (Chapuis), regarded these staffers as the "best in the business." But GM, Tom Raponi wanted them gone so he could hire "easy-to-manipulate" kids at cheaper prices.

SO they fired Chapuis. (On his way to a new gig in Sacramento.)

And brought in a new ND, the current person, Lee Rosenthal, "TO DO THE EXECUTIONER'S WORK."

--Meanwhile:

 

*The latest on the Asiana NameGate affair:

 

From my sources: There's still considerable angst in the newsroom over the four fired staffers let go by management last month. Moreover, according to my chief source, those let go were made to be scapegoats.

 

A direct quote: "THE ASIANA THING WAS A JUST A RUSE! THOSE PEOPLE DID NOTHING WRONG. THE ONLY ONE WHO DID IS STILL WORKING THERE!"

 

Figure it out.  Michelle Toy, the ex-Managing Editor and/or Tori Campbell, the veteran news anchor who read the fake names.
 

*Developing...

 

*Rich Lieberman 415 Media Exclusive

 

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The NY Daily News, Latest to Pick up 'Dead Story'

It's on the front page of the NY Daily News Website.

Must be beating a dead horse, riiiight.

Why I Have Written Extensively About The KTVU Mistake From Hell

I'm getting heat from some of you, (and presumably a few TV Execs and industry people), for writing extensively about the KTVU-Asiana Airline gaffe. A few have said I'm pouncing on the station and piling on. Let me address this head on.

From the very start, I praised KTVU's coverage. I think Frank Somerville was terrific on the air and I had him on my radio show the following Monday.

I try to be fair. Really, I do. I know mistakes are made every day; God knows I've made a few myself. It's called life. And I readily acknowledge that there's an awful lot of very good people at KTVU that are miserable over what has transpired since this very humiliating affair took place. Unfortunately, they are in the minority.

KTVU, in my opinion, has handled this whole mess in a less-than-admirable manner. It all starts at the top. Both GM, Tom Raponi, and News Director, Lee Rosenthal, are good guys and respected around the industry; there is no argument there. Frankly though, they've been terrible in handling the matter since. Limp apologies and trying diligently to erase the embarrassing video from the Internet is hardly the action of people in the top department to handle something like this. Granted, THIS is the mother of all gaffes; an indelible act of severe brain fart-itus that will forever be ingrained with KTVU's brand.

But KTVU had a chance to fix this; albeit with the notoriety attached to it because IT happened in the era of Twitter and Social Media, which of course scooped all of this up like chocolate syrup on vanilla ice cream. If anything, it's Social Media that pounced on KTVU. And given the act of seeing Tori Campbell read those names, who the hell WOULDN'T have? Not this day and age.

The simple truth is that KTVU owes more to ITS VIEWERS, ITS STAFF, to GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS. Reputations are on the line. Credibility too. KTVU used to be the NY Yankees of the TV News business. Its stellar reporting and vaunted newscasts were not only the Gold Standard for the Bay Area TV News community but indeed the nation. That, in and of itself, speaks to why so many people reacted with such utter amazement and befuddlement over the entire episode. That tainted residue still exists and it's not just me perpetuating it.

I have a lot of friends over at KTVU; reporters, anchors and the like and I know this is a most difficult time. THEY have to live with this mark on their professional career, and none of them had anything to do with this. Given that, it's even more unfortunate that their bosses have managed to make ALL of THIS worse. In fact, the whole matter has OVERSHADOWED the jet crash story itself; how bad is that?

I hope KTVU and Cox Media gets to the bottom of this. Better yet, I hope those at the top are more accountable and open. Hiding and cowering; placing gag orders on your staff; trying to remove videos from the Internet is not only bad policy, it simply doesn't work. Moreover, it makes KTVU look petty and bush league. And that's not good for Cox, for KTVU, and most importantly, its viewers.

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KTVU ND Rosenthal Treading Rough Waters; Sorry, But KTVU 'Namegate' is Still Industry Talk Nirvana; Rolling Stone Cover

  KTVU News Director, Lee Rosenthal, has lost the trust of a good many of the newsroom, according to insiders at the Oakland Fox affiliate. Growing credibility issues have arisen over the Korean Airliner 'Namegate' imbroglio that has put the station through a difficult week. It doesn't help Rosenthal that his fingerprints were all over the now infamous press release boasting of KTVU's coverage of the crash a mere two days after the tragedy.

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.

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