Thursday, October 2, 2014

Lee Rosenthal Officially Leaving KTVU As News Director And Headed To Boston With His Buddy, Tom Raponi; Staffers Elated; Thursday First Take

 What we reported here, first, became official Wednesday: The Boy Wonder, Lee Rosenthal is headed out as News Director at KTVU and going to Boston with his pal, GM Tom Raponi.


Staffers at KTVU, including all the news talent and editors and producers, have been out of the loop and were said to be frustrated over the lack of information coming from lame duck management. Everyone pretty much assumed that Rosenthal was gone once Raponi was leaving for Boston but were still kept in the dark.


Rosenthal's short tenure at KTVU was marked by a particularly gruesome episode that might have sealed the fate of most other news executives. It was fortunate for Rosenthal that Raponi took most of the heat over Asiana Namegate.


Few people at KTVU ever warmed to Rosenthal who many saw as an eager-beaver, out-of-touch newbie exec clearly not ready for primetime in Jack London Square. Staffers complained of Rosenthal's over-reliance on 21st Century gimmicks like Facebook and Twitter models for news segments.


The shit really hit the fan when other news executives under The Boy Wonder were routinely tweeting Fox shows and participating in marketing department promos. This is, after all, KTVU, still regarded as the gold standard for local TV news stations in the Bay Area.


Obviously, Rosenthal didn't get the memo.


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20 comments:

  1. There are more genuine smiles in hostage videos.

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  2. i don't konw why KTVU is still regarded as the "gold standard." Even when I worked at KGO (pre Trixie) I thought it was a far far better operation, and now if you watch KVU at 10 and then KRON at 11, there's little difference and often it's KRON that has more details in its reports, which are now longer than KTVU's. THe days of Dennis and Elaine are long, long gone, but KTVU is still riding that.

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    1. Last night was a perfect example of what I was talking about. KTVU did a story on the JP Morgan Chase security breach and so did KRON. But KRON mentioned the single most important fact, which KTVU left out: only people who used their web services were affected. Changes the story hugely, and KTVU never mentioned it. I'm a Chase customer, but I never use the web for banking. Back when I worked at KTVU, they'd never let you get away with leaving out a detail that important.

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    2. KGO-TV these days is no better. Used to be they were a good shop. I'm sad to see where the business is going.

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  3. I believe the proper term for Lee Rosenthal is a lap dog.

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  4. I like the widely acknowledged statement of quality 'the gold standard'. We used to have such a policy in this country until Nixon killed the actual gold standard. Now we have a printed paper standard. Please start using that in place of 'the gold standard'. Thus it becomes, 'KTVU is the printed paper standard'.

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    1. There are no standards for TV news anymore. It's just one big pile of shit.

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  5. OMG good riddance. Once the writing was on the wall on what kind of leader this douchebag was, it was like a slow exodus, especially after the Sum Ting Wong debacle.

    (Anyone find it a funny coincidence that it happened after his BS press release about "The Nation comes to KTVU for news about the Asiana crash?" God what a misguided idea...)

    It was clear from the beginning that he was out for himself, and he treated his employees accordingly. I have some serious horror stories...

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  6. Any word on whether the GSM will also be heading to Boston?

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  7. Lee was a nice enough guy. He just had too high an opinion of his own opinion, given his level of inexperience. He was ignoring wisdom from people who were winning Emmy's at KTVU before Lee was born. There is a certain level of conventional wisdom at KTVU among the vets, born of years of doing it right. His leadership often ran counter to that valuable experience and left people shaking their heads. He seemed to believe his many jobs in small medium markets made his smarter than people who had spent a career in one of the best news operations in the country.

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  8. As per the official memo from the GM:

    · Lee Rosenthal, News Director;
    · Eric Casella, Program Director;
    · Tamara Voremberg, General Sales Manager;
    · Adina Pasto, Director of Business Operations.

    so, basically, some are lucky to stay with Cox.....the rest of the crew gets to fashion their own lifeboats.

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  9. What's sad is they're not solving a problem, they're kicking a can down the road by sending him to Boston---or anywhere. He's incompetent and should be in a position more suited to his ability...assistant night manager of a Mickey Dee's comes to mind.

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  10. "Lee was a nice enough guy. He just had too high an opinion of his own opinion, given his level of inexperience. He was ignoring wisdom from people who were winning Emmy's at KTVU before Lee was born. There is a certain level of conventional wisdom at KTVU among the vets, born of years of doing it right. His leadership often ran counter to that valuable experience and left people shaking their heads. He seemed to believe his many jobs in small medium markets made his smarter than people who had spent a career in one of the best news operations in the country."

    This is absolutely spot-on

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  11. Good riddance to one more broadcast management a-hole. Why is being a jerk, and egotist and a blowhard a pre requisite to working in media management? I have yet to figure that out!

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  12. I felt like the newsroom pissed on it's own legacy...KTVU felt like something to be proud of...a destination station. People would love to spend their entire career there... Now it's a total shit show. People who don't know the history or repect it. In the last couple of years... the Exodus has been hard to take. People you worked with...you fought in the trenches with... forced out, fired, or quit...not because they wanted to...because they had to. We're not cogs...We're not tweet handles...If Cox was smart they would get rid of Tom and Lee...They fill fuck up Boston too... Remember the employee survery was only 18% positive. (George Bush's lowest approval was 25%)

    It'll be easier to fight the good fight without those managers still in control.

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  13. Just wait. Soon the staffers at KTVU (the ones that are still there after the axe) will be begging for Lee Rosenthal and Tom Rapponi to return home.
    The beatdown WFXT staff has always been kept at bare bones level. When Greg Kelley (KTVU's new GM) gets to SF he will quickly teach you the Fox mantra of "doing more with less." Get used to that phrase. Embrace it or move on. No parent company is as cheap as Fox and Kelley took it to an extreme. Let's just put it this way, no turkey at Thanksgiving. But they used to give turkey coupon and then they would ask us to donate them back to charity (and they would keep a list of who donated!) Holiday "parties" take place in the cafeteria or outside of Kelley's office. Enjoy the chicken macaroni, paper snowflake decorations and uncomfortable conversations.
    Reporters have NEVER had company issued cell phones, leaving us to risk losing a source on the street or to give out our personal cell phone numbers to strangers. His Finance Dept will tell you that "company issued cell phones are against corporate policy" and yet our counterparts in other markets would have company issued cell phones. Blatant disregard for the challenges of collecting news never mind not even having respect enough to not lie directly to your face.
    Kelley is very big on loyalty, but that loyalty only goes only one way. If you rub him the wrong way by checking out your employment options elsewhere or if you are looking for a raise to just bring you up to the market standard rate, then you are dead to him. He will however respect you if you somehow managed to get through the nearly iron clad contact time to have a better offer on the table. That is the only way to get a deal that is more fair. But he is still more likely to just say "you're not loyal, c-ya!" If he likes you then you will most likely be brought in during the first moments of your contract renewal period and there is no negotiation. It's a take it or leave it offer. Counter offering is met with disapproval and loyalty speak. Watch out if he waits until the last days of your contract or even let's it lapse because that indicates he couldn't care less if you re-sign and has likely already found your replacement or will just expect everyone to pick up the slack of yet another reporter gone. One of his favorite things to do is bring in new young inexperienced reporters that the photographers will have to teach in their first months. So much for earning your way to a top ten market.
    Travel? Yeah, no. When it rarely happens you will be forced to front your own credit card for all expenses (except airfare) and then they will line item you into the poor house. They always pick the cheapest, dirtiest hotels. They will have you making four layovers just to save on airfare, even when it makes financial no sense. It's big corporate pennywise and dollar dumb.
    When the staff has been issued new technology (programs, editing etc) they received no training at all, because that would cost money. Throwing us to the wolfs on deadline.
    This all is just some examples of the big picture with Greg Kelley. Ultimately the KTVU staff will need to fight back as a group as the changes start or it will be too late. Hopefully you will stand your ground to the new Fox managers with a "No we don't do THAT to people here in San Francisco" mantra of your own. Good luck.

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    1. I can't speak to the talent contracts but as a long time employee of WFXT I am in complete agreement with this poster. Very accurate!

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    2. The above e-mail is written by a disgruntled employee.

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    3. The email above was written by an employee who knows what they are talking about. Even those who aren't "disgruntled" don't believe in the way Kelly runs the ship. Good Luck to SF. Don't panic, but keep your reel up to date.

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  14. The changeover happens midnight, Oct 7.

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