SIGN of The Times...GA Reporter, Tara Moriarty has quit KTVU and is now to become the Communications Director for SF Mayoral candidate London Breed.
She (Moriarty) announced the decision on her Facebook page.
To say her friends and colleagues are shocked would be a gross understatement.
KTVU will survive, of course they will but they lose one of the best street reporters in the business and a tenacious one at that who had made a presence at Fox 2.
It has become a trend lately: reporters leaving their TV News jobs to become spokespeople for various agencies.
Former KTVU reporter, John Sasaki, is now the PR guy for the Oakland School District; Priya David Clemons, another KTVU reporter, is now the spokesperson for the GG Bridge. Robert Lyles left KPIX to become the AC Transit PR guy.
Yes, a sign of the times.
KTVU slants right..in liberal San Francisco. Tara is multi talented and being in the bay area for years? She's probably had it with the KTVU execs slime and "Lets get up to Sinclair Broadcasting standards men!" outlook. I think soon ch2 will be like Madmen/Adman -whatever- that TV show. The one about drinking on the job and hiring best gams in the 60's!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I watch KTVU almost exclusively (ABC7 once in a while) and I find it to be very liberal for a FOX O & O. As a democrat myself, I am impressed with KTVU's coverage on politics. It is clear that all of their local anchors/reporters lean liberal, and their FOX national reports are surprisingly unbiased. She was probably more concerned about KELLY than KTVU's on air political preference.....
DeleteFrom what I can tell, KTVU goes out of its way not to appear right-wing.
DeleteIs that a good move?? Does she really believe that Breed will win the election or a run off????
ReplyDeleteBreed will win.
DeleteYou do it for the connections and the doors they open.
DeleteI'm guessing there is employee turnover and from a variety of reasons. Just brainstorming, the reasons might be:
ReplyDelete-money;
-often completely relocating when taking a job with another company/station;
-conflicts with management or other employees;
-cost of living in Bay Area;
-other personal life goals;
Some other prior folks which are likely doing other careers are:
-Susan Siravo
-Sandy Castelblanco
-a KNTV reporter I sold a BMW motorcycle to 40 years ago who's name I forgot
-Malou and Christine Nubla
-Linton Johnson
-Sydnie Kohara
-Samantha Mohr (still in weather reporting, however)
-Roberta Gonzales
-other names & persons which I just can't remember right now.
add:
Delete-Rhonda Bentley (this was the one I couldn't remember from my first post, then I thought of even more folks)
-Erica Kato
-Elizabeth Wenger
-Brent Cannon
Rachel Gordon of the Chronicle split and is now a spokesperson for PGE.
DeleteAs I thought about that BMW motorcycle more (An R75/6), I bought the BMW from him. I later sold it to someone else who I can't remember at all.
DeleteI left a network news job 26 years ago for the world of PR. Weekends and holidays off. Better travel (knowing how long your trip would be). Getting in on the front end of a big story way before the press gets interested and better, more consistent money. Only downside was that my new world had much less vacation and comp time, which had grown to 13 weeks a year.
ReplyDeleteI'll miss seeing her on TV but good for Tara. I just hope for her that means job security.
ReplyDeleteYou mean London(I grew up in the Projects) Breed who plays the Race Card every chance she can. Big mistake.
ReplyDeleteSo true.
DeleteI’m happy for her but she’s taking a big risk. No job in 4 months if Breed doesn’t win. My guess is that KTVU couldn’t/wouldn’t pay her more, and she started looking around. Channel 2 has some big shoes to fill. Seems like she covered the entire city of SF for them.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always wondered if her mother is Erin Morarty of “48 Hours.” Anybody know?
Nope.
DeleteTara Moriarty was one of the few reporters at KTVU that consistently provided excellent stories. I am happy for her career change in that she left in own terms, but will miss her on the air.
ReplyDeleteWOW! Major loss for KTVU.... She was a great GA reporter, and she clearly knows politics judging on her reports throughout the years. Best of luck to her and her new path.... Seems to be a trend at KTVU. How many solid anchors/reporters have left in the past few years? (including retirements/going to other stations --- A LOT)
ReplyDelete- Eric Rasmussen
- Ken Pritchett
- Ross Palombo
- Brian Flores
- Tori Campbell
Tori Campbell a solid anchor? Sum Ting is Wong with this
Deletepost.
Another solid Reporter who left KTVU was David Stevenson a 10-year veteran KTVU GA Reporter who left the station in late May 2015 to work for the San Francisco Police Department as their Manager of Media Relations.
DeleteLinton Johnson was a BART spokesman a few years back.
ReplyDeleteIn 2011 Photos of Linton Johnson's Dong went viral--he foolishly exposed his Penis while posing with his boyfriend. BART then decided to replace him as their spokesperson with Alicia Trost. Linton is still with BART today but working in a non-media related job.
DeleteMr. Johnson is worthy of a capitol "D" for his Dong? Humm
DeleteSorry to hear this. Misguided IMHO. Tara does a nice job for KTVU, but the Facebook page announcement is drivel. Breed's
ReplyDeletestar is fading fast. She needs more than a self-admitted political newbie like Tara to get her elected.
How long will Tara keep this gig if London Breed wins/loses?
ReplyDeleteThose who are leaving for PR/PIO jobs are smart! I got out of the biz 12-years ago...for a state PIO job here in Sacramento. MAN--I cannot begin to tell you just how different it is: Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm...rare overtime (which is usually planned out weeks in advance)...no working on weekends...three-day weekends...ten holidays off...and vacations whenever the hell I want (so long as I put it "in the book"). Oh yeah--I'm fully vested in a pension, too.
ReplyDeleteThose who leave "the biz" and work for themselves (a la Roberta) can set their own hours...and most importantly, work as their own boss.
TV news was a blast. I'm really, really glad I did it and proud of what I accomplished. I've formed lifetime friendships. But as in sports, there comes a time when it's time to hang up the cleats/spikes/sneakers...and microphone/videocam.
FOr me, it was after 18-years.
Good luck w/the new gig, Tara! If he doesn't win, there are numerous other PR/PIO gigs out there.
Michelle Roberts is now at Salesforce.
ReplyDeletePuzzling move by Moriarty. There must be more to this story.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you leave a solid job at KTVU to hitch your wagon to
a losing horse. Angela Alioto's entry into the mayoral race is
comical and Jane Kim will be an also-ran. It will come down to Leno and Breed and Leno has forgot more about politics than Breed knows.
You forgot Erika Kato - spokesperson for SFMTA
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Breed is being bankrolled by a tech billionaire, I'm guessing this new gig pays pretty well.
ReplyDeleteOther names include Priya David (KTVU, Golden Gate Bridge Spokesman), John Sasaki (KTVU, School District Spokesman). I wonder where is Linton Johnson these days after that scandal incident years ago when his scandal picture went viral.
ReplyDeleteArticle assumes that TV news is the be all and end all of career existence. It isn't now, and it never has been. Watch London Breed win and Ms. Moriarty proceed to have a much more interesting life than your average tv type whose shelf life is limited by banal realities.
ReplyDeleteLondon Breed....puke.
ReplyDelete> KTVU will survive, of course they will but they lose one of
ReplyDelete> the best street reporters in the business...
True.
As for Malou and Christina Nubla, however, they're out of the business because they were clueless beyond being traffic reporters, but didn't realize it (and in Malou's case, still don't).
Just goes to show, your looks can only get you so far and then you get old!!
DeleteNot being in the business, I have noticed a really odd trend that seems to occur over and over, again. It seems to follow from a "Hollywood" sort of mentality. Someone appears out of nowhere and gets put on television, and is celebrated as some new star of the medium. They are given their own shows, or are put prominently on display, become widely known, and easily recognizable, then "boom" they are gone. You don't know where ... you just never hear of them, again. Then everybody else working in the same industry starts calling them dumb, old ... whatever derogatory word comes to mind to justify their disappearance. Very strange phenomenon. And very disturbing, I might add. Apparently, a lot of people in the industry have sufficient time on their hands to try to make their fellow professionals look bad because they are so insecure about their own abilities ... or jobs in the industry are so hard to acquire and keep, that the only way to get and keep one is to stab somebody else in the back. Whatever the case, it just does not seem like an indication of a healthy culture, in my opinion, and it seems to happen with regularity. What a miserable business.
DeleteInsufferable middle management and News Directing leads to more shocking departures. The current staff at KTVU, especially the long-timers, deserve more respect and better treatment. It's going to take a large community outcry to counterbalance the ongoing FOX-ification and their battles with the Bombastic Borises at Sinclair.
ReplyDeleteTara (and that gorgeous red hair) will be missed.
ReplyDeleteI think Priya David has a job as spokesperson for Caltrans or something now. And Karina Rusk works for a hospital down Salinas way, if memory serves.
Let's all weigh in on another person's life decision even though we have no idea what her considerations are and it's none of our business.
ReplyDeleteChiming in with opinions is what is done on this board.
DeleteWere you not aware of that? If you don't want to read it, then don't come back.
12:37 is posting their opinion much as you have. 12:37 is "chiming in" with their opinion. Regarding your comment, "If you don't want to read it ("it" being 12:37's comment), then don't come back." Take your own advise.
DeleteBecause of the lack of good jobs in the business, reduced sizes of newsrooms and the growth of media companies who own more than one resource in a market, companies are turning their PR departments into newsrooms to get their message out. It makes sense for companies to hire respected media pros as their PR representatives. They know how to position a story, they know how to develop a story and the company can control the message through their PR people. Thank these pigs who control newspapers, TV and radio stations. You've made the mess.
ReplyDeleteAnn Notarangelo was also part of that trend, leaving TV and taking a job as a company spokesperson.
ReplyDeleteAnn Notorangelo, KPIX weekend Anchor, (sp?) Left to be a Spokesperson, too. I think for a hospital.
ReplyDeleteFirst at CoCo County, and later for Shell Oil.
DeleteAn oil company? You might as well sell your soul to the devil.
ReplyDeleteYep, 5:22. Pretty cringeworthy.
DeleteFormer MSNBC and NBC Bay Area evening co-anchor, Lisa Kim, works for Stanford Hospital.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Tara when she would sit in for Sal. Don't know why she didn't get the job full time.
ReplyDelete