Chicago Anchor Making Move to Plan "B"

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As FTVLive has told you, WFLD, the Fox O&O in Chicago looking at their options to bring the station's 9PM newscast out of the ratings basement. 

Word is the station is exploring the hiring of new anchors for the newscast. 

It looks like one of WFLD's main anchors is hedging his bets for the future. 

Bob Sirott who anchors the 9PM newscast alongside Robin Robinson has taken a job at WGN radio in Chicago.

Our man Robert Feder reports that Sirott is headed to a Monday-through-Friday air shift at WGN AM 720 with his wife, Marianne Murciano. They're expected to co-host a midday or afternoon show on the Tribune Broadcasting news/talk station, starting in the next few weeks.

Sirott continues to anchor the 9 p.m. weekday newscast for the Fox-owned station under an extension of his contract, which was to have expired Saturday (July 6). While talks proceed between Sirott's agent, Steve Mandell, and management, Sirott remains onboard with co-anchor Robin Robinson, whose contract expires in August. Fox Chicago bosses did not respond to inquiries about reported plans to alter their anchor lineup.

If Sirott does leave Fox 32, his agreement with Tribune Broadcasting likely would be expanded to include television work. But sources emphasized that he was not being considered for the 9 p.m. news anchor position at WGN-Channel 9 currently held by Mark Suppelsa. 

It appears that Sirott may have made a very wise move. FTVLive is betting you will not see Sirott on WFLD for much longer.

Stay tuned... 

 

Can MSNBC Stop Bleeding Viewers?

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Can MSNBC Stop Bleeding Viewers?

MSNBC is ratings free fall and it appears they are starting to panic.

For the cable news network that admits it doesn't do very well covering news has put all their eggs in the George Zimmerman basket.  

MSNBC which prides itself as the place for politics, has cast that aside to join all the other cable nets in obsessing over the Zimmerman case. 

The National Journal asks if the amount of Zimmerman mania was causing any eye rolling at the network, one MSNBC insider said: "It's less the amount of coverage because everyone does that and especially after CNN covering [Jodi] Arias [murder trial] did so well. And we have a large African-American viewership that's interested. The issue is whether we cover it the right way, as a legal issue, which we're mostly doing or does it get covered like it's 2012, when there was no indictment, as a political fight. I worry."

More after the jump.   

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Four More Anchors Named for Al Jazeera America

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Al Jazeera America is still without a news president, but that hasn't slowed them down when it comes to hiring.

The network has named some more anchors that will hit the air when the network launches next month.

The latest hires are  HLN's Richelle Carey and three local TV anchors. They are former WFAA Dallas Anchor Jonathan Betz, former WCCB Charlotte Morgan Fogarty (pictured)  and DC Radio Anchor Del Walters.

All four will be anchoring Daytime at Al Jazeera.  

DC Sports Anchor Leaving His Dream Job for Something Better

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DC Sports Anchor Leaving His Dream Job for Something Better

Sometimes the dream just gets better.  

Seven years ago, Dan Hellie got what seemed like a dream job. After several years in Orlando and West Palm Beach, he was finally back home in Washington, working for the legendary George Michael at WRC, the most powerful local station with one of the country’s strongest sports brands.

“I thought I would never leave,” he said this week.

 But with his contract set to expire, Hellie did his due diligence, talking to a variety of national sports and news networks. And this week, he’ll announce his next move: to NFL Network, where he’ll anchor the daily ‘NFL Total Access’ look at the league.

“It’s a blessing to go from one unbelievable job to another,” Hellie said. “I feel unbelievably lucky. And I’m not dumb enough to think that luck had nothing to do with it.”

More after the jump.   

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Zimmerman Case to Go to the Jury Tomorrow

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The George Zimmerman trial is expect to go to the Jury on Friday afternoon and we could have a verdict before the end of the Weekend.

"They will go out to deliberate Friday afternoon," Judge Debra Nelson told prosecutors and defense lawyers after Wednesday's proceedings.

TV stations across Florida have alerted the staff to be on stand by for the verdict.  

Depending on which news organization you watch, Zimmerman is either going to get off or be convicted.

ABC's Legal Analyst Dan Abrams says he feels Zimmerman will not be found guilty in murder of Trayvon Martin.  

Switch over to MSNBC and Al Sharpton as Trayvon Martin's parent's attorney Benjamin Crump says there was "overwhelming evidence" to hold Zimmerman accountable. "We have faith that if the jury follows the evidence, he will be held accountable," Crump said.

Stations are also quietly preparing for unrest after the verdict is read.

Some stations are planning wall to wall coverage of the verdict and the violence if such does occur.

Stay tuned...  

The Newsroom Season 2

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The Newsroom Season 2

Occupy Wall Street, the Trayvon Martin killing and Benghazi will all be part of season 2 of HBO's 'The Newsroom.'

USA Today reports that  The people chasing the stories become the story in Season 2.

Instead of asking the questions, news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) is answering them as the season opens. A lawyer (Marcia Gay Harden) is doing the probing as the cable network faces a massive lawsuit for reporting -- then retracting -- a story alleging the use of chemical weapons by the Obama administration.

Going from hunter to target is not a comfortable position for the news team.

"In the first season, we were going after the Tea Party, what has kind of divided the Republican Party, Daniels says. "This is more about an incident that happens to us. Journalistically, we follow … a very, very wrong path."

More after the hop.   

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Really?!

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Really?!

Yesterday we told you about a station in Tallahassee, FL that let the Chick-fil-a cows come onto the set during the newscast in what turned out to be a free commercial for the fast food restaurant.

Was it the worst move by a local TV station this past week?

Nope.

For that you would have to head up to Washington, DC and WUSA. The station that attempted to turn their newscast into Saturday Night Live minus the humor part.

More on the story plus video after the jump.    

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New Anchor Named in Chattanooga

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WTVC News has named Josh Roe to its main anchor line-up.  

Roe will anchor the 11PM news cast alongside Kim Chapman and do the 5:30 News with Latricia Thomas.

“We're excited to welcome Josh to News Channel 9,” said WTVC General Manager Mike Costa in a statement.  “Josh is a great anchor and broadcast professional who will fit in well with the top broadcast news organization in the Tennessee Valley. I'm glad we were able to bring him home to Tennessee.”  

 

 

Media Converge on Boston Courthouse

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As the media continue to go way overboard in their coverage of the George Zimmerman trial in Sanford, Florida, 1268 miles to the north, the media has gathered at another courthouse.  

Media from around the world did the best they could to find a spot as under intense security, a white prisoner van carrying Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sped into U.S. District Court in Boston Wednesday morning. 

This will be the first time the Boston bombing suspect will been seen since arrest back in April.  

The courthouse is expected to be jammed for 19-year-old Tsarnaev's appearance. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said space is being reserved in the main courtroom for victims' families, but she wouldn't indicate how many planned to attend. Court officials have set aside an overflow courtroom to broadcast the court hearing for the media.

Reporters and spectators began lining up for seats in the courtroom at 7:30 a.m. as a dozen Federal Protective Service officers and bomb-sniffing dogs surrounded the courthouse.

H/T WCVB

Moving Up The TV Ladder

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WIS (Columbia, SC) News Director Rashida Jones (no relation) is leaving the station and headed to the world of cable news (or something close to cable news).

Jones is going to be the Executive Producer at MSNBC's 'Jansing & Co.” She'll join MSNBC in early August.

Here is the memo sent to the staff at MSNBC: 

From: Miley, Yvette (NBCUniversal)
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Subject: Announcement

Team,

Today, I am thrilled to announce that Rashida Jones is joining msnbc as Executive Producer of “Jansing & Co.”

Rashida, a highly-sought after newsroom leader, has always been someone I wanted on our team. She is a visionary who understands strategy and how to lead a team to accomplish a goal.

Rashida most recently held the toughest job in local television that of News Director. She worked in that capacity for WIS-TV in Columbia South Carolina. Under her leadership, the station’s ratings grew and WIS maintained it’s number 1 ranking in the state.

Prior to WIS, Rashida worked for The Weather Channel as the Director of Live Programming. While there, she also had roles as Executive Producer and Senior Producer.

Rashida joins msnbc on August 5th.

 

Hasselbeck Signs off from The View

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Hasselbeck Signs off from The View

Barbara Walters walked out arm and arm with Elisabeth Hasselbeck Today on 'The View.' the last time Walters did that was when she insisted that Hasselbeck was not leaving the show. 

Today, Walters announced that she was leaving. Hasselebck started her sign off by sucking up to Roger Ailes and Bill Shine over at FNC.  

She then raved about everyone that works on 'The View," which you can bet she will be mocking when she gets to Fox and Friends.  

The video of her sign off after the jump. 

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Is it Time to Give up on CNN?

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Is it Time to Give up on CNN?

For 20 years, Sid Bedingfield was a producer and executive for CNN. At one point his job was overseeing all of CNN's U.S. news programming.

But now Bedingfield thinks it might be time to give up on CNN. In a posting on   his Tumblr account, Bedingfield writes:

For several days now, CNN’s extensive coverage of the George Zimmerman trial has shouldered aside the more important Egypt story on the network’s U.S. channel.

I rarely criticize CNN in public, partly out of loyalty, but also to avoid hypocrisy. No one spends 20 years in cable news and comes away entirely clean.

In this case, however, I’m tempted to agree with Jay Rosen, who believes it’s time to give up on CNN. I want to add a bullet point to his list of complaints.

Can we all agree that responsible news organizations should tread carefully when covering a story that evokes such strong memories of our nation’s racial history?

Putting aside legal questions of guilt and innocence, this story began when a man with a gun spotted a young black male who was believed to be somewhere he shouldn’t be and up to no good. 

African American history is filled with tragedies that began just that way.

And anyone with a passing knowledge of that history understands how this case could tap into a deep vein of suspicion and anger.

Read the rest after the jump.   

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