Media Scramble to Land Zimmerman Interview

The George Zimmerman trial is over and now the the battle for "Get George" moves into full gear.

Local and national media outlets are doing their best to land the first interview with Zimmerman since he was acquitted on murder charges.  

Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O'Mara says that his client will talk at some point "on his terms, at his time, when he's ready."

But O'Mara adds that Zimmerman needs a break after "a 16-month traumatic event." 

Who will get the first Zimmerman interview?

Fox News and Sean Hannity would seem the probable winner. Hannity already sat down with Zimmerman before the trial and that interview was used during the trial. 

It is also possible that Zimmerman may ditch the traditional media and go to someone that will pay him big bucks to tell his story.

The one media outlet that likely has no chance is NBC. 

Zimmerman has an ongoing defamation suit against the network, when in December he claims that NBC and its Miami station, WTVJ, falsely depicted him as a racist in five reports. 

NBC is fighting the charges. 

By the way....

Is it just us or did the Judge in the George Zimmerman Trial look familiar?  

Not Again!

KTVU wasn't the only one to duped by a fake name, you can add Gannett owned USA Today to the list as well. 

In a story posted on WXIA's (Atlanta) website about the Zimmerman verdict, the paper talked to citizens for reaction.

One person the paper talked to was a person claiming his name was Howie Felterbush (How he felt her bush). Here is a screen shot in case WXIA gets smart enough to pull the story: 

It seems the media continues to get punked by fake names. It is not such a big deal when it happens while covering a city council meeting, but when it is on a major story like a plane crash or a high profile trial it becomes a huge dent in the outlets credibility. 

Word of advice, say the person's name out loud and slowly. Because you never know who's trying to punk you.

Just saying....  

Ummmm...Not Really Chris

When the KTVU Anchor Tori Campbell read the fakes names of the flight crew aboard Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a number of anchors contacted FTVLive wondering how she didn't catch it?

Of course it wasn't Campbell's fault that she was given a cold script to read on the air, but you would have thought that after the first two names, "Captain Sum Ting Wong and Wi Tu Lo"  she would have gotten the prank?

She didn't and the station was left with so much egg on their face they could open a Denny's. 

But, MSNBC's Chris Hayes says it wasn't her fault. He tweeted this out after seeing the video:  

We have to strongly disagree with Chris Hayes and his assessment. Yes...we have worked with anchors that are nothing more than pretty faces that can read the words off a prompter.

But, we also worked with many anchors that not only read the words, but actually knew what they were saying.

If and anchor is just reading the words off the prompter that anchor should be fired or at least have they pay cut in half. The anchor is most often the highest paid person in the newsroom. The station deserves someone that is more than just mouthpiece.  

Maybe that's why MSNBC is struggling so much in the ratings. 

Just saying....  

Huh?

New Yorker's?!

(WNBC)

Minneapolis Anchor Wants his Twinkies (Updated)

As of Today Twinkies are back on store shelves and WCCO Anchor Jason DeRusha is Jonesin to get his hands on some.  

DeRusha read this story on the station's morning newscast and now he wants some Twinkies. No word yet if a viewer has found the cakes and made it to the station to claim their $20. 

Update: The Anchor Got his Twinkies and the viewer got his 20 spot (which we doubt he will use the money on a razor) 

Something Fishy

Reporter falls into lake that is packed with fish...and we mean packed. 

Airline My Sue San Francisco Station

More bad new for KTVU in San Francisco as Asiana Airlines says they are looking at taking legal action against the station.

On Friday, KTVU ruined the station's reputation in the matter of a few seconds when they reported racist fake names as the flight crew of the Asiana Airlines jet that crash landed at San Francisco airport.

The station has apologized for the mistake, but the airline said it is still considering legal action.  

Asiana Airlines claims its reputation was damaged by the report. 

KTVU identified the pilots of the Boeing 777 that crashed on July 6 as “Sum Ting Wong,” “Wi Tu Lo,” “Ho Lee Fuk” and “Bang Ding Ow.”

KTVU cited the National Transportation Safety Board as confirming the names, the NTSB  says a summer intern erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew.

An Asiana statement said it is mulling legal measures against both KTVU and the NTSB because the report “badly damaged” the reputation of the airline and its pilots.

Stay tuned....  

Twits on Twitter

Forget about taking away hoodies or guns, what we need to do is take away some people's Twitter accounts. Here's how some of the idiots weighed in after the Zimmerman verdict: 

All Calm after Zimmerman Verdict

The media brace for and expected violence in George Zimmerman was found night guilty. 

He was and there wasn't. 

Despite having news crews out in force waiting for riots and protests, it never happened. 

The media spent the past serval days airing messages from community leaders calling for a peaceful, non-violent response to the verdict.

Some in the media felt those messages worked. But, in reality it just might be that the young people didn't really pay attention to the case. 

The fact is, kids aren't watching TV news and the media's message may have never even reached them. 

As one miami Reporter said to FTVLive "there's more media than there are protestors on the streets tonight." 

Just like many hurricanes and their coverage, the media braced for the storm and it just did not come. 

Zimmerman Walks...Media Runs

The cable news nets spent much of Saturday tap dancing and filling time as a jury of 6 women decided the fate of George Zimmerman. 

In the end, they found him not guilty. 

When the verdict came down, the broadcast networks jumped into the coverage pool.  

Three of the major broadcast networks as well as the four major cable news networks all covered the George Zimmerman trial verdict Saturday night at about 10 p.m.

ABC cut into a 20/20 report with David Muir reporting the news, then continued with the Zimmerman case at 10:16 p.m. via its regular 20/20 episode. NBC briefly reported the news, pre-empting a portion of a repeat of "Get Out Alive With Bear Grylls" but returned to the reality show by a quarter after 10. CBS cut into a repeat of "48 Hours" but returned to the murder case it was originally recounting. Fox was airing a baseball game.

HLN has saturated coverage of the trial, as it did with Casey Anthony and Jodi Arias. CNN has given it major coverage, including a 10 p.m. nightly special effectively competing with sister station HLN's "After Dark." MSNBC and Fox News were lighter overall in overseeing the case. 

The top trending topic on Twitter at 10:35 was #notguilty, followed by #Trayvon.

H/T Atlanta Journal Constitution  

The Intern Did it...

After KTVU made what will go down as one of the biggest screw ups in local television history, they then apologized.  

In the station's apology they said that an NTSB official in Washington confirmed the names. 

The NTSB has now released a press release saying that the station did not talk to an official, but instead talked to a "Summer Intern."

Here is the release from the NTSB: 

And Here Comes the Apology

Here is KTVU's apology and of course they put the blame on the NTSB. I don't care if President Obama himself confirmed the names. Anyone pass the 5th grade would know it's a joke. LAME!!!

OMG! You Can NOT be This Stupid

KTVU reported on their Noon news that they had got the names of the flight crew that was aboard the Asiana flight 214 that crash on landing at San Francisco's Airport.

How the hell these names got on the air and no one figured out it was a joke is beyond us.

Watch and listen to the anchor read the names. Seriously, who is losing their job over this? The station also reports that the NSTB "has confirmed" that these are the names of the flight crew.

Here's the video that will make you shake your head and roll your eyes: