New Photos Emerge of Boston Bomber
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Dramatic new photos show the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, his face bloodied, climbing out of a boat in a suburban backyard as heavily armed police officers wait for him to drop to the ground.
LA Reporter Dies in Hiking Accident
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KTTV investigative reporter and producer Martin Burns died in a hiking accident near Altadena, the mountainous neighborhood just north of Pasadena, Calif.
His body was found in a ravine below a trail leading to Inspiration Point in the Angeles National Forest, according to MyFoxLA.com.
The preliminary cause of death is trauma sustained from a fall off the steep trail.
Fox’s Gigi Graciette tweeted, “Sad week for our FOX 11 family as we lose friend + colleague Martin Burns in hiking accident.”
“He made a personal difference in my professional life every day,” Fox 11′s VP News Director Kingsley Smith said. “Whenever he stopped by to share a story, I saw the deep passion and dedication in his work and projects.”
Burns was 56 years old.
H/T Variety
Leaving the Sports Desk in The A-T-L
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After more than two decades WXIA sports anchor Fred Kalil told viewers during last evenings 6 p.m newscast that he is stepping down from that much coveted job.
News director Ellen Crooke alerted the staff that the announcement was coming:
"Our Fred Kalil …the guy we all love, the guy who makes us laugh, the guy with a heart the size of Buick has an announcement he wants to share with all of you. We are sending it to all of you first before we tell the community tonight. Just remember Fred will continue to cover sports for us on air… in fact watch sports tonight as he previews this weekend’s biggest college game ! We love ya Fred!"
In this farewell video narrated by Jaye Watson, he expressed his love for sports and his desire as a young man to become an anchor, a dream he pulled off with aplomb.
He had a benign cyst removed from his brain in 2000 but it took months for him to recover short-term memory. He returned to the air three months later and took medication to avoid seizures. He said recently, he has had more trouble reading the prompter. He felt it was time to step away from anchoring but will still do stories on occasion. (Whether he will remain on a freelance or part-time basis has not been clarified).
"It stinks," he told Watson. "It's tough. It's tough, it really is. I can't tell you how hard it is... I used to be able to do all this stuff in my sleep." At the same time, he said he has no regrets.
Video up after the jump.
Read MoreSinclair Eyes Reno Station
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Is the buying spree continuing for Sinclair?
Word is that Sinclair is working on a deal to buy up KRNV in Reno.
KRNV is currently owned by Jim Roger's Intermountain West Group.
Rogers is the same owner ditching syndicated shows at his NBC Las Vegas affiliate, KSNV 3.
We hear that Sinclair made an offer on KSNV as well, but Rogers is holding onto the Sin City station for now.
Stay tuned....
Life in a Small TV Newsroom
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Ahhhhhh....Life in small market TV News.
It seems like at least one staffer at WTVM in Columbus, Georgia is not happy with the pecking order at the station.
The staffer believes that the News Director is giving a couple of anchors preferential treatment.
We have some news for the disgruntled worker...when you move up in markets the exact same thing happens.
The pissed off newsie thinks management is not stepping up to the plate sent an anonymous letter out and placed a copy in most employees boxes.
The letter was sent to GM Holly Steuart and copied to Raycom corporate.
A copy of the letter is up after the jump.
Read MoreCNN Falls Back to Third
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CNN has fallen back behind MSNBC in the ratings.
It is the dog days of Summer, but CNN still posted its lowest-rated month in total viewers since Zucker took over in January 2013.
After passing MSNBC in April, CNN fell back to third place in August.
The cable net came in third behind both FNC and MSNBC for total day and primetime.
Ouch!
The Dream Lives
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It's been 50 years since the March on Washington and TV networks are planning a lot of coverage Today to mark the event.
Here is a breakdown of what networks are doing what:
ABC News“I Have a Dream” -- four words that helped change the course of American history. ABC News and Yahoo! News will host a first-ever live global broadcast on Wednesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington and his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. This hybrid digital-television event will be anchored by George Stephanopoulos with Dan Kloeffler from ABC News World Headquarters in New York beginning at 11 a.m. Coverage will be available across all ABC News digital platforms as well as through Yahoo! News. When President Barack Obama speaks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, ABC News will simulcast a live special report to the ABC Television Network and to the Yahoo!-ABC News Network.
MSNBC The news channel will present special coverage of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on Wednesday. This will include live coverage from both Washington, and New York, with Chris Matthews anchoring live from the National Mall throughout the day beginning at 11a.m. After Obama’s remarks at about 4 p.m., MSNBC will present the Rev. Martin Luther King’s entire "I Have a Dream" speech, with the special hour hosted by Tamron Hall. And Chris Hayes will host a special “All In” at 8 p.m., live from Washington. “All In” will also air King’s "I Have a Dream" speech with limited commercial interruption, followed by commentary and reflection by Hayes and his MSNBC colleagues regarding the historic nature of King’s words. The limited-commercial presentation has been made possible by Bank of America.
CNN The news channel will observe the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on Wednesday with a re-broadcast of King's “I Have a Dream” speech. The address from five decades ago will air in its entirety. The day’s coverage will be hosted by CNN anchor Don Lemon, with live reporting from correspondents Joe Johns and Athena Jones in the crowds gathered on the National Mall to participate in the events, and commentary from CNN Crossfire host Van Jones and contributions from CNN’s Donna Brazile.
CBS Evening News Anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley will lead CBS News’ live coverage of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington including President Barack Obama’s speech from the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday. Coverage begins on "CBS This Morning" at 7 a.m. with reports on the anniversary, and includes live coverage of President Obama’s remarks Wednesday afternoon. Pelley will be joined by CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett from the White House, CBS News Correspondent Jeff Pegues from the National Mall, and presidential historian and CBS News consultant Douglas Brinkley from Washington, D.C.
Struggling NY Station Finally Names Co-Anchor
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WPIX made official what just about everyone knew.
WNBC Anchor Scott Stanford will joining WPIX as main anchor alongside Tamsen Fadal.
“I am impressed with Scott’s skills as a communicator, his ability to get to the essence of a story and his sports experience, which has proven he is quick on his feet,” said Mark Effron, PIX11 VP/News Director. “Just like our audience, Scott is a local guy who is passionate about this place we call home and I’m certain viewers will appreciate his candor and his personality.”
Stanford has also worked in the New York market at WNYW Fox 5 and WWOR My9. Prior to joining My9, Stanford was the full-time afternoon sports anchor on WCBS Newsradio 880 where was twice awarded the “AIR Award,” which recognized him as the best radio sports anchor in New York City. He began his broadcast career at WFAS in Westchester County and WRKL in Rockland County.
“As a lifelong New Yorker, my entire broadcast career has been based here and I am thrilled to be joining a station with such a strong New York heritage. I have watched PIX11 since I was a kid and I can’t wait to get started in the newsroom,” said Stanford.
He starts September 16th.
Back To TV News
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Regina Waldroup, a former news anchor and reporter at CLTV the Tribune owned cable station in Chicago is coming back to TV news.
Waldroup, who left TV and went into teaching broadcast journalism at two Chicago area colleges, is returning to television news as a part-time reporter for WMAQ.
Our man Robert Feder says that Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news at the NBC O&O, confirmed her hiring Tuesday in a memo:
"Please welcome Regina Waldroup to the newsroom," he told staffers. "Regina is joining us as a per diem reporter and will work part-time to fill out our reporting schedule."
It's a homecoming for Waldroup, who worked earlier in her career as a desk assistant and field producer for WMAQ. After on-air news jobs in Coos Bay, Oregon, and Albany and Elmira, New York, she joined CLTV as an anchor/reporter in 2006.
Al Jazeera America Launches with Hash Marks
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It's not like we didn't say this was going to happen.
But, the ratings are in for Al Jazeera America's first week and they are in a word awful.
How awful?
If you turn on the channel right now, you will be doubling their ratings.
OK...maybe it's not that bad, but most of the shows hash marked in the ratings.
TV Newser says the highest rated show on AJAM last week was the Thursday evening edition of “Real Money with Ali Velshi,” which drew 54,000 total viewers.
When your best show pulls only 54,000 viewers, you know you're in for a long road ahead. The reporter that went topless when she interviewed the Mayor pulled more than 4 times the traffic as AJA's best show and that was just a posted video on YouTube.
AJA's ratings are awful and we frankly don't see them getting much better.
The critics can rave about the network all they want, people aren't going to watch it.
Hang on! Here We Gooooo!
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We could see it coming and now it looks like the Fox News vs. Brian Lewis death cage match is about to get started.
Lewis’s attorney Judd Burstein just released this statement:
I have just been retained and am still plotting our course of action. But two things are very clear to me. First, Brian Lewis no longer has any confidentiality obligation to Newscorp or Roger Ailes because of the false and malicious statements made by Fox to date. Second, Roger Ailes and Newscorp have a lot more to fear from Brian Lewis telling the truth about them than Brian Lewis has to fear from Roger Ailes and his toadies telling lies about Brian Lewis.
Judd Burstein
Oh boy!!! This is going to be fun.
H/T Gawker
Mika to the Media: Stop Showing Miley Video
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MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski let the viewers in on a little secret about the media.
Brzezinski went after MTV and the media for using phony discussions about the meaning or morality of the controversial performance as a ruse to continually replay the Miley Cyrus video from the MTV awards.
“All of us in the media, we are adults and we know right from wrong. We don’t need to cover this story, to put the video up and ask the question and hide behind the question so we can show the video and make money off of it. It’s wrong what happened. That was disgusting. It was really bad for our children. It was way over the line and everybody should say it and no one should show it.”
Now Mika.... you know that's not going to happen.
The video after the hop.
Read MoreOlbermann Back on ESPN2
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Last night Keith Olbermann rebuilt the bridge he burned down at ESPN.
Olbermann launched his new show on ESPN 2 and in a surprise to no one, the show was about....Keith Olbermann.
The show titled "Olbermann" (did you think it would be anything else?) featured clips of Keith Olbermann which of course were watched by Keith Olbermann.
The show featured more Keith Olbermann and finished with Keith Olbermann saying "I've done all the damage I can do for one night."
We're guessing that at some point Olbermann will stop talking about Olbermann and we'll get some sports news. It is ESPN after all.
Then again, we still can't find any music on MTV which is supposed to be a network about music.
Reporter Goes Topless in Interview w/ Mayor
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We're betting that this is one interview the Mayor will remember for a longtime.
Canadian journalist Lori Welbourne was interviewing Walter Gray, Mayor of Kelowna about whether it was legal to go topless in public.
She asked her question and then before the Mayor could answer, she whipped them out.
"What are you doing?" the mayor asked. "It's really hot in here," she said.
My advice to Reporters here in the U.S., don't try this.
Of course unless it's a rating month.
The video is up after the jump.
Read MoreReporter Charged with Domestic Battery
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WTHI (Terre Haute) Reporter Jon Swaner was booked Friday at 2:43PM and charged with domestic battery.
Police say that Swaner was involved in an altercation with his wife after they found his wife in a nearby home, with blood on her face and a cut over her eye.
Swaner's wife claims she ran into a door - causing the injury. Jon Swaner told police the same thing.
Because of course when you run into a door, the first reaction is to go the neighbor's house and get away from all the other doors in your home.
A judge has ordered Swaner to stay away from his wife as the case moves through the courts.
WTHI had posted the story on their website, but then they pulled it.
It didn't take viewers long to figure out what was happening and they lit the station up on their Facebook page. Shortly after the story was once again posted on the station's site.
What does the station's GM Todd Weber have to say about the arrest of one of his reporters?
Say with with me "We don't comment on personnel issues. '
Gotcha!
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Inside Edition correspondent Megan Alexander aired not one but two stand ups from the red carpet of the MTV awards.
The first one she said "It was the moment from the MTV Awards everyone is talking about." The second was, "There's always a shocking moment at the MTV Awards, and this year was no different."
Of course the story was about Miley Cyrus and her slutty dance moves that got the olds all up in arms.
Trouble was the standups were recorded in the daylight, with people on their way IN to Barclays Center, not out.
They were recorded before the show took place.
Oops!
