Government Shutdown will Dominate the News

Up until midnight the story of the US Government shutdown was nothing more that watching which politician could grab more face time and make ridiculous claims of why the "other side" is to blame. 

Today it gets real and the story also moves from the cable news channels to local news. Look for news crews to be staked out national parks that are now closed. You'll see them on roads where construction has now stopped, at Military bases that are now working with skeletal staff. Moms and Dads that work for the Government have to explain to their children why they aren't going to work and aren't getting paid. 

The story of the shutdown will dominate the coverage on newscasts.

But, the Politicians will still be available to the cameras.  They will continue to get on TV as much as they can to blame the other side. Before or after the shutdown, the Politicians never change. 

By the way, they are still getting paid. 

Idiots! 

Twitter Shutdown

The Government Shutdown can also be seen on Twitter. The United States Geological Survey has shutdown their Twitter account.

The USGS are the people that tell us about earthquakes, volcanos and other natural disasters affecting our planet. 

The USGS sent out this Tweet this morning. 

Which made for some interesting replies:  

Don't Fuck with Al Jazeera America

Al Jazeera America news chiefs have declared a fatwa on using the F-bomb in the newsroom.

Page Six says that one unlucky staffer who had just joined the network from a place where saucy language is dished out like tea in England learned the hard way after loudly swearing in Al Jazeera’s office in Midtown.

A source tells us, “The employee was heard using the F-word, and was immediately reprimanded. The employee was told that swearing is not part of the Al Jazeera culture.”

WTF?! 

Spy Ends Interview with NBC Shortly After it Started

Well that was quick. 

Sexy former Russian secret agent Anna Chapman sat down with NBC's Richard Engel for an interview. It was over shortly after it started. 

Engel asked Chapman about  Twitter marriage proposal to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. She did not want to go there.

She warned Engel not to go there, he did and she left. 

Here's the video: 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New ND Named in Roanoke

Bob Cashen has been named news director at WSET.

Cashen comes to WSET from WALA in Mobile, Ala., where he was news director for the past nine years. He was also news director at WAVY-TV in Norfolk and KSLA-TV in Shreveport, La.

The Peoria, Ill., native was assistant news director at KENS-TV in San Antonio, Texas.

“Bob is probably the most highly recommended employee that I have ever hired,” said Randy Smith, WSET’s general manager. “Every person that I spoke with placed him at the very top of anyone that they had ever worked with. I repeatedly heard the comment, ‘If I had an opening, Bob would be the first person I would call.’ ”

Cashen succeeds Bill Foy, who left a long career in television news to take a job at Virginia Tech.

WSET news anchor Len Stevens had worked as interim news director since June. Cashen starts Oct. 14.

“It is interesting to note that all of the stations became the market leader under Bob’s direction,” Smith said.

Roanoke Times

ABC News Poaches News Digital Editor from Reuters

ABC News President Ben Sherwood continues to aggressively revamp and expand the network’s digital operations, luring one of the top video editors at Reuters to run ABCNews.com.

BuzzFeed reports that Erle Norton has been named as the new executive producer of ABC News Digital, overseeing editorial and video operations across all of ABCNews.com. Norton, who arrives at ABC News from Thomson Reuters, will be charged with expanding digital coverage in lifestyle, tech, and enterprise, among other responsibilities. His implied mandate will be to grow ABC News Digital on its own to be as large as — or overtake — its top three rivals: CNN, NBC, and CBS. As it currently stands, ABC News Digital is only bigger than the web operations of those three competitors by virtue of its partnership with Yahoo. On a standalone basis, it is smaller.

“My biggest push will be in the newsroom,” Norton said in a statement provided to BuzzFeed. “We’re going to leave the standard stories and packages in favor of experimentation. We want to zero in on the most fascinating parts of the news. That’s the way ABC News will continue to stand out.”

“Erle is the best kept secret in journalism, a force as a leader and a journalist,” said a former colleague who requested anonymity because he will be competing with Norton in his new role.

Like We Said...

FTVLive reported on August 19th that "NBC suits have figured the Clinton miniseries " just isn't worth it."" We wrote that "NBC is going to let it quietly go away."

This morning we reported that CNN had killed off their plans for a Clinton documentary and NBC has just come out and confirmed what we said would happen over a month ago. Their Clinton mini-series is not happening either. 

The Peacock released this statement:  “After reviewing and prioritizing our slate of movie/mini-series development, we’ve decided that we will no longer continue developing the Hillary Clinton mini-series.”  

Not to say we didn't tell you so. But.... 

CNN Names New Head of Diversity

After FTVLive reported that Jeff Zucker was going to pull the plug on CNN's Diversity Council, CNN Boss Jeff Zucker was furious that there was a leak inside CNN.

After FTVLive's report... CNN did confirm that the Chair and the Vice Chair of of the Council were both no longer in their roles on the council.  The Vice Chair was out of the network altogether. 

CNN denied the FTVLive report that they were doing away with the council.

Sources say that after our report, Zucker knew there was no way he could eliminate the Council altogether. 

Privately Zucker called the council "window dressing."

The CNN boss has taken hit for the network's lack of diversity in their on air product. Now, CNN says they have changed the council and it will report directly to Jeff Zucker. 

Publicly, Zucker claims that the council will be "invaluable in shaping the kind of organization we want and need to have.”

Today, CNN announced that Geraldine Moriba has been named Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for CNN Worldwide.

“Geraldine is the ideal candidate to take on this very important role within the organization at a critical time for us,” said Zucker. 

CNN can spin it this how they want. FTVLive knows how it went down in the corner office and Zucker's talks with the HR Director and his top staffers. 

Stay tuned, Tomorrow we'll tell you about the next big change Zucker is working on. Shhhh...don't say anything, Jeff doesn't want this info out yet. 

Ummmm....

She does know that this is a TV show and is not real....Right? 

FTVLive Talent Spotlight - Melinda Davenport

The FTVLive Spotlight shines on Melinda Davenport. Melinda is an Anchor/Reporter currently in the Manchester, New Hampshire market.  You can contact her at melinda@melindadavenport.com 

If you want your Resume featured on FTVLive.com, talk to your agent or email us. It's your chance to been seen by News Directors and thousands of News Managers. 

Yawn.... CNN's Ethics Policy for Crossfire Hosts

Some blogs and others are making a big deal about CNN's change in their ethics policy for the hosts of Crossfire. 

The issue has been whether the hosts of the show need to mention on-air if they are funding or helping a politician or candidate?

CNN has now changed the ethics policy to say that the Crossfire hosts do not have to do this because their political position implies support already.

First of all, putting ethics and Crossfire in the same sentence is a joke in itself. But, FTVLive agrees with CNN on this one (I know shocking right?)

If you're watching Crossfire and you can't figure out that Newt Gingrich is in the can for Republicans or that Stephanie Cutter is a Democratic mouthpiece, then you really need to turn the channel to Sponge Bob, because you're an idiot.  

We can argue all day whether Crossfire is a decent show (so far it's not) and whether CNN should have hired Gingrich or Cutter (they shouldn't have) but, there is no reason for them to waste viewers time telling anyone with half a brain what they already know. 

The right and left can argue this one all they want. But, FTVLive is taking CNN's side and saying they are making the right move. 

CNN's Hillary Clinton Doc is Dead in The Water

CNN's planned documentary about Hillary Clinton is not happening.  

That's the word from the doc's director Charles Ferguson. Ferguson blames the Clinton camp for the reason the documentary isn't going to happen. 

In a blog post on the Huffington Post , Ferguson writes "when I approached people for interviews, I discovered that nobody, and I mean nobody, was interested in helping me make this film. Not Democrats, not Republicans -- and certainly nobody who works with the Clintons, wants access to the Clintons, or dreams of a position in a Hillary Clinton administration. Not even journalists who want access, which can easily be taken away. I even sensed potential difficulty in licensing archival footage from CBN (Pat Robertson) and from Fox. After approaching well over a hundred people, only two persons who had ever dealt with Mrs. Clinton would agree to an on-camera interview, and I suspected that even they would back out." He adds,  "I decided that I couldn't make a film of which I would be proud. And so I'm canceling. (Not because of any pressure from CNN -- quite the contrary."

CNN spun the canceled doc with this statement "Charles Ferguson has informed us that he is not moving forward with his documentary about Hillary Clinton. Charles is an Academy Award winning director who CNN Films was excited to be working with, but we understand and respect his decision."

NBC still has a proposed Clinton Movie in the works, but that seems to be dying a quiet death in the "in development" stage and will likely never hit air. 

Most Read Stories on FTVLive in September

As FTVLive wraps up another record month for traffic to this website, we want to look back on the most clicked on stories for the month.  

Here are the Top 5 most read stories on FTVLive for the month of september: 

No. 5 -  LEAVING THE WEATHER CHANNEL

No. 4 -  IT'S NOT THE PICTURE YOU WANT THE NEWS DIRECTOR TO SEE

No. 3-  EXCLUSIVE: ZUCKER PULLS PLUG ON CNN'S DIVERSITY COUNCIL

No. 2 -  CAR CHASE ENDS IN HORRIFIC CRASH LIVE ON THE AIR

And the most read story for the months was:  SACRAMENTO REPORTER FELT UP BY BABOON 

One story that made it into the Top 5 was not a story at all. The FTVLive Wall was hit with a ton of traffic. Of course it should be, since it is the most hollowed ground on the Internet.  

You can visit The Wall by clicking here.  

You can get YOUR name on The Wall by Clicking Here  

A Bit Too Much Exposure

KTBS (Shreveport)  Anchor Eric James has been arrested by police after they say he exposed himself and asked an undercover cop for sexual favors.

James who's real last name is appropriately Cox, was busted in a local park on Friday afternoon. He was charged with a felony of obscenity and booked into the Shreveport City Jail. 

KTBS released this statement: "We have heard the report of his arrest. We are in the process of gathering more information and investigating the matter. In the meantime, Eric James has been placed on administrative leave."

Translation: You'll never see him on our air again.

His bio has been scrubbed from the station's website. 

Bad Pussy has Kept Miami Reporter Off the Air

WFOR Reporter Gary Nelson has been off the air after recovering from being bitten by his cat.

Nelson has missed six weeks of work after because of a serious infection in his right wrist.

Nelson says that his cat bit him. He rescued the kitty in 2005 while covering serial rapist Reynaldo Rapalo’s brief escape from Miami’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center

“My cat Buckles, which is an indoor cat, got out one night and I went in the driveway to fetch him,” Nelson told Gossip Extra “and he wasn’t ready to come home. So he bit me right, perfectly into the joint.”

Since then, the 62-year-old newsman has had to contend with three surgeries, two hospital stays, one month on an antibiotic IV drip, a toxic reaction to the antibiotics and hours of physical therapy.

He’s expected back on the job he’s had at the CBS affiliate for 22 year within the next couple of weeks.

“I just started being able to hold a pen,” he said. “I’m anxious to get back.”

And Nelson obviously forgave Buckles, who first cozied up to Nelson outside the jail after an inmate abandoned him.

“I love that cat,” he said. “The lesson is: Don’t try to make a cat come home until he’s good and ready.”

Good for Gary for still sticking by his cat even after all this.