60 Minutes Admits Mistake on Benghazi Report (Updated)

Back in September 2004, Dan Rather did a report for 60 Minutes on President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.

The authenticity of the documents on which Rather relied was challenged and the report was later discredited.

Rather lost his job and CBS doesn't even acknowledge his existence anymore. 

Fast forward to Today and CBS and 60 Minutes finds themselves in a very similar predicament. This time it's not Dan Rather, but Lara Logan. 

Logan did a report for 60 Minutes about the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya.

The report relied mainly on information from security officer Dylan Davies (who used the name Morgan Jones on 60 Minutes and in his book). Many have questioned Davies account of the events and now CBS is questioning them as well. 

After the report aired, CBS and Logan stood by the story, but that seems to be changing now.  

CBS says "'60 Minutes' has learned of new information that undercuts the account told to us by Morgan Jones of his actions on the night of the attack on the Benghazi compound," a statement read. "We are currently looking into this serious matter to determine if he misled us, and if so, we will make a correction."

This morning, Logan went on the CBS Morning News and admitted to the mistake. "The truth is that we made a mistake." "We were wrong to put him on air." "We apologize to our viewers," Logan said.  

Logan added that 60 Minutes will issue a correction on Sunday night's broadcast. 

Somewhere, under a bridge on a Texas highway, former CBS Anchor Dan Rather is sticking his head out of the cardboard box that is now his home and he has huge smile on his face.  

H/T HuffPo

Update: Here's Logan admitting to the mistake on CBS Morning News.  

KCBS/KCAL Shake It Up During Ratings

Yesterday, FTVLive FIRST told you about the major anchor shake up at KCBS/KCAL.

Between the two CBS owned stations almost a dozen Anchors were involved in the very bold being made by the station in the middle of the book.

Anchors are changing time slots and even stations in the move. 

The biggest move being made by KCBS/KCAL are taking KCAL Anchors Sharon Tay and Rick Garcia and meteorologist Evelyn Taft, from the station's evening newscast and moving them to sister station KCBS to anchor that station’s weekday mornings.  

The Anchors on KCBS morning show now, Kent Shocknek and Suzie Suh will switch over  to anchor KCAL 9’s evening newscasts.

The change takes place November 18th, which is still during the very important sweeps period.  It will be interesting to see if the moves in the middle of ratings bump the needle in either direction. 

Sharon Tay is a widely popular anchor and it seems like she will flourish on a morning show where viewers will get to see more of her personality. 

Kent Shockneck is moving from mornings to nights.

After 30+ years of working mornings, that first week or so, might be a shock to his system.  

It's a good bet that Shocknekhas anchored more hours of live TV news than anyone in Los Angeles. He anchored the start-up of LA's first morning news 'Today in L.A.' In 1986 and has anchored mornings ever since.

After that long on morning news, word is that Shocknek is said to be excited by a move to prime time.

Note: On a quick personal note, FTVLive wants to send out a big thank you to the CBS PR people that helped answer some questions as I was working on this story. Maybe KNBC's Terri Hernandez Rosales could learn a thing or two from the CBS folks. Just saying...

Banished to the Noon

FTVLive has been telling you about the major Anchor shake ups going down at Fox owned WFLD in Chicago.  

The low rated station is blowing up their newscasts in both the mornings and night in an effort to try and get some kind of ratings. 

The station announced late last month that Jon Kelley and Melody Mendez will takeover anchoring the station's morning show “Good Day Chicago.”

We asked a the time what happens to current morning anchor Corey McPherrin?

Now we know the answer. 

 McPherrin is being banished to news hell......otherwise known as the Noon newscast. 

The station isn't talking (they never do) but it is likely that McPherrin will be on the Noon news until his contract is up and he will be quietly pushed out the door. 

For years, McPherrin was the popular Sports Anchor at CBS' WBBM in the Windy City. WFLD brought him in as a Sports Anchor and them moved him to News Anchor on the station's morning show. It's likely that he came in with a hefty contract. 

No way the station continues to pay him big bucks to anchor a Noon newscast. 

Stay tuned....  

Hartford News Director Headed to Bean Town

WVIT (Hartford) News Director Mike St. Peter is leaving the station after 7 years and is headed up the road to Boston.

St. Peter is not only moving up the road, he's moving up his job title as well. He has been named General Manager of NECN (New England Cable News). NECN is a regional cable news network based in  Boston.

NBC owns both stations.

Like We Said....

Way back in early August FTVLive told you that Don Shafer was going to be the new News Director at XETV in San Diego.

Shafer came from WEEK in Peoria. IL.

The station finally made that official this week.  

The Shareholders Approve

The viewers might not approve, nor the people that work at the stations.

But, the Media General shareholders approved the broadcaster's merger with Young Broadcasting.

And in this world, that's all that counts.  

The merger, announced in June, awaits FCC approval.

Media General will retain its name upon merging and will continue to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under its symbol MEG. The company will remain headquartered in Richmond, VA.

"We're delighted to have shareholder approval for our business combination with Young Broadcasting, and we are very excited about the prospects for the combined company," said George L. Mahoney, president and CEO of Media General. "Once we receive FCC approval for our license transfers, we will close very quickly on the transaction."

Mahoney said the combined outfit will realize $44 million of synergies "very quickly," including $29 million of financing and $15 million of operating synergies.

"The stronger business profile that this merger creates, and our new financial flexibility, position Media General very well to participate actively in the broadcast industry's ongoing consolidation and to further enhance shareholder value," he concluded.

H/T Broadcasting and Cable  

Throwback Thursday - Kathie Lee Gifford

I almost forgot that this is throwback Thursday (thanks emailers) and I promised last week that I would share a picture of Kathie Lee Gifford and I hanging out.  

This pic is from the mid 90's of KLG and me before we went out on the town. If I remember correctly, Kathie Lee tried to get me drunk on wine and take advantage of me. 

Believe me, I know how Hoda feels every Wednesday. 

When a Doctor Stuck His Hand up Matt Lauer's Butt....

....this is how the female anchors at the Today Show reacted. 

But rearmer this was about men's health and not a ratings ploy.

OK?

Caller Threatens to Shoot Augusta Reporter

The crazies exist in small markets as well as large. 

A caller to WJBF repeatedly threatened to shoot a WJBF reporter with a shotgun.

The Richmond County sheriff’s incident report shows officers were notified about 2 p.m. after a man made the threats to reporter Michael Miller.

The caller called the station and told Miller he would be “blasted in the face with a shotgun.”

The caller also threatened to kill everyone in the studio.

Miller told police he had just finished a story on Green Dot scams when the calls began. Green Dot cards are prepaid, reloadable debit and credit cards.

H/T Augusta Chronicle  

If this Doesn't make you Smile....

As you know, FTVLive likes to show you some videos from time to time that has nothing to do with TV news. 

We like to give you a few seconds away from covering news, to put a smile on your face and we think this is just one of those videos. 

Time Magazine Catches Flack for Christie Cover

Time magazine may have thought they were being cute with their latest cover. 

With Governor Chris Christie being both a Republican (an elephant) and Fat (an elephant), Time must have figured that had a home run of a cover.

Let's let the folks on Twitter weigh in: 

The Top 50 National TV News Hotties

It seems like the website Mediaite is getting wrapped up in the whole November Sweeps stunts. 

The site has come out with their 50 Sexiest in national TV News.

The site says that while this is certainly a list of physically beautiful people, remember, being sexy isn’t only about looks. It’s also about how they cover the news and in many cases, having something to say and not being afraid to say it.

The site wimped out by posting the newsies in alphabetical order.

The list includes people like Mika Brzezinski, Anderson Cooper, Tamron Hall, Megyn Kelly, Michelle Kosinski (pictured), Robin Meade (Of course) and Sanjay Gupta......WAIT! What?!

The list is 50 people! So pretty much anyone you can think of in national news is on the list. 

Except Wolf Blitzer. 

Sorry Wolf..... 

Here's the link.  

Is Tim Deegan Done at First Coast News?

Gannett owned WTVL in Jacksonville has posted a job for Meteorologist.  

This comes after their longtime Weather Anchor Tim Deegan was arrested last week for DUI. 

It appears that Deegan is done at First Coast News. 

The station released a statement about Deegan's arrest basically saying that they don't talk about Deegan's arrest. 

Deegan's bio remains on the station's website, but the fact that WTLV is looking for a new weather anchor does not bode well for Deegan's future.  

The job posting reads: 

First Coast News, Gannett’s NBC/ABC duopoly in Jacksonville, Florida has an opening for a broadcast Meteorologist to produce weathercasts, special weather programs and webcasts, contribute to the station website and our 24/7 digital weather channel and other multimedia efforts.  We take weather seriously and we want to tell the story with interesting video, hyper-local graphics, and an emphasis on the viewer’s needs.

The successful candidate must have four (4) years experience in forecasting and presenting weathercasts.  Must be a certified meteorologist, and a CBM/NWA seal holder.  Must be actively engaged in social media and contribute to digital initiatives on a daily basis.

We put a premium on personal integrity teamwork, accountability, problem solving, a strong work ethic and winning.

He's a link to the full posting

Screen Cap Sweeps Vol. 1

For the November Book, FTVLive is starting a new feature called "Screen Cap Sweeps." 

We surf TV station's websites and screen capture stories, headlines and other goofy crap that TV stations do to try and scare, humor or whatever to try viewers and boost their ratings. 

Here is the first installment from KSDK's (who by the way has killed more people this ratings book than any other station) website: 

BTW if you have a good story for "Screen Cap Sweeps" please send the link our way.