Some Depressing News

Lauren Rowe

Many people say they don't watch local news because it's too depressing. 

One Orlando Anchor is taking time off to battle depression.

WKMG Anchor Lauren Rowe says that her doctors have advised her to step away from the newsroom to help in her battle against depression. 

Rowe sent out this message to her co-workers and viewers on Friday. 

"I am sending you this message because I'm going to be taking a break for a while. I have suffered from depression for many years, and with the help of my doctors, I have been able to manage it. Recently, it has become harder for me to deal with my depression. In consultation with my doctors, I have decided to step away and seek treatment. I know this is the right thing for me to do, and I appreciate your understanding and support. I will miss Local 6 and our viewers.  I look forward to returning to work soon."

Anchor Matt Austin read the message to viewers on the 5 p.m. newscast and wished her well.

Rowe's last time on the air was Monday. There's no timetable for her return, which depends on what her doctors say, a WKMG spokeswoman said.

H/T Orlando Sentinel 

New York EP Catches Heat after Threats to Staff in Memo

WPIX morning executive producer Zev Shalev is facing harsh criticism from his underlings and higher ups after a memo to the staff.

Shalev sent an email to the staff that basically said that if they didn't start submitting story ideas, they could kiss their next raise bye bye.

​Needless to say, making threats to the staff did not go over well.

Here is the email Shalev wrote:

Zev Shalev

Last year, I asked for sweeps submissions and got a total of 4!  As I mentioned, content submissions and pitches will be a big part of performance management this year (so it will impact your salary increases).Can I please have fully-formed week-long pitches or special events from EVERYONE who works on the content for the show (writers/producers/reporters/anchors) by the end of Friday.  Please submit at least 3. They need to be high quality, well thought out sweeps and stunts. Absolutely no exceptions. It will be too late when we are assessing your performance in the near future.

It seems that Shalev caught enough flack from his bosses after the email went out, that he followed up the next day, taking back what he said the day before.

Yesterday, I sent out an email asking for February sweep ideas.  Thank you very much for your great submissions. There are some exciting ideas there. It has come to my attention that the performance management process and pay increases are not relevant to everyone on this list.  While pitching is an important part of the editorial team’s day to day responsibilities, the performance management process isn’t relevant to everyone, so I apologize if it was taken the wrong way by anyone who is part of a collective bargaining agreement and/or has individual contracts.

Opps!

WPIX station spokesperson Jessica Bellucci tells Tuned In, “An email was sent to the news staff regarding the station’s performance management process; however this process is not applicable to all who were on the email distribution list. When this was discovered, an apology was immediately issued.”

News Director Mark Effron has remanned mum on the email debacle and many insiders think this is just another nail in the coffin of Effron.

Stay tuned... 

Dumped in Denver

Gobsmacked Greg Moody

Well, so much for the arts.

Greg Moody, critic at large for KCNC CBS4 and champion of Denver arts and culture for more than 25 years, was effectively fired from CBS4 Friday. His contract was not renewed.

With six weeks left on his contract, Moody was told by Channel 4 News Director Tim Wieland that he is being released, and that it will be up to Moody exactly when he leaves. Moody intended to go on-air Friday as planned.

“I’m gobsmacked,” Moody told the Denver Post. 

The Post says it was unclear whether the decision was made at the corporate or local level. Calls to Wieland and to General Manager Walt DeHaven were not returned Friday.

Moody said he has “no intention of leaving the marketplace” after 25 years at Channel 4 and two years previously at Channel 9.

“It’s time to find a third act,” he said, noting that a recently completed play of his is getting readings and another book is in the works.

While the TV business regularly sees turnover, this departure is a blow to the wider Denver film/theater/fine arts culture. Moody’s reviews and endorsements regularly served to pack theaters and galleries. He was the last serious on-air arts reporter on the major local TV affiliates.

“How can a city like Denver be considered progressive when we don’t have a respected arts reporter on TV?” asked Lisa Gilford, producer and former Film Commissioner for the State of Colorado.

Well, since just about every other station in the country doesn't have an arts Reporter, FTVLive is guessing Denver will be fine.

Just saying.... 

That didn't Last Long

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly plunked down almost $8 million for this little seaside bungalow on a bluff overlooking the ocean.

The quint little cottage was built in the 40's and has beautiful craftsmanship, or should we say it did.

Shortly after buying, O'Reilly called in the bulldozers and knocked the cottage down. 

So much for the "old world craftsmanship” and “interiors brimming with authenticity," as broker Theresa Eurell wrote in her listing for the spread, originally on the market for $8.5 million.

Eurell said she was “sad to see the structures come down.”

"As a Montauk native, (I have) always admired the Abbe property, along with many other locals," she said in a statement.

O'Reilly will have plenty of company out on the East End peninsula, though not many friends. Neighbors include such liberal lions as Paul Simon, Julian Schnabel and Jann Wenner.

We're doubting they will be invited over for dinner.

Just saying.... 

H/T NY Daily News

Let's see Sam Champion do that

While former Good Morning America Weather Anchor Sam Champion has been busy jumping all over Al Roker's face time, his replacement shows she still has skills.

Ginger Zee shows what she's got on the trampoline:

Let's see Sam do that......

3.4 Million Tweets

The Seahawks Forty-niners game was a ratings hit in Social Media. 

Twitter says their were 3.4 million tweets sent out during the game.

Sunday evening is normally a slow time for Twitter and Social media, but not this past Sunday.

FTVLive is guessing that of the 3.4 million Tweets sent out, at least half of them were by Jenni Hogan (@jennihogan).

Twitter says that the Tweets for the NFC Championship game were at the same levels as last years' Super Bowl. 

In other words, this year's Super Bowl is going to blow up Twitter.

​Stay tuned.... 

Lauer Hopes Sherman gets Lit up by Manning

Seattle Seahawks Richard Sherman went off in a post game interview after the Hawks won last night's NFC Championship. 

Here's what he said.

And it appears that Today Show host Matt Lauer is hoping that Sherman will be choking on those words.

I'm guessing the 12th a man in Seattle does not hope for that Matt. But that's just a guess.  

You got to love when the host of the Today Show gets in on the football trash talking. 

Just two more weeks of trash talk and hype before the Super Bowl. It's going to be a long two weeks. 

I thought Prime Time was Later Than That?

CNN boss Jeff Zucker said that the next area he was going to wreck....errrr.... fix at CNN was the prime time line-up.

So what did Zucker do?

He moved around some anchors and shows during the day.

The new dayside line-up looks like this:

9 – 11 a.m.                  Carol Costello

11 a.m. – 12 p.m.        John Berman and Michaela Pereira

12 – 1 p.m.                  Ashleigh Banfield

1 – 2 p.m.                    Wolf Blitzer

2 – 4 p.m.                    Brooke Baldwin

The changes take place Feb 10th.

Someone needs to tell Zucker that prime time starts a bit later than 9AM.

Just saying. 

NBC Boss Looks to "Future Proof" NBC News

NBC News boss Deborah Turness sent out a long memo to the staff about the "future proofing" of NBC News. Whatever that means.

Turness is shaking up the management team, adding and moving around staff to make NBC the leader on all platforms.

Here's her memo:

Dear All,

As I have shared before, we are planning a substantial investment in NBC News to future-proof the entire organization. The plan will fully integrate our digital and broadcast operations, driving each of our key broadcasts and brands to deliver powerful journalism on every screen and platform. Over the past few months, a broad cross-section of leaders and staff from across the division have been working hard to shape this transformation and to create a blueprint for the future. The new shape of our operation will be rolled out in a methodical, considered and phased approach in the coming months. We will start with the exciting step of co-locating broadcast and digital teams so everyone is able to collaborate more organically. That means that the teams who make the TODAY show on TV and TODAY.com will be seated together. And the staff who drive the NBCNews.com site will work alongside the “Nightly News” team.

These are the first steps in a long process that will see changes to technology and skills rolled out right across our operations. They will ensure that we equip our staff with state-of-the-art skills and the state-of-the-art tools they need to do their jobs. They will also deliver a sustainable future to NBC News in an increasingly competitive environment.

Executing all of this will be a Herculean task for the leadership team. I have therefore reshaped the team to enable my senior leaders to focus on more defined areas of our business. I am pleased to share those changes with you today.

Below is a chart showing all of my direct reports. Most roles and responsibilities will remain the same, but there are a few key changes that will support the delivery of the transformation ahead. They are:

Alex Wallace will formally deputize for me and serve as my back-up in times that I am unavailable. Having been instrumental in the recent growth at the TODAY show in TV and digital, I have asked her to now focus her efforts on a newly-created position that will enable her to deliver that same cross-platform approach and growth to other areas of our business. As SVP News, she will become the General Manager/360 Leader for “Nightly News” and “Meet the Press,” and will lead all our editorial and political coverage out of the DC bureau.

This is a pivotal role as we focus our efforts on being number one on every platform and on transforming our premium TV brands into premium digital properties. Alex is uniquely placed to unlock the multi-platform future of “Nightly News,” and to make “Meet the Press” a 7 days-a-week source for politics and beltway buzz, working with Pat Burkey and Rob Yarin respectively. She will also continue to be my right hand person on all news-related matters and will work closely with Ken Strickland who continues his role managing the Washington Bureau, in close collaboration with David Verdi.

TODAY has shown so much progress in recent months, but there is still much to do. We want to drive greater cooperation between all parts of the brand including the various hours of the weekday show, “Weekend TODAY” and TODAY.com. And we also need to explore additional opportunities in digital, e-commerce, events and other possible areas of extension that need focus beyond the day-to-day execution of the broadcast and digital outputs. This is a job in and of itself, and so we need to fill a GM role at SVP level for TODAY. This person will work very closely with Don Nash, Dee Dee Thomas and Jen Brown. I will let you know when we have news to share.

David Verdi will add oversight of digital newsgathering to his current responsibilities, so that we are optimizing those efforts online and on television. This expanded role will be key to how we produce and deliver journalism across all platforms. Greg Gittrich will support the evolution of cross-platform newsgathering by partnering closely with David to provide digital editorial newsgathering expertise and leadership. Greg will continue in his capacity as VP, News & Product, NBC News Digital and Executive Editor of NBCNews.com. He will work alongside Julian March to help us all deliver digital journalism and products that will serve our merged organization of the future.

Julian arrives on January 21st, and as I mentioned in his announcement, he will focus on the integration of our broadcast and digital operations. He is a broadcast and digital native and a great journalist. I know you will be as warm and welcoming to him as you’ve been to me.

Mark Lukasiewicz will also add to his current responsibilities and become SVP, Specials and Executive-in-Charge of News Transformation. Reporting to me, Mark is charged with overseeing the coming together of our editorial and technology transformations to ensure both projects work together seamlessly.

David McCormick will continue to support NBC News, however his role is now at the News Group level as SVP, Standards and Practices, NBCUniversal News Group, reporting to Pat Fili-Krushel.

Lastly, Gemma Mansfield assumes the newly-created role of VP, Human Resources for the News Division. We have benefitted tremendously from having Jo O’Brien’s direct involvement in our transformation these last few months, and she will stay closely involved, but given her larger job running HR for the entire News Group, we are grateful that she has designated Gemma to be our main point.

Please join me in congratulating everyone on their new roles, and I hope you will also share in my excitement about the future. Without these changes I could not expect my leadership team to deliver the transformation we need to ensure NBC News is a sustainable, successful operation. This new structure means we are shaped for delivery of the changes ahead.

As always, I thank you all for your hard work, creativity and dedication. Together, we will win on all platforms.

Deborah

CNN Anchor Returning to DC

Suzanne Malveaux

After three years of anchoring “CNN Newsroom” and “Around the World” out of CNN’s Atlanta Headquarters, CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux has decided to return to Washington where she will cover both national and international news, current events and politics as a National Correspondent.

Malveaux is making the move now to help take care of her mother, who, as documented in a three part series in 2013, suffers from ALS (or Lou Gehrig's Disease). She is also excited for the opportunity to return to her journalistic roots and do the kind of political and special reporting she loves.

Malveaux covered The White House for 10 years as a White House correspondent.  In 2012, she anchored the network's Emmy winning coverage of the revolution in Egypt. In September 2011, Malveaux embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 where she led breaking news coverage of the Taliban's terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy there.

Back On the Air in Cincy

Dennis Janson

Back in May, FTVLive told you that WCPO Sports Anchor Dennis Janson was leaving the anchor desk and headed to the station's website.

We also pointed out that he would be doing on air commentaries for the station. 

It's taken a while for that to happen, but Janson is going to be back on WCPO's air tonight doing his “My 2 Cents Worth” commentaries.

So what has he been doing between May and now?

"I bought investment properties, indulged myself by stopping at road side attractions especially overlooks, developed a lustful relationship with dusk and generally enjoyed myself growing facial hair. All the while knowing I had an understanding with management to eventually resurface in a new role," he tells FTVLive.

That new roles starts tonight, he says that  he subject matter is of his choosing will seldom involves sports, though his debut web offering is about Boomer Esiasons’ remarkable fund raising efforts ($100 million) for Cystic Fibrosis research.

Janson's new schedule will be doing columns for the website Monday and Wednesday  and will be on air with his commentaries on Friday. 

"As the kids say these days, “It’s all good”.  And as for there being “no second acts in American lives?” Well I’ll let you know," Janson tells FTVLive.

How I Work - Greta Van Susteren

FTVLive's new segment called "How I work" goes inside Fox News and visits with Greta Van Susteren and how she works.

Location: New York, NY

Current gig: Anchor / ON THE RECORD at 7pm / Fox news

Current computer: 3 personal apple laptops, 1 apple desktop and a Fox p/c (which I rarely use ..prefer Apple)

Current mobile device: ipad, iphones (2) -- one AT&T and one Verizon (and Fox issued me a phone a few years ago and I have no idea where it is and it does not matter since I forwarded the number to my personal phone...as noted with computer answer, I like to use my own equipment)

One word that best describes how you work: diligent

What are your favorite Apps that you can't live without? 

BBC radio (listen to it at night and hear the news of the world...I am very interested in what is going on in Sudan and South Sudan and they do a great job covering it often)

What's your workspace like?  

mess

Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can't you live without?

ipad  (if you sent this question to my husband, he would say his car GPS...he uses it to go to places we have been going to for 30 plus years! pretty weird...if he doesn't know how to get there by now, that is pathetic....)

What Music are you listening to?

do I have to? Janis Joplin

What's your sleep routine like?  

any chance I get

Best Advice you Ever Got?

ignore what everybody is SAYING  - look for the FACTS

Best Thing About your Job?

never, never, never dull

Worst thing about your Job?

I have to comb my hair and if you noticed, that is not my strength

Damn that Josh Elliot!

Good Morning America Anchor Amy Robach had to mark up her scripts with an eyeliner pencil this morning on GMA.

Why?

Because Josh Elliot stole her pen!

That RAT BASTARD!!!!