WHAT?! Station Agrees to Keep Reporter off School Stories

Earlier this week, FTVLive told you that KVLY Reporter Mellaney Moore was not going to be charred for entering area schools without permission. 

Now word comes that the station made an agreement with the school district to keep Moore from getting charged. 

KVLY signed a deal with school officials in Fargo and Moorhead agreeing not to assign school stories to that reporter for 90 days.

The agreement hashed out with school officials -- signed by the districts' superintendents as well as Moore, the news director and the general manager of KVLY -- say the districts will ask prosecutors to charge Moore if she commits any trespassing violations in the next year.

The mediated settlement specifies that officials from neither the districts nor KVLY will take retaliatory action against each other in the wake of the agreement.

It also bars both KVLY and school officials from making any public statements about Moore entering the schools. The only exception is district officials are allowed to say publicly they chose not to press charges.

The agreement states that KVLY may continue to cover the public schools, including investigative reports. The deal does require KVLY to follow all state and local laws in future reporting.

The districts agreed to provide access to all media outlets as the law requires.

Police Look at Charges against Congressman that Threatened Reporter

Law enforcement officials are discussing a possible criminal charge against Rep. Michael Grimm, after his confrontation with a reporter Tuesday night.

Grimm was caught on camera threatening to throw a reporter over a balcony and break him "in half" -- after the reporter asked him about a campaign finance investigation. Grimm has since apologized to NY1's Michael Scotto, and Scotto tweeted Wednesday that he "accepted his apology." 

But a congressional source told Fox News that it doesn't necessarily matter whether Scotto wants to press charges. 

It is unclear what officials will decide. But the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of the Columbia is conferring on the matter with law enforcement, a discussion fueled in part by the fact this occurred on federal property. The D.C. statute in question pertains to "threatening to do bodily harm." 

A source familiar with the issue said Grimm's stature as a lawmaker does not exempt him. 

The U.S. Attorney's Office would not confirm the conversations and had no comment as of Thursday morning. 

KNBC to Leave Burbank Studios

KNBC is shutting down their studio in Burbank and moving to Universal City.

The station looked back and ahead on last night's newscast:

Flu Knocks Out Chicago Weatherman

Jim Ramsey

Yesterday, FTVLive told you the sad story of KXTV (Sacramento) Sales Executive Nancy Pinnella. Pinnella left work sick last week with the flu, a couple of days later she was dead. 

The flu bug also knocked a Chicago Anchor off the air for 3 weeks.

Robert Feder says that WGN weatherman Jim Ramsey will be back on the air this weekend after a “pretty strong flu virus” sidelined him for three weeks.

Ramsey’s absence from Tribune Broadcasting station during a period of severe winter weather was conspicuous to viewers because it coincided with chief meteorologist Tom Skilling’s vacation. In addition to his weekend weather duties, Ramsey also serves as Skilling’s principal backup.

Earlier in the week, Ramsey’s bosses said doctors had diagnosed the illness as pneumonia. But apparently it turned out to be the flu.

“In the 27 years that I’ve done weather at Channel 9, I’ve never missed a ‘fill in’ for Tom’s vacations,” Ramsey told me Thursday. “I got whacked with a pretty strong flu virus and have fully bounced back. I look forward to being on the air this weekend. We have snow coming.”

As for fans who wrote and called during his absence, he said: “Thanks to all those concerned. Here is my advice to everyone: Go get a flu shot!”

FTVLive plans on doing that this Weekend. 

Miami Herald Pulls Plug TV Beat Writer

Newspaper TV critics are getting harder and harder to find as papers scale back on coverage of TV.

The latest paper to ditch the TV beat is the Miami Herald. Veteran Reporter Glenn Garvin has been taken off the TV beat and moved to local news reporting, with a transportation sub-beat. Garvin, who was the Herald’s TV critic for 12 years, tells Jim Romenesko that the McClatchy paper will now rely on wire copy for TV coverage.

“This isn’t an easy change to make, but it is an important one,” Herald managing editor Rick Hirsh writes in a memo. “We believe Glenn can bring energy and breadth to our daily report as we try to shift resources to coverage areas people can’t get from other national and local sources.”

MSNBC Fires Tweeter that Tweeted the Cheerios Tweet

Try saying that headline 5 times fast. 

MSNBC boss Phil Griffin says that the network has fired the staffer that sent out the Cheerios tweet.

Yet Al Sharpton remains employed. 

BTW - The RNC says the boycott against MSNBC has already been lifted. You didn't think they were going to miss all that face time did you? 

THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP

New Poll Shows that Fox News is Most/Least Trusted

A new poll shows that Fox News is the most and the least trusted name in news.

What the poll really shows are that polls are nothing more than a waste of time and money. 

Flu Kills Sacramento TV Sales Executive

Nancy Pinnella

There is no doubt that the strain of the flu that is going around this year is very nasty.

Now, we see just how dangerous it is. KXTV Account Executive Nancy Pinnella left work on January 21st because she wasn't feeling well.

The Sacremento Bee says that on Jan. 22, she went to a doctor, hardly able to speak or breathe.

By 6 p.m. that day, she was in intensive care at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento. Her kidneys were failing, her lung capacity severely reduced. Doctors sedated her, induced paralysis and put her on a ventilator and dialysis. Then, as quick as that night, doctors told her family she was in very, very bad shape.

The H1N1 influenza was winning the battle.

On Friday, a bright spot: her kidneys and vital signs got better. Then, between midnight and 6 a.m. Saturday, Pinnella suffered three severe strokes in three different parts of her brain. On Sunday, the family said goodbye and took the 46-year-old advertising executive at KXTV News10 off life support.

“The doctors said the strokes were catastrophic, there was no coming back,” said John Pinnella, her brother, recalling the tragic series of events.

The day after Pinnella died, the family – including three brothers, mother and father – all went for flu shots.

Then they encouraged friends and supporters in the Bay Area, where Pinnella grew up and worked for most of her 20-year career, to go get vaccinated in her memory. Hundreds have done so, John Pinnella said. “It’s been very, very touching,” he said.

It would have been out of character for his athletic, healthy sister who once ran a marathon to get a flu shot, he said. “She was active and there wasn’t any sign of anything unhealthy,” Pinnella, 49, said. “She didn’t get the flu shot. It wasn’t uncommon of her.”

“None of us (siblings) had gotten the flu shot.The problem was, in our minds, we weren’t litttle kids and we weren’t 65 years old,” he said referring to groups thought to be most vulnerable to the flu. “And we were pretty healthy – and stubborn.”

If you haven't gotten a shot, now might be the time. 

Frigid Cold + Snow = Ratings

The cold weather and snow has kept people inside and they're watching TV newscasts, especially in the morning.

Robert Feder says that all the morning newscasts in Chicago ticked up in the ratings.

Feder writes that between 4 and 10 a.m. weekdays, viewership for the month was up across the board compared with January 2013. Ratings analysts attributed the boost mainly to weather-related coverage, including interest in school closings and commuting issues.

First-place bragging rights were split between ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, anchored by Hosea Sanders and Judy Hsu, and Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9, anchored by Larry Potash and Robin Baumgarten.

In overall households the two stations had identical 3.3 ratings during the 6 a.m. hour, with ABC 7 up 10 percent and WGN up 37.5 percent. Among viewers between 25 and 54, WGN was the big winner at that hour with a 2.4 rating (up 50 percent), compared with ABC 7’s 1.6 rating (up 14.3 percent). One Nielsen rating point equals 35,340 households.

ABC 7 won in overall households in all other morning hours, while WGN dominated the 25-to-54 demo in every hour from 6 to 10 a.m. NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 generally finished third, beating ABC 7 only in the 6 a.m. hour among 25-to-54 viewers.

January even brought a ray of sunshine to the market’s two distant also-rans, CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 and Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32. Both posted increases compared with the same period last year.

Now you can bet that Chicago News Directors are hoping the nasty weather sticks around for one more month. 

FIRST on FTVLive! Pushed out in Rockford (Update)

Just as the February rating book is getting started, sources tell FTVLive that WREX in Rockford has parted ways longtime Anchor Eric Wilson.

Wilson has been at the station since 1995. 

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

FTVLive left messages with WREX News Director Josh Morgan, we'll let you know when we hear back. 

Update: News Director Josh Morgan showed he has no spine and did not call FTVLive back. WREX GM John Chadwick confirmed to the local paper that Wilson was out. 

RNC Bans Staff Members from appearing on MSNBC

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says he is banning all staff members on MSNBC because of a tweet the network sent out.

The tweet was about how rightwing would not like a Cheerios ad because it featured a bi-racial family. 

Here's the letter he sent to MSNBC boss Phil "I don't know how he still has a job" Griffin:

And on clue, MSNBC deleted the tweet and said they are sorry. No word if Reince will now invite Griffin to his next birthday party.

Freaking children!

Jon Stewart: Mess With NY1 and you Mess with all of New York

The daily show's Jon Stewart had his take on Congressman Michael Grimm threatens NY1 Reporter Michael Scotto.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

How I Work - Derry London

Today FTVLive stops in South Carolina WLTX to see how Social Media Manager Derry London Works.

Twitter: @Derry_London

Location:  Columbia, SC

Current gig: Social Media Manager + Digital Content support for News 19, WLTX; Occasional Social Media support for additional Gannett Broadcast properties.

Current computer: Dell Optiplex 990 running Win. 7, ENPS & Grass Valley’s Edius

Current mobile device: iPhone 5, iPad 2 (personal phone an ancient Motorola Droid 2 Global)

One word that best describes how you work: Multitasker (as I’m completing this I’m also Tweeting for WLTX & pushing content to the website)
 
What are your favorite Apps that you can't live without?

The TweetDeck plugin for Google Chrome on my desktop, for mobile I love being native in the Twitter app, and the FB Pages manager app is a lifesaver on my iPad & iPhone.

What's your workspace like?

My desk is in the newsroom, so I stay up to date on what’s going on & who’s doing what; it’s a little messy. Also have the guts to a large diaphragm microphone next to my phone, as a personal reminder that I’m still a v/o guy even though I’m not doing it daily any longer.
 
Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can't you live without?

My iPad and my wife’s Bluetooth keyboard for said iPad. Makes live-tweeting events a breeze
 
What Music are you listening to?

Don’t often listen while working. When commuting in the AM it’s CNN & HLN, driving home it’s anywhere from Frank’s Place to Z100/NYC to Electric Area on SiriusXM
 
What's your sleep routine like?

Fretful at best. Usually asleep by 10:30, woken at some point in the middle of the night by either our dog or one of the cats, then up with the alarm at 5:35A and retweeting our affiliated news orgs & AM anchors while the coffee’s brewing.
 
Best Advice you Ever Got?

Don’t say yes to every request. I have yet to live up to that advice.
 
Best Thing About your Job?

I get to be a storyteller. I get to inform our followers on major national stories of every kind, and I get to learn every day.
 
Worst thing about your Job?

Being obsessive over our accounts & never being able to leave them alone unless I’m unconscious.  
 

Yeah...That will be a Ratings Grabber....NOT!

While CNN's morning show New Day is in the ratings tank and prime time ratings are just awful, what is CNN boss Jeff Zucker doing about it?

He's launching a new show at 8:30AM on Sunday morning. WTF? 

Inside Politics is making a return to CNN and will be hosted John King. Maybe it's time Zucker worked on the time slots where viewers are actually sitting in front of their TV's.

Just saying.... 

Weatherman Admits he Blew the Forecast

ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) Weatherman James Spann admits he screwed of the forecast that ended up with much more snow than he predicted.

He has apologized for what he called his worst "forecast bust" since the winter storm of 1982.

Problem was in 1982 there was no social media, now there is and he got lit up on it.

He writes on his blog:

"Yep, over the last 12 hours lots of social media vitriol has been directed at me, and it is deserved. People who are tired, hungry, in strange places trying to sleep away from their families and children, need to vent. Do NOT vent at school officials or your boss. They make decisions on weather forecasts, and what they got was bad information. I am the one to blame. I guess I know how Cade Foster feels (the University of Alabama place kicker who took heat after the Auburn game).

"This is an example of what I am seeing in the "email inbox" this morning...

"Looks like you got it wrong yesterday with your prediction of a light dusting and no accumulation. How can you guys be so badly off as 100's still sit in their schools and 100's remain in their cars on highways and (no) telling how many have had to leave their cars stranded and knock on strangers doors for shelter while others have paid the ultimate price trying to drive? How can you be so wrong? Has everything with your career over the past years gone to your head? You are still expected to be vigilant and not complacent. What a shame as I think of the people still out there and the ones who are dead..."

I won't share the person's name that wrote this, but it was signed. The criticism is valid, and one I will take to heart. I appreciate her taking the time to write, and I mean that."

At least he admitted to screwing up. There are scores of weather anchors in TV news that would never have the guts to do that.