Honolulu TV Personality is Dead

Sharie Shima, Hawaii's first broadcast meteorologist, has died.

Shima, the longtime KHNL and KITV weathercaster, died over the weekend at the age of 52.

"Sharie was one of the first to have her official meteorologist seal. I looked up to her. Sharie trained me on how to use the weather software at KHNL. She was one of the most welcoming and supportive people at KHNL. She will be sorely missed," said former KHNL anchor and weathercaster Angela Keen.

Hawaii News Now says that Shima spent eight years at KITV before leaving for KHNL in 2001.

Former KITV anchor Gary Sprinkle remembered Shima as someone who revolutionized the weather broadcast in Hawaii, "Sharie loved science, she found her niche in meteorology, she was a tremendous communicator, we loved her." Former KITV personality Tiny Tadani echoed Sprinkle's message, "I got shifted from weekend sports to morning weather at KITV, and Sharie was there to help me learn as I could. I think she realized I would never become a meteorologist, so Sharie put up with me using her same weatherboards from the night before and just repeating what she said. I'll miss her smile!"

In 2002, Shima won an Emmy for a hurricane special that she wrote and produced called "Surviving the Storm."

"Sharie was very special; she was passionate about the weather and the science behind it," said Rich Meiers, digital content director for Hawaii News Now who worked with Shima at KITV and KHNL. "She took her job seriously, she really was a trailblazer in the industry."

Shima was born in Hawaii, grew up in Kaneohe, and graduated from Castle High School in 1979.

"Sharie had extraordinary talent," said Hawaii News Now's Dan Cooke. "I remember her very first audition for weekend weather at KITV more than 20 years ago. At that point she had zero television experience... knew nothing about weather... and it was her first time in front of a "green" screen. And yet, when the red light went on... she was wonderful... beautiful... a dazzling smile... and a confident, smooth delivery. She could have said it was sunny and even standing in the rain I would have believed her."  

Couric Starts Her Yahoo Gig on Friday

This week Katie Couric will kick off her gig as Yahoo's "Global Anchor" and if she is trying to attract a younger crowd, she's starting off on the wrong foot.

Couric will interview with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, now serving as United Nation special envoy for cities and climate change. It’s the first in what will be a regular series of newsmaker interviews by Couric as part of her new role as “the face” of Yahoo News.

The Web giant in November announced the former "Today Show" co-host and "CBS News" anchor would join Yahoo as “global anchor” to lead its news coverage and host monthly interviews with high-profile figures and thought leaders. Couric is by far the biggest media personality Yahoo has signed on to boost engagement and bring some star power to the site.

But Yahoo on Monday also emphasized that she would not be placed on a pedestal. Starting today, for example, Couric is soliciting users to submit questions, photos and videos for Bloomberg via her Tumblr page katiecouric.tumblr.com as well as through Yahoo and Flickr.

Yahoo also promises it will rely on crowdsourcing via social networks to select the newsmakers and stories that Couric will purse as they start to trend. Besides interviews, she will also host live events and global issues forums driven by ideas surfaced from users through Yahoo properties, as well as segments breaking down subjects culled from viral and trending topics.

Judging by the current top 10 list of trending topics on the Yahoo home page, Mayor Bloomberg wasn’t chosen via crowdsourcing. Otherwise, her initial interview subject might have been Ashley Greene, Gina Carano or Victoria Azarenka instead. In any case, one might have expected Couric to debut with a bigger “get” (the Pope?) or an A-list celebrity to make more of a splash.

Yahoo bills the Bloomberg interview -- which will appear on Yahoo News on-demand -- as an “exclusive.” But unless he plans to announce that he’s running for president in 2016, it’s not likely to generate much buzz around Couric’s new gig. Perhaps she wants to establish her serious news bona fides before mixing it up with lighter-weight segments in “Today Show” fashion.

H/T Media Daily News

Sharyl Attkisson Resigns from "Liberal" CBS News

CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson had been frustrated with CBS's liberal bias and has  reached an agreement to resign from CBS News ahead of contract being up according to Politico.

The website says that Attkisson, who has been with CBS News for two decades was frustrated by liberal bias, an outsized influence by the network's corporate partners and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting, several sources said. She increasingly felt like her work was no longer supported and that it was a struggle to get her reporting on air.

At the same time, Attkisson's own reporting on the Obama administration, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting.

She is currently at work on a book -- tentatively titled "Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth in Obama's Washington" -- which addresses the challenges of reporting critically on the Obama administration.

Expect her to be on Fox News in 3----2-----

Libel Suit against Nancy Grace Rolls on

Nancy Grace is making some news of her own inside the courtroom.

A federal judge ruled that Michael C. Skakel’s libel claim could proceed against the HLN Anchor and her associates over comments made on her show that falsely suggested DNA evidence tied him to Martha Moxley’s 1975 murder.

Judge Vanessa L. Bryant of United States District Court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, clearing the way for Skakel’s civil complaint to move forward. The request to dismiss had been brought by Grace; Beth Karas, a legal commentator; and the program’s producers at Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting System.

The statements Skakel found objectionable were “not just a minor inaccuracy,” according to the judge, but rather ones involving some “stark” distinctions.

Skakel, who has always maintained his innocence in Moxley’s death, was convicted by a jury in June 2002 of murdering her when they were both teenagers living in Greenwich, Conn. Tried as an adult, he was sent to prison for 20 years to life. His conviction was set aside last year by a state judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel had been deprived of effective counsel. Since November, Skakel, 53, has been free on bail pending an appeal by prosecutors of Judge Bishop’s ruling.

The current libel action arose because of remarks made on Grace’s show, which is broadcast by HLN, in January 2012, when Skakel was an inmate hoping for parole. Karas, a guest on the show, asserted that Mr. Skakel’s “DNA was found” in a tree near the crime scene. In fact, there was no DNA evidence linking Skakel to the crime.

But, when would Nancy Grace ever let the facts get in the way of a good story?

Unfortunately, the judge obviously did not see it that way. 

H/T NY Times

Orange vs. Square

This morning ABC's Good Morning America took the wraps off something they are calling the "Social Square" or to appear much more hip it's the #socialsquare.

ABC describes it as "a groundbreaking new digital studio engaging viewers on a daily basis with the broadcast and social conversation."

In other words it sounds like NBC Today Show' s "Orange Room".

Both are nothing more than window dressing, a corner of the studio dressed up to look high tech.. 

Speaking of the #socialsquare GMA”‘s Senior Executive Producer Tom Cibrowski. “This will revolutionize how our show is produced in the morning and its all about engaging directly with our viewers from beginning to end.”

Really?!  It's going to revolutionize how the show is produced?

Of course it's not.

Word to the networks, you can access Facebook and Twitter without a special color room that is a certain shape.

Really you can.

This is just another example of networks and TV stations thinking the viewer is that dumb. 

Not that long ago, news crews would head out to the story in a live truck. Now they descend on the story in the "mobile newsroom"

A live hit from the Reporter in the newsroom no longer happens. They are now in the "content center" or some other stupid name. 

It's all just lipstick on a pig.

Even if the pig is orange and square. 

From DC to the Mile High City

Word is that WJLA Multimedia Reporter Whitney Wild is leaving the DC station after 2 years and is headed to Denver.

Wild joined WJLA in December, 2011, as a general assignment digital reporter. She reports, shoots, writes and edits her stories.

Wild is headed to KUSA in Denver.

She starts in two weeks. 

Photobombed in LA

KNBC's Robert Kovacik got a visitor during his live shot last night.

A photobombed (we'll be honest we don't know if it's a girl or a dude?) showed up and made a kissy face behind him.

Kovacik later tweeted an image of the person, which we're guessing only encourages them.

CNN to Play Musical Chairs with Piers Morgan's Seat

Back in my News Director days, I had a GM that said "you should never experiment on air." What he was basically saying, is figure out what you're going to do and then do it. When you experiment on air, you confuse the viewers.

It was some of the best advice I ever got.

It is also obvious that CNN boss Jeff Zucker never got that same advice and if he did, he chose to ignore it. 

Politico says that Piers Morgan will officially end his primetime show at the end of the month and will be temporarily replaced by alternating hosts, including Bill Weir and Jake Tapper.

Morgan's departure from primetime sets up a head-to-head trial-run between two ambitious anchors for the coveted 9 p.m. slot. Weir, the former ABC Nightline anchor, is scheduled to anchor "Piers Morgan Live" for the week of March 17. Morgan will return the following week for his final broadcasts, after which Tapper is scheduled to take the reins.

From there, CNN will test Weir, Tapper, and possibly other hosts until deciding what to do with the 9 p.m. hour. The network may ultimately decide to split up the hour or give it over to non-news programming.

Allison Gollust, CNN's senior vice president of communications, declined to comment on the network's specific programming decisions.

"All I can say is you will see a lot of experimentation on our air in the coming weeks," she wrote in an email. "We aren't going to comment on every one of them...and a lot of decisions have yet to be made."

Ahhhh the experimentation of the on air lineup.

My old GM would be rolling over in his grave....if he was dead that is. 

Back Amongst the Living

After 6 straight days in bed I am happy to report feeling much better. Still nowhere near 100%, but so much better than I was.

I still cannot hear out of my right ear and the cough is awful, but other than that I'm doing well.

There is no question that last week was the most sick I have ever been. When I went to the doctor on Tuesday, he wanted to admit me to the hospital right-a-way. When I found out that I would not be able to update FTVLive, I told the Doc I was headed back home. 

I'm happy to say that FTVLive will be running fairly close to full strength once again.

Again, I want to thank all of you that reached out with your well wishes and I am happy to say I'm back!

Let's get started with the morning updates. 

A Tryout Perhaps?

No one likes to experiment on air more than CNN's Jeff Zucker. 

A number of times Zucker has tried a new show in a time period, only to pull it after a couple of airings when the ratings have not been good.

Yesterday, CNN's Brooke Baldwin sent out this tweet:

The logical thinking would be that she is just covering for Kate Bolduan while she takes some time off. But, we're talking Jeff Zucker here, so logical might not be the way to go.

Is this an on air tryout for Baldwin? Could Brooke Bounce Kate? 

And if you want to really put on the tin foil hat, why did Baldwin tag everyone in the Tweet expect Bolduan?

Back up! It's time to fire up the Rumor Mill 

BTW- Baldwin will not be anchoring her usual show CNN Newsroom from 2-4 this week. No word yet on who is replacing her on that. 

Previous: Troubled Times at New Day

CNN's Fake Chicagoland Photo is Exposed

CNN's Chcagoland opened to some low ratings and now the cable net is being called out for using a fake photo.

The Chicago Tribune writes the documentary series, which starts airing last, is accompanied online by photos of the city through the years.

But the first photo in the cnn.com gallery seemed a little suspicious, and CNN took down the image Wednesday after being contacted by the Tribune.

The photo supposedly showed “what Chicago looked like in its early days along Lake Street,” including a covered wagon struggling down a muddy street lined by wooden buildings straight out of the Old West.

Or Hollywood.

The image is apparently a still photograph from the 1937 movie “In Old Chicago,” a fictionalized telling of the story of the O’Leary family arriving in Chicago in 1854 that ends with the Great Fire.

“Chicago just didn’t look like that,” said Tim Samuelson, a cultural historian with the city of Chicago, when the Tribune asked him about it.

After being contacted about the photo, a CNN spokeswoman said in an email:

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention; we’re trying to reach the source. It was supplied to us as an historical photograph. At this time we’ve decided to remove the photo and make a note of the changes with this language: An earlier version of this gallery had an image of downtown Chicago whose authenticity is now in question and has therefore been removed.”

The CNN gallery credited the photo to picturesofpast.com, which labels it as “1837 Lake Street Chicago” but doesn’t say where the photo came from. It appears to have been picked up by a Chicago resident’s blog that posted it for the city’s 175th anniversary in 2012. When a photo search for “1837 Chicago” is done on Google Images, the photo on the blog pops up first.

Historians believe the first photographs ever taken in the United States date to 1839, so there wouldn’t be any actual photos from 1837, the year Chicago was incorporated as a city.

Opps!

Nude Photos did Not Sink Anchor's Rise

Nude photos on a South Florida Anchor did not derail her news career.

In fact, she was just promoted to Main Anchor. 

Spanish-language WSCV-Telemundo 51, Miami's No. 1 television station, has named fill-in Daisy Ballmajo as its permanent prime-time news co-anchor.

Ballmajo was a TV talkshow host in her native Cuba in the early 2000s when she fled to the Dominican Republic, then Miami.

Ballmajo bummed around in smaller Spanish stations here for a while, then landed at Channel 51 in 2010 as co-host of Buenos Dias Miami. She recently anchored the nightly news as a fill-in.

The hottie  made news in 2009 when full frontal nudie photos of her ended up online.

Ironically, at the time, she anchored a gossip show on Mega TV that specialized in celebrity nudies.

“Those had been taken many years ago in a private setting,” said Maria Christina Barros, 51’s publicist. “It has nothing to do with her professionalism.”

H/T Gossip Extra

The Goddess is Gone

Well that didn't last long. 

DC sources tell FTVLive that after one year on the job, traffic reporter Amanda Meadows (also known as @GridlockGoddess on Twitter) is leaving WJLA in Washington, DC.

Previously, she delivered traffic reports for WTVR, a station in Richmond, VA. 

Bumped up in Birmingham

WBMA announced the appointment of Garry Kelly to Vice President News Director effective immediately. Kelly’s appointment to an officer in the company comes after nearly 18 years of service as News Director of station.

Mr. Kelly was hired as News Director for the startup operation in 1996.

“Without Garry Kelly’s efforts over the past 18 years, ABC 33/40 would not be the successful station it is today,” said ABC 33/40 President and General Manager Mike Murphy. “Garry is well-deserved of this recognition.”

Kelly will remain as the station's News Director, so really he just got a new title and some new business cards. 

RIP - Bill McLaughlin

Bill McLaughlin, an award-winning diplomatic and foreign correspondent who headed bureaus in Germany and Lebanon for CBS News in the late 1960s and 1970s, died early Friday. He was 76 and lived in France.

McLaughlin died from cardiac arrest in a Waterbury, Conn., hospital. He was visiting friends in the United States.

McLaughlin's television news career spanned 27 years, nearly all of it with CBS News; he left for two years in late 1979 to report for NBC News as its United Nations correspondent.