CNN sources tell FTVLive that Layoffs are happening right now at CNN in Atlanta.
Word is that a number of Video Editors and Media Producers are getting the blade.
The Media Producers that are not being let go are having their titles changed to Cross Platform Producers.
Word is that the ones that survived the layoffs are being given raises.
Stay tuned....
Cynthia McFadden is leaving ABC News for the Peacock and ABC wasted no time in naming her replacement on Nightline.
Here is the internal memo sent from ABC Boss Ben Sherwood:
I want to share some news with all of you.
Effective immediately, Juju Chang has been promoted to Co-Anchor of “Nightline.” Juju has been a vital member of the “Nightline” team for many years, and I am thrilled that she will now join the two Dans full time at the anchor desk.
A versatile correspondent and storyteller, Juju commands attention whether in her role in our award-winning coverage of Superstorm Sandy and the mass shootings in Newtown, CT, or investigating parenting and lifestyle issues. In fact, two of her recent reports made a huge impact on not only our viewers, but on me: toddlers being born and raised behind bars in a women’s prison, and babies born dependent on painkillers for our “Hidden America” series.
Juju is the perfect example of someone whose dedication and tenacity to innovative reporting has paved the way for her success. Juju has been with ABC News her entire career, starting as a desk assistant. She is also the ultimate team player, which is not surprising: outside of work, along with her husband Neal, she is raising a team of boys whose love for the New York Yankees could rival her love for ABC News!
Cynthia McFadden let me know earlier this week that she will be joining NBC News.
Cynthia has been a key member of the ABC News team for the past 20 years, traveling the world to bring our viewers important and distinctive reports, most recently from the Vatican.
As one of the original anchors of the new “Nightline” when it premiered in 2005, Cynthia was instrumental in taking the late night show from #3 to #1 in the 11:35 pm time period. Over the years, her in-depth reporting often focused on legal matters including her signature hour on Louisiana’s death row, “Judgment at Midnight” and her exclusive interview with the Central Park rapist. She has taken our viewers inside the horrific conditions of Mexican mental hospitals and the brothels of India, investigated the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and traveled around the world with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Madonna, Cher, Beyonce, Bono, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie and George Clooney have all subjected themselves to her special blend of probing charm.
Whether investigating human rights abuses worldwide or interviewing world leaders and celebrities, Cynthia’s incisive reporting and candid interviews will be greatly missed.
Cynthia has been an amazing colleague, a loyal mentor to so many of our up and coming producers and I am personally grateful for her profound contributions to ABC News. It is with great fondness that I wish Cynthia the very best in her new adventure.
Please join me in congratulating Juju, and in thanking Cynthia.
Ben
This morning, FTVLive told you that WCYB Bristol, Va had posted former anchor Garick Zikan's job.
Zikan was escorted from the building and suspended and ultimately let go from the station last night after sources say he acted like an idiot in front of a News Director candidate.
Now, word comes that the station is about to name John Soares as the new News Director.
Soares was the ND at KWCH in Wichita before getting the boot in January of 2013. He lasted only 4 months at the station.
No word yet on a start date.
A person opened fire outside the KTRK studios this morning, and was quickly taken into police custody, thanks to a quick-thinking eyewitness.
It was right around 9am when police say the woman fired off several shots at the front of the station.
At five minutes before 9 this morning, cell phone picture was taken from across the street of a woman firing at the front of the KTRK building. Several shots hit glass on a second-story plate glass window. Several cars in the front parking lot were also struck.
The station says that the shooter made it no farther than the security fence that encircles station property. Police were immediately called.
Within 20 minutes the woman was in custody, found in her car in the area. It was a silver Camaro, the same kind that was caught on surveillance video about six weeks ago when several shots were fired at cars in the parking lot.
A KTRK spokesperson issued this official statement: " We want to thank Jeff Tobin, the alert eyewitness who heroically took photos while shots were still being fired, which helped police quickly apprehend the suspect. We are grateful to Houston Police Department for their fast response, that no one was injured and the ABC-13 staff is safe and sound."
H/T KTRK
KLAS Morning Anchor Cale Ramaker was shown the door at the Sin City station.
This is the internal email that was sent out to the staff. You know when the email is only two sentences, it's never a good thing:
Effective immediately, Cale Ramaker will no longer co-anchor the morning newscast on 8 News Now. We appreciate Cale's efforts here. He is a good journalist and a solid anchor and I wish him the best as he seeks a new opportunity.
KITV (Hawaii) Reporter Nana Ohkawa had a Butterfly land on her mouth as she was reporting live:
FTVLive FIRST told you that WCYB Bristol, Va anchor Garick Zikan was escorted from the building and suspended and ultimately let go from the station last night after sources say he acted like an idiot in front of a News Director candidate.
Now, the station is looking to fill Zikan's old job.
WCYB posted this job opening on their website:
WCYB-TV Bristol, TN-VA, seeks a main news anchor with strong communication and teamwork skills to join our #1 news operation.
Qualified applicants should have at least 5 years of main anchor experience. You must have great on-camera skills, and you must also be an excellent reporter and writer with keen storytelling skills and the ability to enterprise stories.
We are looking for a leader who can mentor younger reporters and someone who is passionate about quality television news. We want someone who will be a face in our community, a person who is a team player and works well with others, a person who has the ability to work quickly, efficiently and meet deadlines.
The successful candidate for this position must adhere to and promote a "web first" approach in the newsroom, no exceptions. The candidate must be able to excel in the field and at the anchor desk.
If interested, send a cover letter, resume, and link to or DVD of your reel to hr@wcyb.com, Subject: News Anchor Search -- no phone calls please
It appears that the air conditioning in CNN's 'New Day' studio is broken and it is getting quite hot.
Either that, or Jeff Zucker is trying to save money.
Former Philadelphia sportscaster Don Tollefson is getting out of jail tomorrow and is headed to an inpatient drug-treatment facility as he awaits trial on felony fraud charges involving an alleged travel-package scam, officials said.
The Philly Inquirer writes that the petition to release Tollefson was filed by a public defender - not the two high-profile attorneys who flanked him at his arraignment in Warminster in February, according to court documents. Bucks County Judge James McMaster granted the order on Tuesday, reducing Tollefson's bail from $10,000 to zero.
The use of a public defender may suggest a further fall from grace for Tollefson, who once earned nearly $5,000 a week at Philly Fox O&O before leaving the station in 2008.
His former attorneys, Michael McGovern and Ray McHugh, did not return calls for comment, nor did Bucks County public defender Christina King.
Last month, Tollefson told a district court judge at his arraignment that he had been sober for 131 days, although he didn't disclose his addiction. He will be taken to the Malvern Institute in Chester County, said Ryan Hyde, a Bucks County deputy district attorney.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 29.
Tollefson will leave jail after nearly 40 days through a county-sponsored program, Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities, operated by the Council of Southeast Pennsylvania Inc., a nonprofit program offering treatment to defendants who suffer from addiction.
"This is an opportunity for individuals whose drug and alcohol abuse has led them to criminal activity to turn their lives around," according to the nonprofit's website.
Hyde had argued at the February arraignment that Tollefson deserved high bail to prevent him from trying to scam more people.
Former KOMO (Seattle) Investigative Reporter Liz Rocca started her new job as the Deuce across the street at KCPQ.
And judging by her Twitter account she even got a new coffee mug with her new job.
Ahhhhh...Life in News Management.
WTSP Reporter Jennifer Titus and Photographer Marcus Grayson were doing a live shot when a couple of Goats showed up to Photobomb the live hit.
After the live shot, the goats took over and had Titus on the run and Grayson trapped in his live truck.
Let's go to the video:
Former WFLD Weekend Anchor Amara Walker, who left the Fox O&O last December has landed a gig at CNN.
Walker quit the Chicago station to move with her husband, plastic surgeon Thomas Walker, who’d landed a new position in Atlanta.
A CNN spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that Walker signed a contract this week with CNN International as an anchor. She has been filling in on a free-lance basis for several months and appearing occasionally on CNN’s domestic channel.
WFLD still hasn’t named a replacement for Walker as weekend anchor. Reporter Lisa Chavarria has been filling in.
H/T Robert Feder
Weather Network reporters Mark Robinson and Chris Scott stood out in a live blizzard update from Grand Etang, Nova Scotia.
The two reported that the wind gusts were over 100MPH, snow hitting their face was like getting sand blasted and the severe threat of frost bite.
Which of course begs the question why are they out there in the first place?
Oh yeah, because "look at me TV" is the new norm in this business.
But the winds got so strong during the live shot, that it literally blew the two off camera:
In a move that surprised more than a few people.
USC named Willow Bay, a former news anchor at CNN, ABC and Bloomberg TV, has been named the next director of the school of journalism at the University.
The AP writes that USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism Dean Ernest J. Wilson III announced the appointment Wednesday of the 50-year-old Bay, who is currently a senior editor at the Huffington Post.
Bay’s television background is a shift after two previous directors whose experience was primarily in newspapers and online journalism.
She was once a co-anchor on ABC’s Good Morning America/Sunday and CNN’s Moneyline News Hour and a substitute anchor on NBC’s Early Today and other shows on NBC and MSNBC.
Bay is married to Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Robert Iger.
WXIA in Atlanta made the day of a little 3 year old boy that is about to undergo heart surgery. It is your feel good story of the day:
It’s been four months since Katie Couric announced she was becoming the first-ever Global Anchor at Yahoo, and we still have no idea what that means. Apparently, neither do people at Yahoo.
“When it comes to digital, I think Katie’s going to have a serious problem adjusting to that. I don’t understand what [Yahoo President and CEO Marissa] Mayer wants from her,” a source who has worked with Couric tells us. “She’s not Internet savvy. So she tweets — who doesn’t?”
Business Insider Australia writes that Couric took the position at Yahoo for a reported $6 million salary amid the cancelation of her daytime talk show, “Katie.” That’s a big salary but not much compared to the $15 million salary she once earned as an evening news anchor at CBS.
“I think she was looking for an out,” explains the source. “She had this talk show and the full power of ABC-Disney behind her, every resource, and a huge marketing campaign — but it still didn’t work.”
Now the veteran TV personality has to prove herself on the new platform — and to do so while Yahoo faces its own identity crisis and turmoil on its editorial team.
Couric says in a new Yahoo News promotional video that her role will be interviewing “politicians, thought leaders, cultural icons, and tech titans,” and she has already interviewed former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Defence Secretary Robert Gates for the site — big names though people who are hardly media shy.
Longtime Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman, who is now vice chairman of Reputation.com, gives a more optimistic outlook on Couric’s next step: “I think it’s a really smart move for her, but perhaps an even smarter move for Yahoo. It’s clear that where people get their news from is changing in pretty extraordinary ways and familiarity breeds content. As Yahoo does more original content, Katie is a face who people know, a face people trust.”
Bragman predicts a convergence of TV and digital news, which Couric could fit into nicely.
“I think you will find digital is going to get more like traditional TV and traditional TV is going to get more like digital,” explains Bragman. “Meaning, on digital, the production quality is going to improve, the shows are going to be better defined instead of just segments, and I think they’re going to evolve into more of a traditional TV-like atmosphere. Traditional TV is realising timeliness is huge, being live is huge — some of the things that digital has known for a long time. And as they meld into each other, she gets it.”
We'll have to wait and see what happens with the perky one this time.
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