Left Coast Station Crosses The Line

KEYT in Santa Barbara decided to throw journalism ethics out the window and just become Deputy Sheriffs with video cameras.

The station showed footage of last weekend’s riot near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus, then told viewers that “we’ll be sharing all that video with the sheriff’s department and the district attorney’s office.”

KEYT cozying up to law enforcement didn’t end there, though. Its newsroom staffers posted “WANTED” tweets (“We captured his face on cam. See if you recognize him”) and asked viewers to help catch “Sheriff Brown’s #1 suspect.”

It's as if the station decided to give up TV news and play policeman. 

Then again it might not be all that surprising considering this: Victoria Sanchez, the reporter covering the riot, is the daughter of Santa Barbara chief of police Camerino Sanchez, while KEYT news anchor Paula Lopez is married to Santa Barbara County Judge Frank Ochoa.

KEYT news director Jim Lemon tells Jim Romenesko he decided to give the video to the sheriff and D.A. because “I knew I was going to get subpoenaed.”

“I thought it’s better to be upfront about what you’re going to do” and tell viewers the station is giving up the footage.

“I’ve had a few folks ask if we’re an arm of law enforcement, but the answer is no.”

Ummmm....I think the answer is yes Jim.

Just saying....

H/T Jim Romenesko 

Sacramento Station Issues Correction on Report

Four days ago, FTVLive told you that a Pro-Life group called out KOVR in Sacramento, accusing the station of staging video for a report.

Project Truth accused KOVR of misleading and slanderous reporting of a pro-life outreach campaign by group at Cordova High School in the City of Rancho Cordova.

It took a few days, but KOVR issued a correction or as they call it a clarification on that report. Here is their correction/clarification:

Move Over Ice Desk

With warmer temps the Ice Desk is no more, but a replacement has been found in San Antonio.   

KENS-TV has unveiled the “KENS 5 Fiesta Desk” in front of the Alamo. It’s a piñata in the shape of an anchor desk!

KENS 5’s Executive News Director, Triston Sanders, designed the desk in honor of the city’s annual party, “Fiesta.”

The piñata is 70 inches wide, 38 inches tall and 20 inches deep.

Typically a piñata that size would take two to three weeks to make, but “Becky’s Pinatas” made it in just two days.

Longtime B-More Anchor Retiring

Longtime WJZ (Baltimore) Anchor Don Scott is retiring this summer from the station.

"My choice, and I'm looking forward to doing some old and new things when I want to," writes Scott via Facebook. "I've enjoyed the ride and having everyone on it along with me.

Scott has worked at the station for 40 years and spent the last quarter century alongside Marty Bass on the Eyewitness News Morning Edition.

Scott came to WJZ in July of 1974 when he was just 24.

How time flies.

Jeff Zucker Defends CNN's New Direction

CNN President Jeff Zucker at wrapped up the network's upfront presentation by defending CNN's coverage of the missing plane and saying that shows like Piers Morgan's are "no longer viable."

“Last month, CNN was the fastest growing network in all of television -- not just news, not just cable, all of television," Zucker told an audience of advertisers and some of the network's top stars. "The same remains true in April."

Zucker did not point out that CNN had one of their worst 1st quarters ever in the history of the network (which included March).

“The most important thing we pay attention to is journalism and the audience,” Zucker told HuffPost. “We feel really good about the journalism and the audience continues to be there. At the end of the day, that’s what matters.”

o talking about the missing plane disappearing in a "black hole" is now considered journalism?

Zucker told attendees that the talk show format at 9 p.m. -- a time slot filled by Larry King for 25 years and more recently by Piers Morgan -- is “no longer viable."

If it's being done by Piers Morgan it is no longer viable, but put the right people in the job and it can still work.

The CNN boss also discussed how his network is pushing news to the side to bring in some new shows. 

Zucker has emphasized that the network shouldn't just be competing against cable news networks, like MSNBC and Fox News, but also entertainment-focused channels. During his upfront appearance, Zucker highlighted the ratings success of Anthony Bourdain‘s “Parts Unknown” and Morgan Spurlock‘s “Inside Man.” He announced plans to fill the 9 p.m. time slot with new CNN original programs.

Mike Rowe, the host of Discovery’s “Dirty Jobs,” will host “Somebody’s Gotta Do It,” a series CNN described Thursday as “paying tribute to innovators, do-gooders, entrepreneurs, collectors, fanatics -- people who simply have to do it.” Journalist and author Lisa Ling will star in a documentary series looking at various American subcultures, and John Walsh, of “America’s Most Wanted” fame, will look at criminal investigations in “The Hunt with John Walsh.”

Keep doing this and CNN can have John Walsh hunt for their ratings.

Stay tuned.... 

H/T HuffPo

CNN Launching News Show for Twitter

CNN says they are making a big push to the Internet in an effort to get a chuck of all the money being spent on online advertising.

The network is rolling out CNN Digital Studios. Among its first projects: a bite-sized video news series built specifically to be viewed and shared on Twitter called Your 15 Second Morning. 

Beyond that show, which executives hope will become a daily habit among younger news consumers, CNN has lined up some top talent for a slew of original franchise series of the news/entertainment variety.

For example, there’s Related with Dave Franco, which will focus on celebrity siblings (Mr. Franco’s brother is actor James Franco). That show is a co-production with Funny or Die. Turner Broadcasting, the Time Warner Inc. unit which houses CNN, is an investor in Funny or Die.

Several projects have yet to be nailed down, but one potential CNN Web series will likely feature an ex NFL player examining productivity in people’s lives. Another is said to star a hot young urban chef who is a protege of Anthony Bourdain, who of course headlines his own show for CNN on TV.

CNN did not mention a missing plane show, but we're sure it's in there somewhere. 

Overseeing CNN Digital Studios is Andrew Morse, the network’s senior vice president for the U.S. Morse joined CNN from Bloomberg last August. He brought his video lieutenant, Chris Berend, on board in November.

H/T Wall Street Journal 

Like we Didn't see this one coming

When CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson resigned from the network because she grew tired of CBS's liberal bias, FTVLive wrote: "Expect her to be on Fox News in 3----2-----"

Attkisson sent out this tweet shortly before 8PM last night:

I can't say anyone was surprised. FTVLive is betting this will be first of many appearances for Attkisson on FNC.

Stay tined.... 

Woman Robbed on Camera While Talking About Street Crime

A woman talking to a TV station in Brazil about street crime and lack of police presence was robbed of her necklace while she was talking to the Reporter on a Rio de Janeiro street.

Let's go to the video:

Rush Limbaugh: CBS Declares War on the Heartland of America

When CBS announced that Stephen Colbert was going to replace David Letterman, it upset Rush Limbaugh so much, he almost started popping pills again.

Limbaugh went on a rant against the hire on his radio show.

"CBS has just declared war on the Heartland of America.  No longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values, conservatives," said Limbaugh. 

He then continued "Now it's just wide out in the open.  What this hire means is a redefinition of what is "funny" and a redefinition of what is comedy, and they're blowing up the 11:30 format under the guise that the world's changing and people don't want the kind of comedy that Carson gave us or even Letterman.

They don't want that anymore.  It's the media planting a flag here.  I think it's maybe the media's last stand, but it's a declaration.  There's no unity in this hire.  They've hired a partisan, so-called comedian to run a comedy show.  So that's what I think."

CBS did not comment on Limbaugh's rant. 

Les is More

CBS president and CEO Les Moonves just picked up a little place for his weekends. 

After Moonves trumped the CNN upfront presentation with the announcement that the network has hired Stephen Colbet, Moonves celebrated by buying a beach house.

Page Six says that Moonves has bought Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s home on Malibu’s prestigious Carbon Beach AKA “Billionaires Beach” for $28 million.

Allen bought the gorgeous, white-walled and glass modern oceanfront house for $25 million in 2010.

But a source said Allen “hated the sound of the ocean” because it kept him awake at night and spent very little time there.

Moonves already has a Holmby Hills mansion, which he’ll keep, and use the beach house as a weekend retreat.

FTVLive is headed out on a Weekend retreat, but we're staying at a Motel 6.

I knew I should have been a network president. 

Jon Stewart Takes on Sean Hannity over Spring Break Obsession

Oh snap! The Daily Shows Jon Stewart takes Fox News Anchor Sean Hannity for his obsession with Spring Break.

Colbert to Replace Letterman

CBS wasted no time in picking a person to replace Daviad Letterman when he retires in 2015.

Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert has been tapped to take Dave's spot.

There were rumblings that CBS might go with a woman to fill the spot, but in the end it's just another white guy. 

Dispatches from NAB Part 2

The mood is changing on the floor of the NAB. 

Yesterday it was more about hunting and gathering—today the focus is narrowing and it’s all about making decisions and writing business.

But this convention is not all about the art of the deal.

The Devlin Design Group/Brightline booth  once again was busy with people stopping by. 

Some were considering large projects and enlisted the help of Brightline President Sam Cercone, and DDG Creative Director, Dan Devlin who both listened carefully to what was said before offering creative solutions.

Not everyone came from the television world. Two young women in their twenty’s approached DDG’s Director of Production, Hannes Kling.  They told him they were at this convention to improve the studio at their church (we're guessing they were staying away from the Sin in Sin City while in Vegas). 

“We’ve come to collect ideas,” she said with a slight Southern accent…”can you help us?” 

Hannes was very gracious, and began to ask questions about their space and their equipment.  By the time the conversation was over, he gave them actionable (and affordable)  things that they could do when they returned home.  They had no idea they had received consulting from a man who does scenic projects in places like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.  

Brightline had an interesting lighting grid set up at their booth.  It looked like they had task lighting fixtures alongside broadcast lighting fixtures.  

Brightline’s Joe Cervone said it was indeed a task light…but it is also a single or double 45-degree video light, and all within the same body!

This Brightline VideoPlus fixture came in pretty handy when Brightline was asked to light two situation rooms in the White House.

In an office setting like a conference room, they provide regular, in-ceiling task lighting.  But when the room’s lighting requirements turn to video conferencing, the fixtures transform by providing two additional video lighting functions, and all within a 6-inch width!

These fixtures were used in the re-invention of KTVA in Anchorage, a ground-breaking integrated and collaborative effort between Brightline and Devlin Design Group.

Bottom line is they look like regular, in-ceiling office lights, but can increase their intensity and provide state-of-the-art video lighting.

You’ve probably seen these fixtures in newsroom studios and video conference rooms and never noticed them and that is exactly the point.

ABC Names New News Boss

ABC said they were going to fill the job quickly and they did.

The Disney network has named James Goldston has as the new president of ABC News. Goldston, who had served as senior VP under Ben Sherwood has been bumped up the food chain.

 Sherwood is replacing Anne Sweeney as co-president, ABC Television Group. 

Smoking Gun: Al Sharpton is Lying

The website the Smoking Gun says that Al Sharpton is lying and his MSNC bosses don't seem to care about it.

TSG writes in a desperate effort to explain away his work as a paid government informant, the Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday claimed that he first ran into the FBI’s arms after his life was threatened by gangsters, an incident that prompted him to then record 10 face-to-face encounters with one of those dangerous hoodlums.

That story is a lie.

In fact, Sharpton’s fabricated tale is belied by FBI records that provide a clear account of when and why he began working as a cooperating informant. After unveiling his fable at a morning press conference, Sharpton repeated his claims last night at the close of his “PoliticsNation” show on MSNBC, where fact checkers and bosses alike do not appear concerned with the truthfulness of the host’s off- and on-air pronouncements.

Here is what actually happened:

Sharpton began cooperating with the FBI in mid-1983. So he had actually been working as a confidential informant for about nine months before Pisello’s purported threat, an encounter that Sharpton now falsely claims prompted him to first contact federal agents (and subsequently begin recording Buonanno).

The reverend was “flipped” by FBI agents three months after he was filmed in March 1983 (during a bureau sting) talking cocaine with an undercover agent. On a Thursday afternoon in June 1983, Sharpton showed up at a Manhattan apartment expecting to meet again with the undercover agent, who was posing as a former South American druglord seeking to launder money through boxing promotions.

Instead, Sharpton was confronted by FBI agents who showed him the “cocaine” videotape. The panicked reverend agreed--on the spot--to cooperate with federal agents, according to sources familiar with the contents of Sharpton’s FBI informant file.

Full story from the Smoking Gun

Jane Pauly Headed to CBS News

Bob Schieffer broke some news during his annual Schieffer Symposium on the News at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth on Wednesday -- he revealed that longtime NBC journalist Jane Pauley will join CBS News Sunday Morning as a contributor.

"She is reinventing herself and is coming to work at CBS News," Schieffer, the network's chief Washington correspondent, told the crowd at the event, which streamed online. Pauley was at his side as he made the announcement. "We couldn't be happier."

"Bob (Woodward of The Washington Post, another symposium panelist) has been tormenting me that I have defected after 40 years," Pauley said. But she pointed out that she began her career as a news anchor at a CBS affiliate in Indianapolis in 1972, and "I've kind of come back home."

Pauley was part of a panel that included Schieffer, Woodward, columnist Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal and CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley.

Pauley, 63, has spent much of her TV career with NBC, including 13 years as co-host of Today (1976-1989).

USA Today