Piers Morgan is Literally Caught with his Pants Down

Piers Morgan was playing in a charity soccer match when boy band (One Direction) member Harry Styles ran over and pulled down Piers' pants.

Morgan took the panting unusually well and joked about it. Morgan jokingly threatening revenge against Styles on Twitter.

Let's go to the video:

Al Sharpton Vs. The Teleprompter Round 2

Here is round 2 of MSNBC host Al Sharpton trying to read the teleprompter.

If you missed round 1 you can see it here. 

Signing Off in the Hampton Roads

After a decade at WAVY in Portsmouth, VA Traffic Anchor Cheryl Tan has announced her departure.

Tan broke the news on the morning show saying that her last day at WAVY will be Friday.

She began her career in television news in Macon, Ga. at Fox 24 before heading to WRIC in Richmond and finally joining the WAVY News family.

Tan says that she is looking forward to focusing on her business and spending time with her family (of course she is).

Here is her goodbye from this morning's newscast:

That was Weak Fifty

Rapper 50 Cent threw out the first pitch at a NY Mets game.

Let's just say it's a good thing 50 can rap, because he sucks at throwing a ball. 

Like Walking Around a Funeral Home

FTVLive was the FIRST to tell you that main Anchors at WTEV/WAWS Action News Jacksonville have been informed that their contracts are not being renewed.

Sources tell FTVLive that 5 or more Anchors have been told that they are done when their contracts come up.

The Cox station refuses to talk about the changes and sources inside the newsroom say that it's like working in a funeral home.

"It is so depressing right now," said one staffer to FTVLive.

Word is that management wants the new anchors in place for the fall. So, in other words many of the current anchors are dead men/women walking through the summer months.

You can imagine how hard that is for them and the staff that is working with them. 

Anderson Cooper Throws out a "W"

From your very first day in your start to a career in Journalism you are taught the 5 W's

If your story has the Who, What, Where, When and Why you can bet that it is complete. Your writing style made need to be polished, but you at least have presented the facts.

On CNN's Anderson Cooper's show you will only get 4 of the 5 W's from him.

Cooper sent out this tweet:

The CNN Anchor does not think you need to know the name of the person that is responsible for the shootings. Cooper feels that giving attention to the killer is exactly what he would want. Never mind the fact that Elliot Roger (sorry AC I used his name) is dead and likely can't see Cooper's grandstanding stunt to bring attention to himself.

Back in November of 2013, Anderson's show talked to Joseph Paul Franklin, the serial killer that also shot Larry Flint. So not only did Cooper use his name and picture, he freaking interviewed the guy. 

In February 2013, Cooper talked about the 'very strange feeling' of being sent a letter by alleged killer ex-cop Christopher Dorner. He even went on ABC's The View to discuss this. 

So it seems that Cooper's policy is only in effect when it might bring more attention to him and his CNN show. 

Some would feel that Coop's censoring is taking the "news" out of the Cable News Network.

But, as most of you know, that ship sailed away a longtime ago. 

Right Mr. Zucker? 

Get the Hell Out of Here!

It's been just a few days since Elliot Rodger (sorry Anderson) went on his killing spree, but the residents in the area around the killing have already grown sick of the media.

Student residents of the UC Santa Barbara community of Isla Vista are ready for the media to pack up their sat trucks and get the hell out of their town.  

Several UC Santa Barbara students had blocked the front windows of I.V. Deli Mart in Isla Vista with white closet doors. The deli is where mass killer Elliot Rodger fatally shot Christopher Michaels-Martinez, bringing to six the number of his victims. 

More than a dozen reporters were camped out on Pardall Road in front of the deli -- and had been for days, their cameras and lights and gear taking up an entire lane of the street. At one point, police officers showed up to ensure that tensions did not boil over.

The students stared straight-faced at reporters. Some held signs expressing their frustration with the news media:

"OUR TRAGEDY IS NOT YOUR COMMODITY."

"Remembrance NOT ratings."

"Stop filming our tears."

"Let us heal."

"NEWS CREWS GO HOME!"

H/T LA Times

CNN Meets with the Miami Mayor

Sources tell FTVLive that reps from CNN were spotted in Miami chatting it up with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his staff.

Word is that CNN is looking to do another Chicagoland (we're guessing that wouldn't be the name, but who knows with them) type series to south Florida.

 Having never seen the show, I recalled reading about all the controversy surrounding it in your blog, so I thought it might be something for you.

Chicagoland was not exactly a ratings home run for Jeff Zucker and the gang. Plus, CNN came under some heat for promising to make Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel look good.

No word on what promises were presented to Mayor Gimenez.

Stay tuned.... 

Traffic Reporter Wins Bikini Competition

WKBW (Buffalo) Morning Traffic Reporter Desiree Wiley competed to become Miss New York State.

iley didn't win the overall crown (she came in second) but she did pull off a victory in the swimsuit competition. 

The station's very low rated morning newscast covered Wiley's quest for the crown. No word yet if WKBW will start running promos about their Traffic Reporter's bikini win.

It would be the first time the station won anything in about 15 years. 

Hmmmmm? Where Have We Heard This before?

A couple days ago, FTVLive told you that Beverly Kidd, who left TV news to focus more time with her family was returning to WTKR in Norfolk. 

Now, WTKR Anchor Bianca Martinez is stepping down from the anchor chair.  

Why?

“It is time for me to focus more on my family,” Martinez said. “I love being a mom more than I could have ever imagined and I need to be with my little buddies more.

Martinez Anchored WTKR’s 4, 5, 6, and 11pm newscasts will step down from her position effective May 30.

In a joint announcement, the Station and Martinez confirm that she will remain with WTKR continuing her coverage of the Military and providing special reports as needed.

“Bianca has been an integral part of every success WTKR has had over the past 6 years.” General Manager Jeff Hoffman said.

Martinez added, “I am so proud of what we have accomplished here at WTKR and WGNT. I am so thankful for my time here. I simply can’t walk away from it all together. You will see me every now and then. Count on it.” 

Sweeping up in the A-T-L

WSB is claiming victory in the just completed May sweeps.

The station says that Action News won every newscast, beating the combined competition in almost every time period, according to the Nielsen weekday average of Adults 25-54.

Channel 2 Action News drew 59% of Adults 25-54 watching local news in the Atlanta market, more than the other three local news stations combined. WAGA ranked second with 27%.

“May completed the 2013-2014 Television Season,” said Tim McVay, Vice President and General Manager for WSB-TV. “This book confirmed once again the strength of WSB-TV and ABC. Combining the station’s local news dominance with the stellar performances by ABC shows “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer” and a strong Prime Time fueled the Sweep.”

The combined total of viewers watching Channel 2 Action News each day equaled 562,000 viewers, 56% more than the second place local news station. Channel 2 Action News “This Morning” from 4:30-7 a.m. continued to rank as the highest rated local newscast on any station during the month, with 236,632 viewers, A25-54.

All three of the early evening newscasts from 4-7 p.m. grew over May 2013.

Fox News Reporter Pissed About Being Bumped

Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry is pissed at US Airways and to be honest, we don't blame him.

The airline bumped Henry from his first-class seat and gave it up to a government official who needed a first-class seat at the last minute during the same flight out of Washington, D.C.

Henry took to Twitter:

@USAirways so you bump folks out of first class seats to DC when you have govt officials who need last-min first class tickets? #really," Henry wrote. To which the airline simply replied, "@edhenrytv We appreciate your concern, Ed. Please ask the customer that was bumped to submit details here: http://bit.ly/CRContact."

Henry continued with his rant, saying, "@USAirways so if government officials want last-min first class paid for by taxpayers you bump your existing customers? #lastflightonusair." The airline once gain referred him to Customer relations, "@edhenrytv The customer that was bumped should contact Customer Relations. We're unable to discuss anyone's travel with a third party, Ed."

First of all, Henry was not the "third party", he was THE party that got bumped. 

He also makes a good point that the government official that bumped him is flying on a first class ticket paid by the taxpayer. Maybe the government officials should be flying in the back of the plane to begin with to save us taxpayers money. 

FTVLive will join Henry in his boycott of US Airways.

Bastards! 

NBC Worked in Secret to Get Snowden Interview

NBC relied on secrecy to land their interview with Edward Snowden.

Brian Williams met Edward J. Snowden in the Kempinski Hotel in Moscow last week after months of negotiations between NBC News and intermediaries for Mr. Snowden.

Getting the interview contained its own quotient of cloak-and-dagger activity, including unannounced plane travel, lost luggage, hotel bookings under assumed names and two days sequestered in a room with a view of Red Square.

“We were worried about a number of things,” Mr. Williams told the NY Times. 

“There were competitive concerns,” he said. (Because Mr. Snowden represented the kind of huge interview “get” that has become rare in network television.) “And we didn’t know how much the Russians knew about the reasons for our travel.”

The presumption was: a lot. “A former administration official told us: ‘Don’t kid yourself, they know who you are, who you are coming to see, and everything you will do while you are there.'”

Williams flew to London, and almost missed his Moscow connection; his bags did. He spent a couple of days hoping he would not have to conduct the interview “in a white terry cloth bathrobe.” More likely, he said, “We would have been out looking for a suit at Saks-ski’s.”

Williams got his bags just hours before Mr. Snowden, arriving alone, knocked on his hotel room door.

“This is an enigmatic guy,” Mr. Williams said. “We’ve only seen him in video from Skype appearances and the video he did from a hotel in Hong Kong.” That was the first city to which Mr. Snowden fled to avoid arrest, before accepting asylum in Moscow.

As for his impressions, Mr. Williams said: “He is blindingly smart. Pay no attention to the fact that he only has a G.E.D. from high school.” That actually led to a personal connection. “I joked about how, here we were, two guys with high school degrees, both dropouts from the otherwise great American community college system.”

NBC will air during a special report tonight at 10 p.m

We're All Going to Die! Ummm maybe not...

CNN posted a story earlier Today to say that there was a chance that a giant asteroid was bearing down on earth and was  going to wipe us all out in the less than 30 years. 

Kind of makes that whole missing plane story not so important now doesn't it.

The story was part of a CNN iReport and to say this is big news would be a major understatement.

Knowing that your life and the lives of your family could be over just like that.

FTVLive was just getting ready to book a trip around the world and start spending what was left of our measly savings account, when CNN then pulled the story and left this message. 

Sleep well my friends....it appears that the story on the CNN website was not correct.

Let's go back to the real news...you know the missing plane and the blackfish. 

Fargo Reporter Busted for DUI

A WDAY (Fargo) Reporter was arrested Memorial Day on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Jesse Grabow said Kiersten “Kay” Cooley, 25, was arrested about 5:30 p.m. headed westbound on U.S. Highway 10.

The trooper pulled Cooley over as the result of a citizen’s driving complaint, Grabow said. A preliminary breath test showed Cooley had a blood alcohol content of 0.19 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving of 0.08 percent.

Cooley was booked into the Becker County Jail on suspicion of fourth-degree driving while intoxicated, which is a misdemeanor.

WDAY News Director Jeff Nelson declined to comment on Tuesday. He said Cooley is still employed at the TV station.

A message left for Cooley wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday.

H/T The Forum