It has been rumored for months and now sources are telling FTVLive that WPIX News Director Mark Effron has been shown the door at the NY station.
There is no official word yet from the station, but insiders say that he is gone.
Efron was named the News Director of the station in April of 2013 and almost from day one rumors started circulating that his tenure at the station would not last long.
Looks like it was about 16 months.
Stay tuned....
It appears that the Ferguson Police Department isn't happy with the media invading their town. A Washington Post Reporter was arrested by police in a Ferguson area McDonalds. He was never given a valid reason as to why he was in custody:
The Paper posted video of Lowery's arrest:
Last night the FPD took up their assault on the media up a notch. A KSDK Photographer says police fired a bean bag at him, hitting his camera. A crew from Al Jazeera was reporting from the area when cops shot a tear gas canister in their director. The scene was captured by St. Louis station KSDK.
Let's go to the video:
It has gotten to the point where Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is sending out tweets to Ferguson PD asking them to respect the rights of he press:
Stay classy Ferguson.
Sometimes, when your station is sold, it turns out to be good news.
After working as the KTVK (Phoenix) News Chopper Pilot and Reporter for more than 3 decades, Bruce Haffner was told in May that his services were no longer needed.
But now, KTVK's new station owners, Meredith, is bringing Haffner and his bird back to the station.
Starting in the fall, Haffner will report from the air for both KTVK and KPHO.
“It's unbelievable because really this is what I love doing.” Haffner said. “To be able to do what you love to do for work, there’s just nothing like it in the world.”
“Suffice to say, (the deal) worked for him and it worked for us,” said KTVK/KPO GM Ed Munson.
Often times when a station is sold, pink slips start flying. This is one time when a guy that was pink slipped is coming back.
Correction: Earlier version of this story had Haffner's name misspelled. Type his name in auto correct and you see why.
When Fox takes control of KTVU in Oakland, will they make a run at KPIX News Director Dan Rosenheim?
Rumors are flying that KTVU might want to hire Rosenheim to head up their news department when they take over the current Cox station.
But, according to blogger Rich Lieberman, Rosenheim has 350 thousands reasons to stay at the CBS O&O.
Lieberman reports that Rosenheim is the highest-paidNews Director in the Bay Area, making in the neighborhood of $350K a year. That salary puts Rosenheim near the top of all ND's in the country salary wise.
By all indications Rosenheim happy and why shouldn't he be, he has a firm grip on the CBS O and O and has managed to become one of the longest-tenured NDs.
In other words, he isn't leaving and if Fox was interested in, it is unlikely they will land him.
Just saying....
File this one under what goes around, comes around....
Back ion 2013, former NBC and CBS News Reporter Ed Rabel wrote a very critical op-ed story in the West Virginia Gazette attacking local TV news and calling it a waste of time.
The piece ruffled more than a few feathers, especially at WCHS in Charleston.
Now, Rabel is running as an independent for Congress in the state’s second Congressional District and insiders say that WCHS News Director Matt Snyder has banned all coverage of Rabel's campaign.
Being an ex-news guy, Rabel should have thought ahead. If he knew he was going to run for Congress, maybe, just maybe he shouldn't have pissed off the local media.
On the other hand, banning the coverage of a candidate, kind of proves what Rabel said in his op-ed piece is correct.
Just saying....
If you believe the NY Post's Page Six, the NBC Peacock is shaking in its feathers with David Muir soon taking over Diane Sawyer's slot at ABC's World News.
Page Six writes that NBC News execs are said to be worried over the imminent coronation of David Muir, who officially takes over “ABC World News” from Diane Sawyer on Sept. 2.
“He’s already knocked off Brian Williams before he’s even started,” one network veteran told me.
Muir has been filling in for Sawyer on many nights this summer, and his ratings have been just as good as hers.
Last week, when Muir was on all week, ABC had 1.764 million viewers in the key 25 to 54 demographic that advertisers care about, beating “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams,” which had 1.687 million.
No one is panicking, a source at the Peacock Network said. “Muir has been on more than Diane all summer, so nothing will change in September. We know what we’re up against because we’ve already seen it.”
File this one under "Holy Shit!"
A tanker truck hauling 8,500 gallons of fuel exploded in west Nashville, sending fuel vapors into the city’s storm water system and causing several secondary explosions.
A WKRN Photographer was rolling has the explosions in the sewer system hit.
Let's go to that crazy video:
This morning, FTVLive told you that WKBW had further demoted longtime Weatherman Mike Randall. Randall has now been busted down to the weekend shift.
Now, that the station has room, they are bring back an old face.
Meteorologist Andy Parker is returning to WKBW. Parker worked at WKBW for 7 years before leaving the station that was run by Granite at the time.
Parker soon pooped up down the street at WGRZ, the Gannett owned station.
WKBW has finally rid themselves of Granite and is now owned by Scripps, who has decided to bring Parker back to the station.
He will be Director of Meteorology and Executive Producer/Weather and do weather on the station's morning newscast. The job that Mike Randall did before his demotion.
“We are thrilled to have Andy Parker coming home to 7 Eyewitness News,” said Michael Nurse, Vice President and General Manager for WKBW-TV.
“This is a great opportunity for me to return to 7 Eyewitness News, the place where I began my career,” Parker said. “With the new Scripps ownership, there are many exciting changes coming to 7 Eyewitness News, and I definitely want to be a part of it. I’ve dedicated my career to providing viewers the most accurate forecast, and I’m really looking forward to continuing that commitment for the viewers of 7 Eyewitness News. I’m also very excited about bringing The Weather Machine program to schools throughout Western New York to educate our student scientists.”
I'm not going to say that this Fox News headline is a bit tacky.
I'll let you decide:
Update: After FTVLive posted the above story, Fox News changed the headline. It now looks like this:
Give FNC some credit for making the change after FTVLive pointed it out.
WGN in Chicago has named Sandy Pudar as the station's new Assistant News Director effective immediately.
as announced by Jennifer Lyons, WGN-TV News Director. “For more than five years as Executive Producer, she’s maintained our #1 status in the highly competitive morning news time slot and actually grown it, which is quite a feat,”said Jennifer Lyons, WGN News Director “Sandy is an organized, hard-working and dedicated journalist who will assist in leading our newsroom as we continue to grow. And, simply put, when it comes to blowing out news coverage, there’s no one better.”
A 15-year veteran of WGN News, Pudar has worked in a variety of capacities at the station. In February 2009, she became executive producer of theWGN Morning News; the longest tenured executive producer to date. Prior to her EP duties, she spent nine years in various producer positions and as a news writer for the station. Her tenure at WGN began in July of 1999, when she started as an intern.
Pudar started out in journalism as a CNN intern, working on Larry King Live.
WSB Sports Anchor Zach Klein used his sportscast to pay tribute to Robin Williams.
Klein slipped in the title of 22 Robin Williams movies into his sportscast. He never said what he was doing and it is likely that some viewers never even figured it out.
Let's go to the video:
It looks like David Gregory isn't the only one that will be pushed out at NBC's Meet The Press.
Sources tell FTVLive that Meet The Press boss Alex Wallace will also be gone from her involvement in the show.
Sources tell FTVLive that NBC News boss Deborah Turness has lost faith in Wallace's role on MTP.
Back in January of 2013, Wallace was named the executive in charge of the Washington bureau and a big part of those duties is overseeing Meet The Press.
The show has dropped in the ratings and just about everyone inside NBC has lost faith in MTP and host David Gregory.
As for Wallace, up until now, she has failed up at NBC News.
Wallace was in charge of NBC Nightly News which slipped in the ratings. She was then moved to the Today Show, which fell to second place for the first time in 16 years. Wallace also oversaw Today when the Ann Curry debacle went down.
She was then moved over to Meet the Press, which also has fallen fast in the ratings.
Now, it appears that Wallace will be pulled from that show as well.
Stay tuned....
The dictionary defines a "riot" as "a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd."
By that definition, it would sure seem that riots have broken out in Ferguson, MO.
Yet, not everyone wants to call what is happening in Ferguson, "a riot."
Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources, tweeted out that CNN has "wisely" avoided using the word "riot" in their reporting:
Is it really "wise" not to use the plain and simple term of exactly what is happening in the Missouri town?
Shelter says that almost no other media are using the term "riot' in their reporting. Except for the AP, Chicago Tribune, Fox News, countless Local TV and radio stations and a number of newspapers, Stelter is right....no one is using the term.
Oh! We should also include CNN's Don Lemon who works at....get this....CNN.
The verb definition of "riot" is "take part in a violent public disturbance."
Isn't that exactly what has been happening in Ferguson?
Maybe CNN should "wisely" just report the news and the facts.
Just saying.....
When NY Police choked a man to death, it didn't take long for Al Sharpton to do everything he could to make himself part of the story.
It still amazes many that Sharpton can hold rallies which seem to fuel more hate then anything else and then host his show on MSNBC.
When the rioting (sorry Brian Stelter) hit Ferguson MO , FTVLive wondered how long it would take Al Sharpton to show up and try and put himself in the middle of it all.
It took two days.
Yesterday, a news conference was called on the steps of the of the old St. Louis Courthouse and out walked the Rev. Al.
And MSNBC just lets this happen.
Uncle Walter just flipped over one more time.
Not that long ago, WKBW Weatherman Mike Randall was the main guy. Randall could be seen on WKBW's Eyewitness News at 5,6 and 11PM. He has been at the Buffalo station for over 30 years.
Then, the station cut his hours and his pay and kicked Randall down to the morning show. It was clearly a demotion, but Randall took it in stride.
Now, word comes that Randall is being further demoted at the station.
After the Labor Day, Randall is being banned to weekends with a couple of days of feature reporting during the week.
"I think it is a great move for me," Randall told the Buffalo News. "I don't have to get up at 2 in the morning anymore and I get to do features."
You have to hand it to the guy, he handles demotions much better than most people. Either that, or he lies better than most.
Tribune's KTLA has lost a round in a discrimination case against the station.
A three judge panel ruled that KTLA cannot force technology journalist Kurt Knutsson, known as “CyberGuy,” into private arbitration rather than open court as a way to resolve his right of publicity and age discrimination claims against the station.
Variety writes that the California Court of Appeal's concluded that KTLA and Tribune had “forfeited” their right to compel Knutsson into a grievance process that may have led to private arbitration. That means that Knutsson can have his case heard in open court, unless the station wins on further appeal.
Knutsson sued KTLA, Tribune and other stations in 2013, claiming age discrimination, misappropriation of name and likeness, breach of contract and unfair business practices/unfair competition.
His suit contended that after signing a five-year agreement in 2008, KTLA informed him at the end of 2010 that it wanted to terminate the contract on March 31, 2011. According to his complaint, Knutsson believed that he would continue as a technology reporter if he agreed to take less money.
But on Feb. 14, 2011, Knutsson was told that it would be his last day on the air and he would not return to the station. News director Jason Ball also told him that the other local stations that carried his segments would be notified of his departure.
The next day, his lawsuit claimed, a younger reporter, Rich DeMuro, was doing reports on consumer technology in the same studio and format, and KTLA and other stations continued to feature CyberGuy and Kurt the CyberGuy on their websites.
The appellate judges concluded that even though there is an arbitration clause in the AFTRA collective bargaining agreement, KTLA could only compel the union to arbitrate, not the rank and file. The station “has cited no common law developed by the federal courts that creates a duty by an employee under these circumstances to arbitrate a dispute,” they said in the published opinion.
A spokesman for Tribune Media said they had no comment.
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