NBC News Photographer Tests Positive for Ebola

I'm surprised this didn't actually happen sooner.

Imagine sitting in the NBC newsroom and told you will be the news crew headed over to Liberia to cover the ebola crisis?

I think I rather dive will killer sharks or cover a riot, than take on that assignment.

Ashoka Mukpo, an American Photographer for NBC News has tested positive for the ebola virus.

The 33 year old will be flown back to the United States for treatment.

NBC News President Deborah Turness said Thursday the rest of the NBC News crew, including medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman, will also be brought back to the U.S. and placed in quarantine for 21 days "in an abundance of caution."

Mukpo is the fifth American to contract the virus. Also, 

Mukpo, a freelancer, has been working in Liberia for three years for Vice News and other media outlets, and has been covering the Ebola epidemic. He began shooting for NBC on Tuesday.

H/T CBS News

CNN to Debut New Show on Painters and Architects

If you thought Wolf Blitzer was boring, wait to you see CNN's new show coming next week.

The used to be cable news network is adding a new monthly series called "CNN Ones to Watch."

Which will spotlight architects, painters and classical musicians that are on "the verge of breaking through to greatness".

I mean really, can you get more exciting TV than watching and architect?

Episode one will feature a painter. Oh Boy!

“CNN Ones to Watch is one of the most extensive and exciting feature shows to appear on CNN International,” said CNN International senior vice president and general manager Mike McCarthy.

Which maybe the last time you ever hear the words "extensive and exciting" while talking about an architect.

Just saying.... 

AMHQ Flounders in the Ratings

There was a meeting held this week at The Weather Channel were staffers were told there would be no more layoffs.

"No one is believing that for a second," said one insider.

Word is that suits from Comcast will be in The Weather Channel's Atlanta headquarters Today for a tour and some meetings. 

Many inside TWC wonder if Comcast will do anything about Sam Champion's low rated AMHQ?

To give you an idea how bad it is ratings wise. Al Roker's "Wake Up with Al" pulls 101,000 in the 25-54 demo at 5:30 in the morning.

AMHQ pulled just 27,000 in the demo at 9AM.

TWC is paying big bucks for Champions show and it is not delivering.

Stay tuned.... 

Really?!

Shaking my head....

Mr. Human?

WTVT (Tampa) FOX 13 consumer reporter Chris Chmura sent off an email to United Airlines about some bad service that he received. 

In response to a recent customer complaint from Chmura, the airline returned with a rather impersonal reply, mistakenly calling him "Mr. Human."

"Mr. Human, your e-mail clearly expresses your disappointment and I would like to extend a sincere apology for any negative impression that may have been created," part of the letter states. 

Chmura tweeted out a picture of the letter.

"They left me behind, and I wanted to know why," Chmura said.

He said he showed up for a 7:32 p.m. flight at 7:12 p.m., and the flight was gone. He was flying home from Houston and arrived at the gate 20 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off. United's records show that the flight left the gate at 7:32 p.m.

In his complaint, Chmura said he asked the company to investigate the gate worker.

Chmura has since changed his Twitter name to "Mr. Human FoxTV.

H/T WTTG

Chicago Anchor to Cross the Street

WFLD (Chicago) Sports Anchor Dionne Miller has left the station, but is staying in the Windy City.

Chicago sources tell FTVLive that Miller is headed across the street to become the Weekend Sports Anchor at number 1 station WLS.

The ABC O&O is not commenting, nor is her agent Matthew Kingsley, but our Chicago source says it's a done deal.

Miller will be the Weekend Sports Anchor at Chicago's blowtorch. 

Stay tuned....

Sharpton's Birthday Party Raises $1 Million for C̶h̶a̶r̶i̶t̶y̶ Al Sharpton

FTVLive told you about how MSNBC host Al Sharpton was charging up to $25,000 bucks to attend his birthday party earlier this week.

Well, the Rev. Al made a cool million off the party.

The NY Post says that it was billed as a “Party for a Cause” — and the cause was Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

NAN’s most recent tax filing for 2012 reveals that Sharpton’s “Christian activist organization” was still nearly $1.1 million in debt and owed the IRS $813,576 in back payroll taxes and penalties.

That year, NAN paid out $852,377 in “professional fees,” $203,253 in travel costs and a meager $9,225 in charitable contributions.

But “The Rev” says all is well thanks to the star-studded extravaganza that drew political luminaries such as Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and MSNBC boss Phil Griffin.  

Sharpton’s chief fund-raiser, Lamell McMorris, announced the event raised $1 million in contributions.

The slimmed-down preacher was so giddy that he joked that he danced like a whirling dervish with the younger hip-hop set.

“I guess we did fine,” Sharpton told The Post’s Carl Campanile Thursday. “When everything is reported at the end of the fourth quarter, we’ll be in the black.”

LA Reporter Moves Up to the Mothership

KNBC Reporter Jacob Rascon has been bumped up the NBC food chain.

Rascon has joined NBC News as a Correspondent, it was announced today by NBC News President Deborah Turness.

Rascon has been a general assignment reporter for KNBC, NBC’s owned television station in Los Angeles, since 2012.

In recent months, Rascon has regularly appeared on “NBC Nightly News” and “TODAY” covering the Washington state wildfires, the major flooding in Arizona and Southern California and the celebrity cyber hacking scandal.

“Jacob has demonstrated his tremendous gift for creative and compelling storytelling,” said Turness. “I am delighted we will now have him with NBC News full time.”

Fox News Deletes Interview from Website (Updated X2)

Fox News deleted online videos Thursday of an interview it had heavily promoted the previous day with an anonymous man who said he'd attended the same mosque as the suspect in a beheading in Oklahoma.

The interview was aired on "The Kelly File" and posted to the Fox News website after the airing. 

CNN reports that the man made a number of incendiary claims about the Oklahoma mosque and its attendees. 

"To the public, the mosque will not promote terrorism or any kind of radical acts," the man said. "But when they're among friends and congregants only, they will promote the true teachings of Islam, which include the offer to non-Muslims -- the choice, rather -- that you must convert, live under Islamic rule, or be fought against."

CNN says that the man's claims were not corroborated.

The video on FoxNews.com was pulled from the site sometime this morning. 

Fox News is not commenting. 

Update: After the CNN story was posted, Fox News put the interview back up on their site.

Update #2: Fox News admits they made an error in pulling the video.

Here is their statement regarding the matter: 

H/T Johnny Dollar

Piers Morgan Can't Get Over Being Fired by CNN

Piers Morgan cannot face the fact that he was fired from CNN.

Morgan says that the reason his 9PM show was canceled (as FTVLive FISRT told you it would be) is that CNN President Jeff Zucker believed it was impossible to sustain a nightly interview show because there simply weren’t enough guests.

Never mind the fact that Larry King was able to do the same show for 20+years.

Morgan claims taht Zucker offered him an opportunity to do a show that would air 20 times a year, but Morgan declined because Zucker wouldn’t let him co-produce it and hire his own staff.

High-level sources at CNN tell a different story: Morgan was pretty much done in March, when the show was terminated due to poor ratings, but he stayed through September because he was on contract.

While Morgan can't own up to the fact that his ass was kicked to the curb, he also feels he can do a better job than Jeff Zucker.

Morgan faults Zucker and CNN for being overly preoccupied with ratings.

“I’ve always felt that CNN should be more resilient to media criticism about monthly or quarterly ratings,” Morgan says. “If I was running CNN, if I was Jeff Zucker, I would come out and do an interview with someone like you, and I would say, ‘I’m not going to discuss ratings again,’” Morgan continues. “Our business proposition is not predicated on ratings, our global brand is not dependent on how we rate at 9 p.m. in America.”

The guy just can't let it go. 

Read more on this from Politico

KTVU ND Headed to Boston

Back in June, FTVLive told you that Fox and Cox were swapping east and west coast stations.

Cox is giving up KTVU in the San Francisco market to Fox Television stations. In return, Fox is going to give Cox their stations in Boston (WFXT) and throw in Memphis (WHBQ) as well. 

Now, left coast sources tell FTVLive that KTVU News Director Lee Rosenthal will be headed to the east coast and Boston's WFXT.

Rosenthal has been the ND at KTVU since April 2013. He will replace Paul McGonagle - the current ND at WFXT in Boston.

McGonagle, as FTVLive FIRST reported is rumored to be headed to WTTG in DC. 

Stay tuned.... 

Indy Station to Add News when it Loses CBS

Back in August, FTVLive told you that WISH in Indy is losing their affiliation with CBS.

On Aug 11th, FTVLive wrote, "If WISH is going to stay a player in the market, the only way they will be able to do that is by beefing up the news department. It's just a question of if they will do that or not."

Well, it appears that WISH is taking FTVLive's advice and doing just that. The station sent out a release saying WISH-TV will be expanding local news starting on Jan. 1, 2015.

Four hours of news programming will be added each weekday at the start of the new year. The expansion is part of an investment into WISH-TV’s local news programming.

“The investments we are making further enhance WISH-TV’s 60-year commitment to localism and local news,” said WISH-TV General Manager Les Vann. “The additional 20 hours of news per week will allow us to deliver more breaking news, investigative journalism, sports and weather coverage, across all screens, and in new time periods for our viewers.”

24-Hour News 8’s Daybreak will expand by two hours, airing from 4:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. 24-Hour News 8 at Noon will expand by 30 minutes to 1 p.m. 24-Hour News 8’s early newscast will expand by 30 minutes to 7 p.m. and WISH-TV’s late newscast will expand one additional hour, from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

As WISH beefs up news, they have holes to fill in the sales department. Sources tell FTVLive that the station lost another key sales manager Paul Simonetti has bailed to WRTV as director of local sales.

You Have to See this Bee Roll

A bee was the star of WXIN's newscast when he decided to take a closer look at the station's tower cam.

Let's go to the Bee Roll (did you see what I did there?)

Out the Door in Tampa

WTSP (Tampa) Anchor Heather Van Nest has left the building.

Van Nest posted a Facebook message Wednesday telling viewers she's no longer with the station:

"I am excited for new work opportunities that allow for more flexibility in my family life,'' she wrote. "Working until midnight with a 1-year-old son, 3-year-old daughter and husband at home is not ideal.''

Van Nest had been missing on air for several days, fueling speculation that her contract with the station hadn't been renewed.

Messages left with the station's general manager, Elliott Wiser, weren't returned. Co-anchor Reginald Roundtree said he couldn't comment. Van Nest's photo was removed from WTSP's website.

She came to WTSP as morning and noon anchor in 2002 and joined Roundtree on the station's evening and late-night newscasts in 2004.

H/T Tampa Bay Times

Another One Crosses the Street in Buffalo

WKBW is continuing its mini-raid of local TV news departments.

The station announced that it has hired Katie Morse who was an anchor-reporter at Time Warner Cable News station in Buffalo.

Morse joins the station on Oct. 28 as a nightside reporter and anchor.

“She is a solid journalist with strong local roots and will be a great addition to our growing news operation,” said WKBW General Manager Michael Nurse.

Morse will be the third local news staffer to move to WKBW in the last several weeks.

H/T Buffalo News