Turner to Layoff 1400+ Employees (Updated)

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A memo was sent out a short time ago to employees at Turner properties from CEO John Martin.

The memo to the employees announced that the company is going to layoff 1475 people.

.The cuts will come across all divisions including CNN and HLN.  The memo stated the cuts will happen "in 18 locations around the world." 

Affected employees will be notified over the next two weeks.

Well...isn't that just great for morale. 

Update: CNN is expected to cut 300 jobs. 

Woman Claimed She was Raped After Al Sharpton Birthday Party

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FTVLive told you last week MSNBC's Al Sharpton had a birthday party, that you had to pay up to $25,000 bucks if you wanted to attend it.

One woman that attended the party, claims she was raped afterward.

Gawker writes that a prominent New York attorney is under investigation after he allegedly raped a woman he met at  Sharpton's birthday party last week. 

The woman came forward this week claiming she woke up in a drunken haze to find 70-year-old Sanford A. Rubenstein penetrating her.

At some point, the alleged accuser awoke naked, with at least one used condom nearby, a police source said. She recalled drinking and going home with Rubenstein, but did not remember giving consent, the source said.

It was not immediately clear when the alleged victim went to the hospital, but a police source said she was bleeding and a rape kit was administered.

Rubenstein contends the sex was consensual and a "source close to the powerhouse attorney" told the NY Daily News that they had sex again the next morning. 

NYPD officers executed a search warrant on Rubenstein's house Sunday, apparently looking for an object he may have penetrated the woman with. 

The woman—an executive at Sharpton's National Action Network—reportedly met Rubenstein at Sharpton's birthday celebration at the Four Seasons Wednesday. 

"I consider both of them a friend," Sharpton told the New York Times. "I sent her an email today. My heart is with both of them that the truth come out."

So, let's get this straight....

A woman that works for you and you consider a "friend" is possibly raped by someone she met at YOUR birthday party and you send her a freaking email?!

Michael Brown, you never met was shot and you flew all the way to Ferguson and stayed for days.

Oh...that's right! There were no TV cameras at the scene of your friends "rape".

Jeff Zucker: It's All Good

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Many think that Jeff Zucker is single handily ruining CNN.

Zucker has been criticized for the way CNN now covers news and for the fact that they cover much less news that ever before.

People inside and outside CNN have lambasted Zucker for his actions. Why does he think about all the criticism?

“People talk a lot more about CNN today,” he said. “I’m a big believer in ‘It’s all good,” he says in a NY Magazine article. 

Zucker might work at CNN, but the guy lives in fantasy land.

According to  the article CNN Anchor Jake Tapper vented to colleagues about having to cover the George Zimmerman trial so extensively, and star Anderson Cooper protested the MH370 missing plane marathon. 

Outside the network, the chorus of Zucker’s detractors has grown even louder. In March, not long before Vice Media entered into ultimately unsuccessful talks about taking over HLN, Vice co-founder Shane Smith slagged CNN in the Daily News: “Everything they do is a fucking disaster.” In April, Saturday Night Live mocked Zucker’s missing-plane coverage with a fake commercial for a CNN-branded pregnancy test that constantly updates with no information. In July, Jon Stewart announced a $10 billion Kickstarter campaign to buy the network. 

Zucker responds to the attacks with a mixture of bluster and prickliness. “I don’t take Vice seriously,” he said. “They produce 15 hours of television [a month]. We’re going to do that between now and tonight.” Jon Stewart, too: “We’re on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He’s doing one seven-minute monologue four nights a week with 20 writers.”

When SNL’s Lorne Michaels called to give him a heads-up about the plane sketch, Zucker told him to just make sure they spell CNN right. 

It's all good....

Ex-CNN Employee Settles Lawsuit

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The ex-CNN employee who claimed he was fired because he's gay and wore bright colored mariachi outfits and track suits in the newsroom has settled his lawsuit with the cable news giant.

No, it's not Anderson Cooper. 

The NY Daily News says that the lawyer for William Kane, a former studio tech confirmed the case has been resolved, but the financial terms are confidential.

"Mr. Kane is pleased with the resolution and wishes to put this chapter of his life behind him and move on," Avallone said Thursday.

"Mr. Kane hopes that his future employer will be more respectful of his lifestyle and embrace his individuality," he added.

Kane filed a $60 million discrimination suit in May against Time Warner and CNN alleging the newsroom became a hostile workplace after his supervisor found out he was gay. Previously, there had never been a problem when Kane wore a Mariachi outfit or track suit - he had more than 100 custom-made suit spanning all the colors of the rainbow.

Kane claimed that fashion style earned praise from star journalists Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Kane also alleged that former talk show host Piers Morgan complained that an eye-popping blue track suit was distracting and offered him $100 to buy a less colorful set of clothes at TJ Maxx.

But after Kane's sexual orientation and engagement to a Mexican man was out in the open, his supervisor warned him not to wear the yellow mariachi suit anymore "because it was too flamboyant for a male in our department," the suit alleged.

Atlantic City Station to Go Dark

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Many expected it and now it looks like it's going to happen.

Atlantic City's WMGM was sold to LocusPoint which is buying up properties in anticipating of the spectrum auction.

NBC notified the station that the affiliation would terminate on 12/31. 

While the new owners said they would continue to operate the station as an independent, sources tell FTVLive that the staff has been told will go dark on December 31.

Everyone is out of a job. 

Happy New Year.

 

High Times to Give Award to Charlo Greene

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The "Fuck It" Reporter will soon have a new honor to add to her resume. 

The magazine High Times is bestowing it's biggest award to former KTVA Reporter Charlo Greene, who quit her job on KTVA News on air last month to help legalize pot in her home state.

The marijuana magazine will give Greene its Courage in Media Award at its 40th anniversary party Oct. 16 in New York.

Greene revealed on air that she owned the Alaska Cannabis Club, a network of medical-marijuana cardholders, and after becoming frustrated with the state’s progress to legalize bud, chose to “[dedicate] all of my energy toward fighting for freedom and fairness, which begins with legalizing marijuana here in Alaska.”

She then declared, “As for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, fuck it, I quit,” and walked off-camera.

Green told High Times she credits marijuana with helping her go from failing school to graduating summa cum laude from college and a budding career in journalism (until last month). She said of her epic on-air walk-off, “I’m just living my truth.”

Her Mom must be so proud. 

H/T NY Post

DC EP Leaves for Houston Deuce gig

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Ever since Sinclair purchased WJLA in Washington, staffers have been leaving the station a dizzying pace.

The latest to get out of the DC station is Executive Producer Mike Friedrich.

Friedrich is headed to Houston and KPRC as the station's new Assistant News Director.  

Before WJLA,  Friedrich has been an Executive Producer at WJZ Baltimore and a CNN Newsource Producer.

He starts at KPRC October 23rd.

H/T Mike McGuff

What Did he Say?

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For viewers using closed captioning to watch CBS's Blue Bloods on Friday night, it might have seemed a bit confusing.

CBS says that the closed captioning that aired for the episode was for another show.

The closed captioning was actually for the HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher," which contained a lot of explicit language.

CBS Affiliates across the country took to their websites to apologize and make up excuses for the problem.

KWTV in Oklahoma City blamed it on hackers:

From KWTV in Oklahoma City

From KWTV in Oklahoma City

Photographer with Ebola is Back in the US

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NBC News reports that the freelance Photographer that was working for them, when he was diagnosed in Liberia with the Ebola virus is back in the United States.

Ashoka Mukpo arrived in the States early this morning on his way to get treatment at a Nebraska hospital.

Mukpo left Liberia on a specially-equipped airplane at just before 5:30 p.m. ET (9:30 p.m. local time), officials said. The jet made a brief refueling stop in Bangor, Maine, early Monday en route to Omaha.

Mukpo, 33, is the fifth American diagnosed with Ebola. He was hired Tuesday to be a second cameraman for NBC News Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman. He tested positive for Ebola on Thursday.

Snyderman, who spoke with Mukpo on the phone Saturday morning, said he was in "great spirits" — and in a positive sign, she said, he was eating and drinking on his own.

Seattle Reporter Tweets Address, Phone # of Woman that Accused NFL Player

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A woman accused Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch of assault.

The Bellevue Police Department says that Lynch had been cleared of all the allegations and are now looking at filing charges against the woman.

KIRO Reporter Amy Clancy sent out a tweet saying “Wanna know WHO accused Marshawn Lynch of assault?”

FTVLive cut off the photo as not to show the woman's address and phone number. 

FTVLive cut off the photo as not to show the woman's address and phone number. 

The tweet included a copy of the police report that had the woman's name. home address and phone number.

by the wording of the tweet and the information provided, it was if Clancy was staging a one Reporter witch hunt against the woman.

If the woman filed fake charges, she deserves to be punished legally.

But, by giving out her address and phone number, it could get really ugly, really fast. If some rabid Seahawk fan goes to this woman's house and causes her harm, Clancy might not feel so good about outing her.

Just saying.... 

H/T Romenesko