Not for the Faint of Heart
/Here are the top fainting news bloopers:
Mother Nature Gooses the Ratings in Buffalo
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The cold weather that is gripping the northeast is good news for TV news departments.
That is quite apparent in Buffalo, where the bitter cold is keeping people inside and watching TV.
In the first two weeks of the sweeps, WGRZ is up 18 percent at 6 a.m., 17 percent at 5 p.m., 22 percent at 5:30 p.m., 4 percent at 6 p.m. and 25 percent at 10 p.m. from the four-week averages a year ago.
Second-place WIVB is up 4 percent at 6 a.m., 32 percent at noon, 11 percent at 5 p.m. and 21 percent at 5:30 p.m. It is down 2 percent at 6 p.m.
Last place WKBW it is up 5 percent at 6 a.m. and 4 percent at noon. It is down 5 percent at 5:30 p.m. and flat at 6 p.m.
There is no doubt that mother nature will be named the MVP of the Feb book.
H/T Buffalo News
Out the Door in Dallas
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Longtime WFAA Anchor Amy Vanderoef is leaving the station after not being able to agree on a new contract.
Vanderoef, anchor of the station's Good Morning Texas, will be leaving March 6th.
“There’s no mud-slinging, no slammed doors,” Vanderoef said. “We just couldn’t come to terms on my contract so we decided to part ways. We’re both sad about it. I’m looking forward to whatever’s next. Sometimes you have to take the leap without a net. You can stay in your comfort zone, but sometimes you have to find the magic.”
WFAA News Director Carolyn Mungo did not return an earlier email asking for comment on Vanderoef’s departure.
H/T Ed Bark
St. Louis Reporter Headed to Dallas
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KMOV Reporter Diana Zoga is leaving St. Louis and headed to the Big D.
Zoga is joining KDFW as a general assignment reporter.
Zoga has been at KMOV for the past 8 years, prior to St Louis, she worked as a reporter/anchor at KTUL in Tulsa and KXII in Sherman.
She starts her Dallas 4 on March 16.
60 Minutes to Pay Tribute to Bob Simon
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This Sunday, CBS's 60 Minutes will devote the show to CBS News Correspondent Bob Simon died tragically last week in a car accident.
The 60 Minutes special will run 90 minutes and be devoted to Simon's life and his work on the show.
Steve Kroft anchors this extended tribute which includes interviews with his 60 Minutes colleagues, clips of his life's work and three of the late-newsman's finest, award-winning 60 Minutes stories.
Lester Holt Tops the Ratings
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BriWi Who?
NBC got some good news when it comes to Nightly News ratings.
Ratings for the week of Feb. 9 -13 showed "NBC Nightly News" - with Lester Holt sitting in the anchor chair - as the most watched evening newscast, averaging 9.4 million viewers. "ABC World News Tonight with David Muir" was second with 9 million followed by "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley" with 7.6 million.
In fact in year to year ratings, Holt is up about 500,000 viewers over Williams numbers from a year ago.
This certainly very good news for NBC, not so much for Brian Williams.
Just saying....
H/T LA Times
BriWi Takes Huge Fall when it comes to Trust
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When it comes to trust, just a few weeks ago NBC's Brian Williams was in the top 25 according to Celebrity DBI.
After his Iraq helicopter lie was exposed, BriWi tumbled to number 835 in the poll.
This week, Williams falls to rock bottom. Celebrity DBI has him now pegged at No. 3284.
How bad is it?
Check out this tweet:
West Coast vs. East Coast Weatherman War
/KABC (LA) Weatherman Garth Kemp used the nice Left Coast weather to take a few shots at WABC (NYC) Weatherman Bill Evans and the freezing cold in the Northeast:
Tribune Hires News Boss
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Tribune Broadcasting has hired a new senior vice-president of news; Bart Feder, who most recently was an executive at CNN. He replaces Katherine Green whose departure was first reported by FTVLive.
This is the second consecutive time Tribune has gone to ex-CNN executives. Green left HLN in November 2013 to "spend more time with her family". Six months later, she must have gotten tired of being around her family, and went to Tribune. That lasted all of about 7 months, to go back to "spending more time with her family".
At CNN, Feder was SVP of Current Programming, responsible for the editorial direction of all Primetime and morning news programs. Feder worked in local news at WABC, WHDH, & KOVR. He'll report to Tribune Broadcast president Larry Wert.
How long will it be before Bart misses his family?
Survey Shows Viewers Think Lester Holt as Good as BriWi
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A new survey shows that viewers think Lester Holt is a fine replacement for Brian Williams.
The survey done by Magid Associates, shows that “70% of viewers think Holt will be as good or better than Williams while filling in. Just 6% think he will be worse.”
“Lester is good. He’s familiar to viewers. NBC is in the driver’s seat right now,” Jaime Spencer, senior vice president of Magid Associates, tells Breitbart News.
Breitbart also points out that CNN could not get the facts quite right while reporting the story.
They write that CNN's report on aspects of the survey that presented Brian Williams in a fairly positive light, under the headline, “Some viewers think Brian Williams deserves a shot at redemption.” Brian Stelter, the host of CNN’s Reliable Sources writes:
Many viewers believe Brian Williams deserves a second chance on the “NBC Nightly News” …
Almost half — 48% — said they thought Williams can restore his credibility, 30% said Williams cannot regain credibility, and 22% said they were unsure.Among daily viewers of nightly newscasts, there was more support for Williams — 58% of daily viewers said they thought he could earn his credibility back.
But the question posed by the survey wasn’t whether Williams “deserved a shot at redemption,” and “a second chance on the ‘NBC Nightly News'” or even a chance at anchoring on another network. Instead, it was:
Do you think Brian Williams can regain his credibility as a journalist and news anchor?
In its reporting, CNN conflated the survey respondents’ opinions on Williams’s capability of restoring his credibility with an unasked question–whether they believe NBC Nightly News should give Williams a second chance.
Very Interesting....
/When Brian Williams celebrated 10 years in the Anchor chair of NBC Nightly News, NBC asked local News Anchors at NBC affiliates to share their BriWi stories and to say congratulations.
Many of the Anchors talked about how Williams stiffed them, or promised something and didn't deliver.
One DC Anchor said he looked forward to seeing Williams at the political conventions in 2016, if he's still around (he should be a fortune teller).
After all that has happened in the past few weeks, it all seems to fit so much better now.
Let's take a look at what the local Anchors had to say:
Damn!
/How bad has it gotten for Brian Williams?
Today the NY Post rand a story about NY Yankees disgraced player Alex Rodriguez and his hand written apology to fans.
But check out how the Post uses the front page to take another shot at Brian Williams:
Don't Ask About Dad
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Brian Williams daughter Allison will be at an event tonight to help celebrate the launch of an eyewear line at Michael Kors’ Soho store.
But the press has been warned not to dare ask her about her lying Dad.
A publicist for the event helpfully sent over a list of topics the star will talk about (“Michael Kors, fashion and Girls“) and topics she won’t (“her personal life”).
“Please note that Allison Williams will only be answering questions pertaining to Michael Kors, fashion and Girls. We request that no questions about her personal life be asked,” the email blast said.
Guess we'll skip that event then.
Sorry Jeff...Not Quite
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CNN President Jeff Zucker spoke to his personal propaganda machine AKA Jordan Chariton of the lame website The Wrap.
It is a site that Zucker and CNN use to try and spin the news, making CNN appear far better off than it really is. Zucker also knows that they won't challenge his answers.
Here's a prime example, the wrap asked Zucker this:
Are you concerned with pushing away longtime CNN viewers who want all the news on CNN TV?
Zucker's reply: Good question, but wrong. Because what’s actually increased at CNN is the length of tune-in of our viewers, meaning that those viewers are actually watching for a longer length of time each time they come. So, we’re not alienating those viewers; actually by giving them what they’re interested in and more of it, they’re staying longer. That criticism from media critics — it may be a media criticism — but actually has been completely the opposite for our viewers. And our viewers have actually completely responded to it, and our length of tune-in has actually increased.
Unfortunately, Zucker was wrong and he was not challenged by the very green Chariton.
In regards to Zucker saying that CNN has increased the tune-in of their viewers, Nielsen measurements actually prove the opposite. In fact, not only did CNN show a decrease in length of tune in, but if falls behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC in engagement.
According to Nielsen, for 2015 to date vs. both 4Q’14 and 1Q’14 (same time period last year), CNN is down . The network fell from 16.9 minutes in 1Q’14 to 16.5 minutes in 4Q’14 and fell even further to 15.8 in 1Q’15.
Meanwhile, for 2015, FNC is averaging 27.5 minutes to MSNBC’s 23.2 and CNN’s 15.8 minutes.
Zucker talks about "doubling Down on news" at CNN. This might came as a bit of a surprise when on Monday night, ISIS was big news and CNN was airing a quiz show. That's "Doubling Down"?
I don't think so.
House Painter Pleads Not Guilty to Shooting Sports Anchor
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The house painter that is accused of gunning down KFMB Sports Anchor Kyle Kraska pleaded not guilty to an attempted murder charge on Tuesday in a San Diego courtroom.
Prosecutor Rebecca Zipp told the judge that Mike Montana shot Kraska six times when he opened fire on Kraska’s silver Mercedes outside the reporter’s home.
Kraska was badly injured, suffering shots to the stomach, chest and limbs.
Montana, 54, also was charged with making a threat against another individual, but prosecutors did not go into details about that case.
Police say Montana was in a dispute with Kraska over work done on the reporter’s home. Montana surrendered to authorities the same day after a SWAT standoff at his home in El Cajon, a city east of San Diego.
Zipp said the attack on Kraska was “willful, deliberate and premeditated.”
The judge set bail at $750,000.
According to the CBS affiliate, Kraska is making good progress in his recovery at a local hospital.
H/T KCBS
Helping You Over the Hump Day Hurdle
/Our friends at Devlin Design Group want to help you get over the hump Today:
