Group Releases Book of Bill O'Reilly Lies

/

The left leaning Media Matters is out with a book called "Killing Truth: The Lies And Legends Of Bill O’Reilly.

Media Matters says the  56-page, 6-chapter ebook details the many alleged inaccuracies surrounding Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and his so-called "war reporting" experiences over the years. 

The controversy around O'Reilly first began in February when left-leaning political magazine Mother Jones published an article accusing the Fox News host of embellishing the violence he witnessed while covering the Falklands War in 1982 for CBS News. O'Reilly claimed to have "reported on the ground in active war zones" and "survived a combat situation," despite being stationed in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aries some 1,200 miles away from the fighting. 

What followed was a deluge of accusations hurled at O'Reilly, with media organizations and former colleagues charging the host with fibbing about everything from his coverage of El Salvador's civil war to witnessing deadly bombings in Northern Ireland to being attacked while reporting on the LA riots to hearing a gunshot ring out at a JFK-related suicide in Florida. 

"We really wanted to put all this information, all this damning evidence, in one place so people could get a useful overview of what O'Reilly's been doing in terms of manufacturing his past," Boehlert said in an email to The Huffington Post. "When this story unfolded over the winter, it did so over several weeks as more and more revelations came out. People might have lost track of all the confirmed contradictions and this book was a good way to present it in one telling." 

We're guessing Bill O'Reilly will not be reading this one. 

H/T HuffPo

Anchor Leaving TV News for PR

/

Despite FTVLive's warning about how boring that life can be, an Asheville Anchor is leaving TV news for a job in PR.

WLOS morning and noon Anchor Victoria Dunkle has left the television station after 12 years to take the position as communications director at Park Ridge Health.

"I will always remember the opportunities to meet and interview interesting people," Dunkle said on the station's website. 

Dunkle said in an interview it was "a tough decision" to leave television news but she found the Park Ridge situation appealing for this stage in her life.

"Along with being the voice and print person for media I'll also be looking to expand and grow internal and external communications," she said.

"This was a decision I made because I needed to do what's right for my life. And the good Lord opened up this awesome opportunity to move on and still be involved in the media and be able to give back."

Don't call us when you're bored stiff at the new gig.

Just saying.... 

H/T Hendersonville Lightning 

Leaving Tribune

/

Longtime Tribune Executive Steve Farber is leaving the Tribune Tower and headed to Chicago-based media corporation Weigel Broadcasting.

Weigel says that Farber will be the company's new Senior Vice-President of Operations, effective April 20th.

Farber has been in the Tribune food chain for years, starting  in 1995 as a producer for CLTV (Chicago). In 2001, he was named as CLTV News Director, and in 2004, was promoted up to CLTV's Director of Programming and Operations. Just two years later, he was named as the Vice President and General Manager of CLTV.

In May 2010, Farber moved beyond CLTV to become WGN-TV's Vice President of Operations. In January 2012, his title was made Vice President of Programming Operations for Tribune Broadcasting, overseeing the growth of Antenna TV. He held that title through September 2013, at which time he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations for Tribune Broadcasting overseeing operations for the company's national multicast networks, among other functions.

In addition to his regular duties, Farber took over as interim/acting General Manager of WGN-TV and CLTV until April of last year, when Greg Easterly as hired as General Manager.

Weigel Broadcasting Chairman Norman H. Shapiro said: "We are excited to welcome Steve to the Weigel family. He brings a rich background in broadcast and digital operations which fit perfectly within our current and future business plans."

"I look forward to building on Weigel's commitment to local audiences," added Farber. "The Weigel team is very talented. I share their enthusiasm and passion for the local and network television business."

H/T Chicagoland Radio and Media

Anchor Caught Eating Breakfast on the Air

/

Life as a morning News Anchor is normally just one big rush. You rush out of bed and out the door to get to work on time. You rush through your scripts and into makeup before heading on air.

Somewhere you have to find time to grab breakfast, even if it's in the middle of the newscast. WGN (Chicago) Anchor Dan Ponce did just that and he got caught on camera.

Let's go to the video: 


More Bad News for NBC

/

Andy Lack is on his second day at the job and we're guessing he could already use some good news.

Lack woke up this morning to a scathing article that basically said that NBC is more screwed up that Bruce Jenner's wardrobe person.

Now, word comes that ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” beat “Nightly News,” with substitute anchor Lester Holt, by 84,000 viewers last week, according to Nielsen.

 

ABC drew 7.997 million total viewers compared to 7.913 million for NBC in the week ended April 3.

ABC had been gaining on NBC even back when BriLie was anchoring the news, so it wasn't unexpected that ABC would soon be passing the Peacock. But, it all happens just as Lack takes over a news division that is lost and stumbling.

Last week was the first time in weeks that NBC wasn’t able to pad the ratings for the “Nightly News” by including overnight replays.

Advertisers complained after NBC started airing their commercials in the wee hours of the night so it could include the numbers in its national ratings.

Can somebody give Andy Lack a hug, it's only day 2 and I think he really needs one. 

Inside the Scandal at NBC News

/

Vanity Fair is out with along piece about the problems at NBC News and with Brian Williams in particular.

On NBC new News boss Andy Lack's second day of work, he is met with a story that paints a very dim picture of the NBC Anchor.

The piece claims that Williams could not come out and say the words, "I lied," when he was called out for doing just that. The article paints BriWi as much of a lightweight when it comes to covering news.

Vanity Fair writes, "....when asked for the unvarnished truth about Williams, the two topics people at NBC News return to again and again are these: his prowess as a bureaucratic infighter and his limited interest in the kind of “heavy” news topics and investigative pieces that had long been championed by such NBC stalwarts as Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert.

“What always bothered Tim was Brian’s lack of interest in things that mattered most, that were front and center, like politics and world events,” says a person who knew both men well. “Brian has very little interest in politics. It’s not in his blood. What Brian cares about is logistics, the weather, and planes and trains and helicopters.”

“You know what interested Brian about politics?” marvels one longtime NBC correspondent, recently departed. “Brian was obsessed with whether Mitt Romney wore the Mormon underwear.”

It claims that Williams rarely wanted to leave New York to cover the news. 

The entire article paints a not so very rosy picture about a news division that had lost it's way and is now just drifting aimlessly with no direction.

The article points at NBC News head Deborah Turness as a major problem. About Turness, they write, "“It was almost unfair to give Deborah this job,” says one NBC observer. “She was basically overmatched. From day one, it was difficult, even just managing the daily job. Because it’s a big job, it’s got a lot of intricate parts to it, and you know she had a rough time with it. She was not terribly accessible. People came out of meetings and said she’s overwhelmed.” One NBC insider terms Turness’s early performance “a hot mess.” Another adds, “She was trying to do so much; she was all over the place, like she had A.D.D., and that caused a lot of stress for everyone.”

It appears that Brian Williams is not blaming himself for his problems in telling the truth, no his problems at the Peacock come back to one person. “I talked to Brian about this,” says one friend, “and I’ll never forget what he said at the end. He said, ‘Chalk one up for Brokaw.’ ”

Ouch!

There is no doubt that this was NOT the story that Andy Lack needed on just his second day on the job. But, it is also not anything that Lack or others didn't already know.

Lack has said that he is starting out his job basically listening and getting acclimated.

After reading this story, here's hoping he doesn't take too long with either. Something needs to be done to get NBC News back on course quick. 

Read the full story from Vanity Fair 

The Boring Life After TV News

/

FTVLive has published a number of stories about people quitting their gigs in TV news and heading into PR.

We're sure many of you have also thought about making that jump. Well, before you do, let's look at one newsie that is now living the PR life. 

WTNH Anchor Chris Velardi made the jump from TV news to PR after spending 15 years in the former.

While he doesn't come out and say it, it appears that just a few weeks in and he's already bored.

In a blog post, Velardi talks about his new life and it doesn't sound very exciting.

He writes, "It feels different.The routine, the atmosphere, the job. It’s all different. Not bad -- not bad at all -- just different."

Different how?

"The atmosphere is the quiet," he writes, "Newsrooms are not quiet. At all. There’s TV noise... police scanner noise... people talking, laughing, shouting, etc. noise. Here, it’s pretty quiet. I’m trying to counter that by streaming something, anything through my computer. I’ve always been able to concentrate better when there’s noise... the quiet freaks me out!"

And then there are the meetings. "There’s a lot of important communication between the team here at GBPR and our many clients. We work for them and with them on a variety of projects. So there are weekly conference calls, daily emails, and plenty of status report meetings," he writes.

"Deadlines are very different. Sure, some are immediate. But many are weeks, months, even years down the line. TV newsroom aren’t great at long term planning -- and they’ll admit it."

TV news may not be great at long term planning, but I'll take the chaotic atmosphere, poor planning and the craziest of TV news over PR any day of the week.

But that's just me. 

H/T Brandford Patch

GLAAD Cautions Reporters on Bruce Jenner Interview

/

ABC announced yesterday that Diane Sawyer's 2 hour (yes 2 freaking hours) interview with Bruce Jenner will air on April 24th. 

The interview was taped back in February and it is expected that Jenner is going to talk about changing from a man into a woman.

But GLADD is warning the media not to jump the gun.

They released this statement:

Really?! ABC isn't giving Bruce Jenner 2 hours to talk about the Kardashians, I can assure you. 

CNN Media Critic....errrrr Correspondent Brian Stelter says that, "for Sawyer, the Jenner sit-down is the biggest scoop since stepping down from ABC's "World News" last summer."

If landing Bruce Jenner is a "big scoop", then you know everything that is wrong with Journalism today. 

I could care less if Bruce Jenner is transitioning from a man to space alien, I'm not watch, don't care to watch and shame on ABC holding this crap for months and then giving it two hours on their air.

I can assure you it won't be 2 hours of my life wasted, because I promise you, I won't be watching.

As for GLADD's warning to the media? That too is a bunch of bunk. Of course Jenner is going to discuss his transition to a woman.

I won't watch, but I will bet anyone that thinks it will be something different.

Just saying....

Fox News Jesus Beats CNN Jesus

/

Fox News Re-broadcast of Killing Jesus was the #1 telecast in cable news on Friday in both total viewers and in 25-54 demo.  Averaging 1,860,000 viewers, it’s up 24% over Good Friday last year (same time) and with 385,000 in 25-54, it’s up 84% in the key demo. The movie was based on Bill O'Reilly's book of the same name. 

A week after National Geographic Channel set an all-time ratings record, FNC’s broadcast of delivered 1.86 million viewers during it’s Good Friday primetime broadcast which saw a 16% increase in the key demo over the network’ s Friday primetime Q1 average.

 Killing Jesus finished ahead of the original run of CNN’s Miniseries Finding Jesus which averaged 924,000 P2+ and 297,000 A25-54 during its four-week broadcast (3/8/15-3/29/15).                                                                                                                                                                                   

Longtime Tampa Reporter Dies

/

Longtime WTVT (Tampa) Reporter Warren Elly died after losing his fight with cancer.

Elly worked at the station for nearly three decades before retiring. 

Elly came to Tampa in 1982 from Youngstown, Ohio. He cut his Bay Area reporting teeth in St. Pete and Pinellas County. Then Tampa became Elly base, where he covered the police beat, courts, politics, and beyond -- all the way to deep space.

After Elly was diagnosed with cancer, he started writing a daily blog for all to see. He wrote, "I'm not resigned to anything except the fight. With each tick of the clock, I am more determined to fight."

The fight has ended and Warren Elly is dead at age 64. 

H/T WTVT

Reporter Attacked by Pelican

/

An Australian Reporter thought he had the easy assignment at the zoo. The pelican on the other hand had, wished the station sent a different Reporter.

Let's go to the video:

News Reporter Attacked On Live Tv By A Pelican! Like My Page Young Paperboyz

Posted by Young Paperboyz on Monday, April 6, 2015

Wasted Weekend....

/

I have to say that last week was not a good one here at the FTVLive World Headquarters.

I started out the week not feeling well and it got worse as the week went on. On Friday, I woke up just before 4AM, worked on the morning updates and went back to bed around 8AM. Other than waking up and posting one update, I pretty much didn't get out of bed again until Sunday morning.

I got hit with either the flu or a nasty cold that knocked me on my ass. 

Thankfully, although I'm still feeling tired and week, I am feeling better. Right now, I have one of those coughs that don't let you sleep at night, but feel fairly good during the day. 

When you are a one person business, there are no sick days, but God I wanted a few last week.

Let's hope this week is better and let's get on with the news about TV news shall we?