CBS Anchor: It's Time to Move On from Trump/Kelly

/

CBS's Face the Nation host John Dickerson met with the Television Critics Association on Monday and said exactly what many of you are thinking.

It's time to move one from the Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly crap (he didn't say "crap" by the way).

"This was already an exciting election before the summer of Trump," Dickerson said. 

Trump has got all the headlines since the first GOP debate and his post-debate whining about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s tough questioning on him. But, Dickerson thinks enough is enough. 

Asked if it is time to move on, Dickerson said: "We should move on for sure."

Dickerson added that he thought the questions from Kelly and her Fox News colleagues Bret Baier and Chris Wallace were "good, tough questions." But, he did hint that they could have asked better questions.

 Dickerson said that it is a challenge to resist the temptation to run toward the easy headlines rather than the substantive analysis of the issues: "The tension is front of mind all the time. How much are we covering what has just become a spectacle and how much are we reporting on a piece of news? That’s just a balance that we have to keep our eye on minute by minute.”

But the atmosphere had made that harder as candidates have become hyper cautious in the face of the relentless media spotlight (the candidates are tracked by cell phone camera-toting members of the opposition looking for gaffs).

"We don’t allow candidates to have mistakes or flubs, the minute they do, everybody eggs the same house," said Dickerson.

H/T Hollywood Reporter 

Colbert is dry-Trumping while waiting to get back on the air

/

It is killing comedian Stephen Colbert to not be on TV while Donald Trump is handing him loads of material. 

Colbert met with the TV writers in Beverly Hills saying, “I want to do jokes on Donald Trump so badly,” He said “But I have no venue. So now I’m just dry-Trumping.

“I just pray he will still be in the race on Sept. 8, that he doesn’t do anything dangerous like ride motorcycles. I light a candle for him every night – and I hope it doesn’t get near his hair.”

Beyond this pent-up Trump frustration, Colbert said, he’s mostly feeling “anxiety” as he prepares to take over the 11:35 p.m. slot that David Letterman held for 22 years.

“If you’re not a little anxious, you’re not taking it seriously enough,” Colbert said. “But my main anxiety is to perform again, to get in front of an audience. I hate comedy in theory.”

Once he’s done the Trump jokes, he said, he expects the biggest reward from his new gig is that “it will free me to be myself.”

He couldn’t do that, he admitted, on “The Colbert Report,” the Comedy Central show that made him famous.

“I was playing a character,” he said. “So when I did interviews, I always had to filter my responses through the maze in my head of how my character would react – and do it fast enough so the audience didn’t know I was doing it.

“Whenever I finished an interview, I was exhausted. I’ve been doing interviews as myself now, and the first time it was hard. But ever since then, I’ve noticed I’m not tired any more.”

H/T NY Daily News

The Hardest Working TV Anchor in News

/

Anchors if you think you are working hard this week, I hate to tell you, you have nothing on WCBS Anchor Kristine Johnson.

Johnson is filling in for Gayle King on CBS This Morning, which as you morning anchors know, means getting up in the middle of the night to go to work. 

But, along with doing the network's morning show, Johnson is also working her regular shift as the main Anchor at WCBS this week. 

NY sources tell FTVLive that after Johnson did CBS This Morning, she was also spotted on WCBS's air for the evening newscasts and the 11:00!

She was back on the air at the network this morning.

Does this women not sleep? 

I'm tired just thinking of her schedule this week. 

Note: In an earlier version we said that Johnson was filling in for Norah O'Donnell, we meant Gayle King. 

Crossing the Street in Las Vegas

/

When Sinclair bought KSNV in Las Vegas, they kicked popular GM Lisa Howfield to the curb.

Now Howfield is back across the street and competing against her old station. 

Howfield has been hired by KLAS and she replaces Emily Neilson who retired. The move gives KLAS good inside information about their competitor and they have a GM that more than likely wants to bury the competition.

"Nexstar’s long-term success reflects its core commitment to the viewers and advertisers across each of the individual markets it serves. In this new role, I will utilize the management experience and deep community relationships built over my career to further strengthen our Las Vegas television and digital operations as leading providers of the most compelling local news content and entertainment programming in the market. I look forward to taking on this new opportunity and working with the exceptional team of broadcasters at KLAS-TV and LasVegasNow.com as we continue build upon the foundation of our client service excellence across our multi-distribution marketing solutions platform,” Howfield said.

New ND Named in Sin City

/

In other Sin City news....

Across the street at KTNV, the station has hired a new News Director. 

Mike Dello Stritto, who was a one time Reporter at the station, now returns as the boss. Dello Stritto comes from KPIX in San Francisco, where he was the Managing Editor. 

Here is the internal email sent to the staff from GM Jim Prather:

Team KTNV,

I am pleased to announce that Mike Dello Stritto, Managing Editor at KPIX, the CBS O&O in San Francisco will be the next News Director at KTNV.

As some of you know, Mike was a reporter at KTNV from 2004-2006. He was a great street reporter, who fulfilled our brand of asking tough quesTons and holding those in authority accountable. He transiToned into a leadership role in the past 9 years having served as a reporter, managing editor, interim news director and assistant news director at KOVR in Sacramento. For the past one-and-a-half years he has supervised breaking and daily news coverage as well as special event planning for KPIX. He is ecstaTc about returning to Las Vegas

and conTnuing to build upon the posiTve raTngs momentum of the past year.

Mike knows and loves Las Vegas. His knowledge and passion for aggressive local TV and digital coverage will help KTNV grow in the years ahead. His first day will be August 31st.

Regards,
Jim 

Portland Station to Add Newscast

/

KOIN has announced that they are expanding their morning news to include a weekend morning newscast.

The station has hired Eileen Park, who was ranked by FTVLive as one of the Top 8 people in TV news last year, as the anchor of the show. 

Park comes to Portland from WNCN in Raleigh, North Carolina where she worked as a general assignment reporter, investigative reporter and fill-in anchor for three years.

“We are so excited to now be on the air seven mornings a week and to have someone as talented as Eileen to be part of this expansion,” said Adrienne Roark, President and General Manager of KOIN 6. “Eileen joins KOIN 6 with such an impressive background in journalism. We are excited to have her passion on our weekend anchor desk and her outstanding reporting skills during the week.”

The new newscast hits the air September 5th. 

Teen Tells Reporter He is Sorry for Kissing Her

/

Yesterday, FTVLive told you that while CTV (Canada) Reporter Megan Batchelor was going live from a music festival, a man ran up to Batchelor from behind, kissed her on the cheek and took a selfie with her before running away.

FTVLive reported that Batchelor filed a police report and now they are looking for the suspect and her network is asking anyone who can identify the man to contact the police.

Well, the kisser has stepped up and says that he's sorry. Batchelor said the 17-year-old contacted her on Twitter Monday and sounded sincerely regretful for what he did and that she accepted his apology.

According to the CBC, the teenager said he was trying to be funny but has come to realize it was wrong to kiss Batchelor without her consent while she was doing her job.

“It’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” Batchelor told the station. “I didn’t want anyone to lose their job or get a criminal record, I just want people to take a second and just think of the impact.”

Case closed. 

H/T CTV 

Michael Jordan: I Always wanted to be a Weatherman

/

Michael Jordan will go down as one of the greatest (THE greatest if you ask me) basketball players of all time.

But, his dream job was to be a Weatherman.

At his annual basketball camp in California, Jordan, taking questions from campers, said, "I always wanted to be the weatherman." 

Jordan pointed out that his major at the University of North Carolina was cultural geography, which could have led him to his interest of weather forecasting.

"Don't laugh," Jordan said, "but that's what I really wanted to do."

www.bayareahq.com Michael Jordan, held an inspirational, informative, and entertaining Q & A session on Saturday Night in Santa Barbara at his 20th Annual Basketball Camp: Michael Jordan Flight School. The G.O.A.T did not disappoint as he, in tongue-in-cheek fashion, claimed superiority in one way or another over Shaq, Lebron James, and Kobe Bryant, in his prime, of course.

WOW! Did Fox News Blink First in Stand Off with Trump?

/

In the stand off between Donald Trump and Fox News it appears that FNC was first to blink. 

This morning Trump tweeted this out:

If true it should show that maybe Fox News is worried that Trump is winning the tug of war. Roger Ailes doesn't call people, people call Roger Ailes.

So the thought that Ailes reached out to Trump, may show that The Donald has the upper hand. 

Gabriel Sherman writes in NY Magazine that, according to two high-level Fox sources, Ailes's diplomacy was the result of increasing concern inside Fox News that Trump could damage the network. Immediately following Thursday's debate, Fox was deluged with pro-Trump emails. The chatter on Twitter was equally in Trump’s favor. “In the beginning, virtually 100-percent of the emails were against Megyn Kelly,” one Fox source, who was briefed on the situation told me. “Roger was not happy. Most of the Fox viewers were taking Trump’s side.” 

Sherman adds, in a phone conversation, Trump told Sean Hannity that “he was never doing Fox again,” according to one person with knowledge of the call. The anti-Kelly emails, and threat of a boycott by Trump, seems to have pushed Ailes to diffuse the war. One Fox personality told me that Fox producers gave instructions to tell in-house talent not to bring up Trump’s controversial comments that Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever" during the debate.

According to one count, Fox only aired Trump’s comment once since Friday, while CNN mentioned it at least 50 times.

Is Fox News buckling to Donald Trump? Is Ailes running scared?

Let's sit back and watch how this one plays out. 

Bounced Atlanta Anchor to Resurface in Columbus

/

FTVLive FIRST told you back in June that WGCL in Atlanta had parted ways with Anchor Scott Light.

Light, who had been at the Meredith station only 18 months has found a new gig.

He's headed to WBNS in Columbus where he will anchor the 5:30PM newscast and work as the station's Political Reporter. 

Interestingly it is one of his old bosses in Atlanta that was instrumental in getting him the Columbus gig. 

Light's move to Ohio reunites him with Kelly Frank the station's News Director. Frank worked at WGCL as the Senior Managing Editor of Broadcast, Digital & Social.

Proof that the TV news world is really small.

Now That's a Good Anchor

/

WOFL Orlando Fox 35 Anchor John Brown was enjoying his Friday and it wasn't going to let the Kardashian's or Caitlyn Jenner screw it up.

So, he checked out on the newscast. 

Smart man. 

Here is the Kardashian rant. Sorry, I lost my mind a bit, although it was partially in jest! I did feel better though after I was done though.See more Good Day Orlando videos: http://bit.ly/JLScxX #FOX35

Posted by John Brown at Fox 35 on Friday, August 7, 2015

H/T Mediaite

MSNBC Fooled by Fake Twitter Account

/

As the old saying goes, "Never let the facts get in a way of a good story."

This morning on Morning Joe, they reported that the North Korean government had come to Donald Trump's defense and slammed Fox News. 

The tweet which turns out comes from a well known parody site was fake and was not from the North Korean government. The  account DPRK News Service (@dprk_news), which posts commentary that imitates the famously outlandish rhetoric of the communist government in North Korea.

Let's go to the video:

Uploaded by Washington Free Beacon on 2015-08-10.

Like we said, don't let facts get in the way. 

H/T Washington Free Beacon 

Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly (Updated)

/

Megyn Kelly is not going to cry over spilled blood.

As to attacks from Donald Trump and his followers, Kelly says, "I'm a big girl, I can take it."

Trump has been going after Roger Ailes' golden girl and there is no doubt his attacks on Fox News are making news. 

But, The Donald crossed the line on Friday night while taking to CNN calling Kelly a lightweight and a number of other disparaging remarks, he seemed to imply that Kelly was tough on him, because she was on her period.

Trump said of Kelly, "she had blood coming out of her eyes and blood coming out of wherever." 

Trump claims that was not what he was implying and no one should have thought that way. 

It seemed that many did take it that way. But, Tana Goertz, Trump's Iowa co-chair, said she did not interpret the comment in the same way critics have, and was not offended. "I've always been treated with dignity and respect," she said. 

"I am a woman. I experience that every month. And it never crossed my mind. So I think people are just looking at pinpointing him as sexist and all these other things," Goertz said.

Attacking Kelly could be the biggest mistake that Trump has made yet. His Mexican immigrant comments did not really hurt him with the hard right. But, attacking the Fox News star may have been akin to just tearing up the American flag.

It will be interesting to see if Trump's poll numbers start to head down and will CNN then stop kissing his ass?

Stay tuned....

Update: This morning, Donald Trump told NBC's Savannah Guthrie that his 'blood' comment 'wasn't meant' to be an insult.

I'm sure calling her a "lightweight" was done with kindness and affection as well.