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nycnewsjunkie

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  1. nycnewsjunkie
    That’s rather ironic, considering Antena 3’s history. They’re apparently considered to be the Fox News of Romania, and were known for falsely reporting that George Soros was behind a series of protests against the Romanian government. The network also ranks as being among the least trustworthy in Romania, according to a Reuters Institute study. I guess that given CNN International’s reputation, Antena 3 figured that a partnership with them might bolster their credibility.
  2. nycnewsjunkie
    I’m not a moderator or anything (and I would never pretend to be), but perhaps this discussion about an affiliation switch would be best for the speculatron? CBS hasn’t given an explicit indication of wanting to pull its affiliation in Atlanta, and until then, everybody’s basically taking guesses. Anyway, the ANF YouTube channel has been placing thumbnails with headlines on their videos. Even videos from before the launch have these thumbnails. Granted, this is an extremely minor detail, but I’ve never seen this style of thumbnail from too many local outlets (even O&Os). This is stuff I’ve usually seen from bigger outlets, like France 24 and DW, on their YouTube channels. Smart use of branding, if you ask me.
  3. nycnewsjunkie
    I hadn’t considered the interest rate hikes, so that’s a good point. That said, if CBS ever pulls the affiliation from WANF, would Gray accept it without pulling other CBS affiliations? Wouldn’t the resulting blowback from Gray end up being worse for CBS? I know this is all wildly off topic and speculative, and I apologize if I’m inadvertently derailing the thread. That’s the last thing I’ll ask relating to that scenario.
  4. nycnewsjunkie
    I guess you could say that. Supposedly (if former sports anchor Laura Behnke’s lawsuit is reliable), Lori Stokes was allegedly asked to…let’s just say, give certain favors to Dave Davis (the GM at the time) in exchange for a better contract. If those allegations are true, that probably contributed to Lori wanting to get the heck out of there.
  5. nycnewsjunkie
    CBS’s strategy for local stations wouldn’t surprise me, but I still have two questions: 1) Would Gray agree to an affiliation agreement with CBS that excludes WANF? What’s to stop Gray from telling CBS that they no longer want to carry their programs on most/all of their other CBS affiliates? Again, I wouldn’t be surprised if CBS really is going with that strategy, but doesn’t it have the potential to massively backfire? 2) Wouldn’t it make more sense for CBS to just sell their standalone CW affiliates to another company? What CBS is doing in Detroit is difficult enough; do they really want the burden of launching news in Seattle, Tampa, and Atlanta when they already have affiliates doing it for them? Besides, Nexstar might be interested in owning three standalone affiliates in top-20 markets. Granted, one can credit CBS with having enough foresight to know that station groups are uncoupling from their dependence on the networks. Perhaps CBS figures that it’s best to sever the cord to station groups sooner rather than later, when said station groups will be established enough to not need the networks. Gray’s desire to “fire CBS” in Atlanta might justify this reasoning. Come to think of it, I might’ve just answered my own questions there. Still, it would be like McDonalds attempting to replace every single franchisee with their own stores; it wouldn’t be practical (at least in the short term) and it presents a great risk.
  6. nycnewsjunkie
    I’m not familiar with CBS’ mindset here, but would they be that desperate for an O&O in Atlanta? It would make sense if they wanted one, say, 7 years ago, when WGCL was a dumpster fire, but if ANF turns out to be somewhat successful, why bother? IIRC, NBC did what they did in Boston due to preemptions, wanting to dissociate from WHDH’s tabloid news, and the fact that they already had an established operation there (NECN). Those factors don’t really exist in Atlanta for CBS. Why waste money on a startup operation (that will likely bomb, given today’s media environment) when your affiliate is doing all the work for you?
  7. nycnewsjunkie
    To be fair, the station’s fate isn’t entirely in their own hands. How well ANF does will be influenced by how much the competition slips up (especially WSB/Apollo). That said, given that the station has been remarkably stable as of late, I’m optimistic that this goes beyond a name/set change. IMHO, they don’t have to end up in first place (or even second) to consider this a success. They simply have to be competitive. Gray’s short-term goals were to make investments into the station, hire solid journalists, and maintain stability. So far, it looks like they’ve done that. Even in the worst-case scenario, they are at least putting out a better and more accessible product today than they ever have before.
  8. nycnewsjunkie
    Well, I guess it’s October somewhere. Here’s the intro. Note that the WGCL calls are still there for now. IMG_5668.MP4
  9. nycnewsjunkie
    Interesting. I guess everyone might be getting the call letter treatment, at least temporarily. If so, it would be reminiscent of how CTV handled their standardization. Come to think of it, that might be the branding differentiation between newscasts on KCBS and KCAL.
  10. nycnewsjunkie
    The new hires have been good imo, and Fernandez seems more confident now than he was when he started. That said… …I don’t think he’ll be a full-timer.
  11. nycnewsjunkie
    “Several sources at the station” could theoretically be the news director, the general manager, the janitor, and maybe a couple of coworkers that didn’t like him. I understand that people will never publicly attach themselves to these claims, but they’re too hard to independently verify outside of this article. It’s enough to just acknowledge that Mester violated the terms of his employment and he could’ve handled things a bit better. There’s no need to get into character assassination without a real basis. Also, there seem to be zero public mea culpas from management for their end of this situation, which indicates how dismal things are at KTLA right now, regardless of one man’s behavior. And even if Mester’s behavior was as bad as the LA Times article alludes to, that’s also on management for not firing him sooner.
  12. nycnewsjunkie
    That’s gotta be a one-off thing. There’s no info on the period, SOG count, etc. Just a wild guess, but maybe they had some production issues and had to slap that scoreboard together?
  13. nycnewsjunkie
    It’s not about violating terms of employment, it’s about his mismanagement of the newsroom even before Romero’s departure. The mass exodus of KTLA staffers under his watch is not a coincidence. I agree with Mester being sent packing for his stunt, but if they had someone competent running the newsroom, this whole situation may have been different.
  14. nycnewsjunkie
    You might want to read that part of the article again. The LA Times attributed Lynette “declining to record a farewell” to news director Pete Saiers, the same man reportedly responsible for causing the low morale at KTLA. Keep in mind, this is also the same ND who oversaw KING as it tanked in the Seattle ratings. Unless Lynette herself clarifies it, I’m not trusting a word of his. That said, it seems that the weekend crew actually planned a proper farewell, and he alone went off script. Also, if it’s true that Mester was the one who hired that plane without informing anyone else, that’s truly moronic on his part.
  15. nycnewsjunkie
    I’ll concede on some of my earlier points; that’s actually true. If a departure doesn’t happen on good terms, most announcements I’ve seen are through PR, and rarely on air. I’ll agree with you that management should’ve known about the whole thing and should’ve discussed it with Mester and the rest of the staff beforehand. Also, the fact that they didn’t see his social media post is telling of how little attention/discipline KTLA management has toward its own staff. However, one should not strip Mark Mester of his own agency. His actions were not beyond his control. He could’ve said goodbye and handled any problems internally, rather than speaking for the station and blasting management (which, as it turns out, may be a violation of the terms of his employment). If you work at McDonalds, you don’t get to talk smack about your manager at the drive-thru window, no matter how horrible he/she is. It shouldn’t be any different in TV. I am certainly not defending what KTLA management did to Lynette or how they handled the aftermath, but this isn’t an either/or situation. Both the news director and Mark Mester ought to be suspended, and corporate needs to do a thorough workplace review.
  16. nycnewsjunkie
    Look, I’m no Nexstar fan, but I wouldn’t blame the entire company over one idiot. Unless he exhibited the same behavior at KTVI (which we have no evidence of), they have no control over an individual employee acting like an abusive moron at another workplace. Even in that instance, most of the blame would go to local/regional management for their negligence, not corporate. I’m confident that KTVI will handle this appropriately (i.e., dump him).
  17. nycnewsjunkie
    I completely agree, but I think it’s important to emphasize that, as others have noted, management royally screwed up. The station owns the airtime, but they could have used it better re: Lynette Romero. Sure, it may be the norm at many stations to handle it as KTLA did, but it doesn’t make it right. Mark Mester was still extremely unprofessional in attempting his “I am Spartacus” stunt, but he’s only half the reason KTLA looks bad right now. If we insist on there being smarter ways for Mark Mester and company to say goodbye, it’s only fair to say that there were smarter ways for management to address Lynette Romero’s departure. Here’s one example from Buffalo: Kevin O’Connell left WGRZ under less than ideal circumstances, but was allowed to say goodbye through a prerecorded message. https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/a-message-from-kevin-oconnell/71-574424657 Conversely, the anchors at WGRZ didn’t air dirty laundry regarding O’Connell’s departure. They didn’t try to speak for the entire station or fly a damn prop plane with a banner. They handled it professionally, as professionals and journalists should. That is how both management and station staff should handle a high-profile departure.
  18. nycnewsjunkie
    On YouTubeTV, both are on the schedule for 11am and 11:30am next week. So does WABC’s program guide on their website.
  19. nycnewsjunkie
    It actually checks out in Boston too. WSBK has WBZ News, a Jeopardy rerun, the Phantom Gourmet, and comedy reruns scheduled for Monday night. I was curious to know of a source because I haven’t seen any announcements, although I suppose this isn’t the type of thing most people will actually notice/care about.
  20. nycnewsjunkie
    On the one hand, Nexstar is a big station owning company with a small market mindset. Lynette Romero’s goodbye could’ve been handled much better than it was. In hindsight, not only was Lori Stokes allowed a goodbye in NY; Roz Abrams, Ernie Anastos, and Amy Freeze were able to leave on reasonably good terms when they left stations for other opportunities. Lynette Romero should’ve been given a bit more acknowledgment for her years of service, and KTLA/Nexstar blew it. IIRC, she was working there without a contract, and they owe her for that. On the other hand, is Mester’s suspension really all that surprising? If you badmouth the company you work for, of course there are going to be repercussions. It doesn’t matter if that company is Nexstar or NBC. He’ll be lucky to have a job after all of this. I still maintain that there were better (and smarter) ways to give a proper goodbye to Lynette Romero without A) making both local and national management look bad and B) making it all about you. It was a needlessly foolish gesture on Mester’s part. Also, FTVLive is reporting that “KTLA management” (read: local management) isn’t happy with Mester either. I’ll reiterate that I don’t like Scott Jones’ antics and petty behavior, but he’s usually on the money with these kinds of stories.
  21. nycnewsjunkie
    Source? And where is MyNetworkTV moving?
  22. nycnewsjunkie
    Sounds like it, given that Mester was more than complementary toward Janene Drafs. The thing is, like it or not, immediate dismissals after signing with a competitor are the norm, regardless of the station owner. If Lynette wasn’t leaving voluntarily and was fired like Demetria Kalodimos and Lisa LaFlamme were, I’d have a lot more sympathy for Mark Mester doing what he did. That isn’t the case here. I’ll echo what @MorningNews said; one can understand frustrations with corporate, but there are much better ways to handle this.
  23. nycnewsjunkie
    So much for dumping opinion.
  24. nycnewsjunkie
    Wow, what a loss for NY news. It’s a shame she left WABC because of…well, let’s just call it poor management, and she made a great anchor on Fox 5. Agreed on all points. Christina would’ve been perfect for the job, but Teresa would be good as well.
  25. nycnewsjunkie
    Well, looks like I got that totally wrong then. In hindsight, they took her off the 6 even before maternity leave. EDIT: And they didn’t hire Christi Paul for nothing either.
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