nycnewsjunkie

11 hours ago, JustinH said:

It's been well documented that the previous news director was not well liked for the decisions she made and how she treated people. Nobody moves cities to anchor one hour long newscast, and definitely not the Noon! Shirleen was groomed to be Lori's replacement and people felt a certain way about it. I vividly remember people commenting on this very blog that they thought it was weird Shirleen was moving for one show.

If that’s true, then the blame is solely on Camille Edwards and Dave Davis. Not Shirleen. No offense, but blaming an anchor for the missteps of a news director and GM who haven’t been in the building for years is beyond unfair, especially when this talk about Shirleen amounts to nothing more than baseless gossip. Are we supposed to blame Sade Baderinwa for taking Roz Abrams’ old job now?

11 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

But again, I --like many of us-- don't know her personally, and are not privy to what happens behind the scenes.

 

Moreover, we have all been in a position where a coworker or someone we know pissed us off, and we said a word that we shouldn't have. For that, I'm not going to destroy Ken based on that one moment.  

I get it, but in any workplace, you have a responsibility to maintain standards of professionalism. No one claims to know what the working environment was like, nor do I think anyone is trying to “destroy” Ken. However, we do know that WABC fired Ken with cause. I don’t like the fact that he’s gone either, but there are ways to settle your problems without getting your a$$ kicked out the door. I work with plenty of people I don’t care for, but if I called any of them that slur, I’d be gone too.

4 hours ago, Manny NYC said:

From Warner Bro's upfront here is a look at CNN's new graphics

Yeah, that doesn’t look great. I’d also have to see it in action to have a more informed opinion, but based off of that image…that looks like something one of us would make as a mock-up.

2 hours ago, CircleWXYZ said:

I still feel WMYD will pick up CW programming.  

They’re definitely a reasonable landing spot, but if Scripps is serious about local sports programming, that could change things.
 

If/when Bally collapses, WMYD would be an accessible station for Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings games. I’m not sure they’d want to affiliate with the CW on a long term basis if that’s the route they want to take.

38 minutes ago, RealNews18 said:

https://pagesix.com/2023/05/15/abc-7-anchor-allegedly-used-vulgar-word-for-co-anchor/?utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPFacebook&sr_share=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1ehlOztZicK2KWT6ZYfHAjdUZUgMyVgLjORY51_4oyFuvlQw3kuq8s5Tc

 

if we’re going by this the c word was used about Shirleen 

Yeah…there are ways to address issues with your coworkers, but that’s a first class ticket to the unemployment line in any profession. It’s a shame, but if true, Ch. 7 made the right call.

26 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

I wonder if McKinnon bought out the lease other part of their building they're in then and there's a commitment to remodel it in full (the other side was formerly another business).

If the building is that dilapidated, I suppose they intend to do that if they’re going to be housing two news operations there. I wonder why they won’t be moving KUSI over to KSWB’s building instead.

2 hours ago, rv65 said:

https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2023/05/11/kusi-tv-to-stay-separate-news-station-from-fox5-san-diego-staffers-are-told/

 

KUSI to remain separate from KSWB but a few layoffs to be expected. 

From the sound of that article, it looks like both stations will be based at KUSI’s building.

On 5/11/2023 at 8:35 AM, Geoffrey said:

This is a town hall for the Republican primary. CNN said the audience was full of Republican or uncommitted/independent voters. It was not meant to be representative of New Hampshire or America as a whole.  

I honestly do not care. I still maintain that a town hall is pointless if you’re packing the room with a friendly crowd and letting them lob softballs at the candidate under scrutiny. If Joe Biden does a town hall in the future and it’s full of committed supporters in the audience, I will say the exact same thing.

If the only thing preventing this from being a full on political rally is by having Kaitlan Collins awkwardly fact-check in real time in front of a crowd that isn’t going to listen to fact checking, you might as well just broadcast a live rally.

2 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

The only connection to weather on the show is host Jon Kelley referring to Byron Allen (who is a regular panelist on the show) in many episodes as "the proud owner of The Weather Channel."

Yikes, that’s shameless.

18 minutes ago, MetroCity said:

Except…

The thing about WABC is that viewers are loyal and fickle at the same time. They become very attached to and protective of long time anchors. But once they’re gone, viewing habits don’t change. WABC has lost big names over the years including Roz Abrams, Bill Beutel, Bill Evans, Scott Clark and Lori Stokes. They may have left, but the viewers stayed. Perhaps because the other talent are also strong long timers. Perhaps because WABC attracts anchors and reporters that people like watching. 

 

Whoever it might be, WABC’s strength will continue. That’s not to say individual anchors aren’t valuable. It’s just that viewers aren’t as committed as one might think. 

Oh I’m well aware of that; WABC has a whole history of ratings dominance despite anchors leaving for other stations (or retiring altogether). It just sucks to see a good anchor leave like that.

18 minutes ago, ofreyyabush said:

WJZ might be about to make the switch today/relatively soon. The logo in the upper left corner of their website has changed to the updated logo (something I've noticed happens around the same time the graphics/music switch happens), and their stream abruptly cut off a few mins ago to a shot of the anchor desk with the new music playing, with a VERY quick peek at the new L3s. 

You called it, they’re live.

10 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Who are they referring to? Ken Rosato?

 

I would be truly sad if it were true.. True class act for the station and such a great talent for the station.

 

https://abc7ny.com/about/newsteam/ken-rosato/

 

His news bio is still up on the site. Perhaps he's on vacation?

 

Best,

Vlad

If it’s Ken Rosato, that would be a mind-numbingly awful move on channel 7’s part.

40 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

CNN deserves to continue failing miserably. They've been on this re-identification thing for 10+ years now and not once have they considered going back to what made them a household name.

As much as I would love for CNN to “go back to what made them a household name,” I know in my gut that people wouldn’t watch it. American cable news viewers love outrage/conflict programming that’s hyper-focused on US politics. A shift to the center barely scratches the surface of what they need to do for someone like me to watch them. Tonight’s town hall was just another example of conflict television. 
 

There are YouTube channels (like TLDR News) that, while flawed and still growing, offer more sober and intelligent coverage of the news than anything I’ve seen on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc. IMO, cable news as a whole deserves to fail miserably, and considering that younger viewers generally don’t watch it, there’s hope that it will.

Side note: The fact that the audience was basically full of Trump supporters made this whole thing a near farce. If you ask me, the audience of a town hall should be chocked full of people who are either undecided or solidly against the candidate. If the people aren’t going to scrutinize politicians, then what’s the point of a town hall anyway?

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Gray's stock price has been dragging the last month or so.   Could it be that their now-hometown flagship station is in imminent danger of losing CBS to WUPA?

 

When WISH lost CBS to WTTV, it took out several million dollars from the value of LIN's stations going into Media General.

Correlation does not imply causation. Nearly every media company’s stock price has been dragging for the last month. The local TV business in general isn’t doing great right now. While this move definitely makes it easier for CBS to move the network in house in Atlanta and Seattle if it wanted to, I highly doubt that’s happening this fall. The Deadline article would’ve mentioned it, and CBS has affiliation contracts to fulfill.

EDIT: If those agreements expire in 2024, I suppose things could potentially get interesting. Stay tuned, I guess.

40 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Not just KCPQ, KZJO was offloaded, too. The CW’s best option in Seattle is to cut an affiliation deal with Tegna for KONG.

 

Sacramento is an awkward situation as Nexstar only has KTXL, meaning that The CW’s only options in that market are being relegated to a subchannel of KTXL, cutting a deal with Hearst to put the network on KQCA, or buying a low-power station.

 

Detroit has two options, WADL or WMYD, though I’m not sure about the latter as Scripps may be angling to acquire rights to the Pistons, Red Wings and/or Tigers from Bally Sports Detroit should either or all or them bail from that network. That creates awkwardness for MyNetworkTV as well as WJBK is the only station Fox owns in Detroit, meaning there’s a possibility that, unless WMYD were to somehow take MNTV back (uncertain for the same reasons for why it might hold off on trying for the CW affiliation), The CW and MyNetworkTV may end up sharing airtime on WADL. (Pittsburgh may be in the same boat, if WPNT were to affiliate with The CW,.)

 

KRON taking over the CW affiliation in San Francisco would give Fox credence to finally move MNTV to KICU. Philly, in the case of MyNetworkTV, is a major question mark; Fox only has WTXF there, and there aren’t many good options for the service to move (other than maybe Fox buying WMCN), once The CW moves to WPHL, meaning the same issue with Detroit applies here.

If I had to guess, WPHL, KQCA, and KRON are almost certain to pick up the CW. Two hours in prime time plus LIVGolf on weekends doesn’t drastically alter the schedules of those stations.

As far as MyNet is concerned, would Fox even bother to look for another affiliate if they lose WPHL? They already don’t have an affiliate in Miami, and it’s not as though MyNet is much of a network anyway.

14 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

You do know that dimensional is a very small package, right?

I’m well aware of that; I’m also aware that KPIX uses more than one cut.

56 minutes ago, 24994J said:

MARGINALLY better at 10? But the bar is so low. I'll give them a week or two to see if they iron out the most egregious kinks.

 

 

Suffice it to say, there have been better executions of the new package; WBBM’s is the worst I’ve seen so far. However, as bad as this is, I can’t say I totally mind the sloppy and out of place usage of Enforcer, especially given how repetitive that one cut of Dimensional can get after a while. I really don’t understand why stations don’t use different cuts of Dimensional to at least have a little bit of musical versatility.

That said, WBBM had a lot of time to roll this out properly, and they fumbled imo.

On 5/1/2023 at 5:38 PM, TheNewsTV said:

And today there was America Decides, replacing Red&Blue on streaming.

 

Not to get too off-topic, but they did a fairly decent job of making a small, cramped set look big.

10 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Since CBS is taking their local news channels to the digital realm, the opportunity for viewership is much greater than if it was just a TV station. 

 

Many of the viewers are probably going to be coming this way, and because of their investment in this, it makes sense to put it on TV as a side-effect...to provide a valuable service once and for all for the long-beleaguered "CBS Detroit"  

 

Basically, any TV viewership is likely going to be eclipsed by "impressions" or hits on the digital side of things.

That’s a really good point; CBS does provide the best/easiest way to access their local newscasts digitally, especially compared to the other stations in the market. I wish ratings companies would take digital impressions into account; viewers are viewers at the end of the day, and it shouldn’t matter where they’re watching.

2 hours ago, CircleWXYZ said:

I suggest you contact the powers that be.  Just relaying information.

I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but the station is not going to tell you or me if the ratings are not what they want it to be. As far as having a “great product”…I guess it’s good for what it is, and I’m glad CBS is finally making an effort after decades of nothing, but let’s not pretend they’re surging in the ratings if we don’t know the full extent of their ratings growth.

That said, they expanded their newscasts quickly despite a delayed launch, and if they are seeing consistent and significant improvement, good for them.

5 minutes ago, TheRob said:

Carlson-Lemon '24

The newest presidential ticket for the “Pricks for Hire” Party.

Tucker and Lemon both out. Merry Christmas, everyone. And a Happy Hanukkah too.

19 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

Can you show/explain an example or two?

One example was in 2020 during the pandemic, when Andrew Cuomo and Cnris Cuomo swapped stories during a press conference. Bill basically waxed poetic about the whole thing and said something along the lines of “I wonder what their father would think.” I don’t have as much of a problem w/ that if you slap on a “Bill Ritter: Commentary” lower third, but that wasn’t present. As it turned out, the governor was less than truthful about NY’s COVID death count, and Chris would be fired from CNN for actively aiding his brother while working as a journalist.
 

I know that Bill wasn’t aware of what both Cuomo brothers were doing, nor do I blame him for their actions. I also have nothing against Bill personally; he does a good job as an anchor, and perhaps I’m admittedly being a little pedantic about this and am judging with the benefit of hindsight re: the Cuomos. However, I still believe that what should’ve been healthy scrutiny on Bill’s part was substituted for nostalgia for Mario Cuomo.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chris-cuomo-crashes-governor-cuomos-173839115.html

31 minutes ago, Roadgeek Adam said:

I will say that wasn't the case until really late. Even by 1995 they still were just "Finally tonight" on a shot of Bill Beutel. 

That’s still a separate segment from the rest of the newscast though, and the signature at the bottom of the screen was the indicator that it was a commentary. To be fair, there is no specific “Commentary” or “Editorial” label, but perhaps the station didn’t think it was warranted due to the brevity of the segment.

6 hours ago, ns8401 said:

Editorial contributions on every story were once a standard operating procedure some places you realize…

Just because something used to be done frequently doesn’t make it a good thing by virtue of it being done in the past.

I’m not a fan of commentary during the news; I think stations should trust their viewers to be informed enough to think critically and form their own opinions based on the information they’re given. If stations don’t trust their viewers to have informed opinions, to me that implies they’re doing a piss poor job of informing them.
 

That being said, if a station runs editorials, they should be clearly labeled as such and separated from straight news. Bill Beutel anchored editorial segments at WABC after he retired, but to my knowledge, he always kept it straight when he anchored the news. There’s a difference between a clearly identifiable editorial and a newsreader who thinks his/her opinion needs to be injected into every story.

4 hours ago, mre29 said:

Even if doing so takes out Deb McDermott and Standard Media in the crossfire?

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t understand this elevated perception of Deb McDermott. She runs just four godawful stations, yet I get the impression that people view her as some sort of broadcasting royalty.
 

The only thing she’s known for is turning Young/Media General into a massive behemoth that got sold off to Nexstar; that does not count as a positive contribution to journalism or the industry in my book. I don’t really give a pig’s fart if she’s collateral damage of Soo Kim’s irresponsible greed.

8 hours ago, C Block said:

It's certainly different, and honestly, not that bad. I think UK viewers lost a lot more in the merger than World viewers did.

 

The story selection is different with more UK stories. However, in my view, this has been going on ever since the pandemic anyway when they substantially started doing a lot more simulcasts between the two channels. The balance of international-to-domestic stories is more in line with something like France 24 than it was of the old BBC World News.

 

The format is very different. They've ditched their super traditional format in favor of lots of live elements. They run very few PKGs and instead do a lot of live talkbacks with correspondents and various experts. It almost harkens more to an American rather than British style of cable news. It feels less polished than the previous format, which was heavy on the well-produced, lengthy reporter PKGs, but it does feel more engaging and immediate with all the live presence. I think this is actually a good strategy.

 

My Comcast isn't filling the shorter ad breaks, so I'm seeing the "Around the UK" segments that run at about ~10 minutes past. In the past during joint newscasts, the anchor would just read a few UK stories during this opt-out. But now, they've decided to run shortened evergreen stories from BBC's local stations. I think they feel super awkward, and they probably should just go back to what they used to do. Also, the newscasts sometimes have awkward endings as sometimes they might be in a live interview at the end but still have a hard out at :26.

 

Some people on the UK forums are really panning the lack of any kind of visual rebrand. The logo's a little different, and there's some inconsistency with show opens from hour to hour, but it's otherwise the same music, graphics, and studios as before. It seems like a bigger visual refresh will probably happen later. I can forgive any kind of visual inconsistencies given that behind the scenes, the BBC is probably more focused on trying to figure out what the day-to-day operations of the merged channel will be like.

I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought it would be. The idea of having separate domestic and world news channels was becoming a bit of an anachronism, and the BBC World News channel was already pumping out a lot of programming from the domestic channel anyway.

That said, I have two primary criticisms. First, I remember reading that they were planning on adding a simulcast of a Radio 4 talk show (a la LBC). That stuff does NOT belong on BBC News Channel. The second criticism is the cancellation of Outside Source, which was, in my opinion, the BBC’s best news program. It was also a good model of the kind of journalism that we should be, but aren’t, attempting to cultivate in the USA. I know that the OS team is still contributing to the channel, and that Ros Atkins’ “explainers” are being implemented across more programs and platforms, but OS worked really well as a standalone show, and it was a big mistake to cancel it.