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Monthly Archive for April, 2008

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Help Me Howard is One Good Hippie

Author admin on 4/28/2008 in Local Media.

Howard Finkelstein, better known to most as the Howard in ‘Help Me Howard’, WSVN’s hugely popular newscast segment, is getting some well deserved praise.

The South Florida Times has a very nice story about him and his many efforts to assure that everyone has access to a public defender, but especially the poor and homeless who can’t afford high-powered lawyers. In recognition for those efforts on April 26th the League of Women Voters of Broward County awarded Finkelstein the Civics in Action award.

Finkelstein is “one of the original hippies” says Douglas Brawley Chief Assistant Public Defender of Mental Health adding “he’s about peace, love, equality for all people. He hasn’t sold out.”

And from the article it’s clear Howard is the real deal. He is the founder of the country’s first court for mentally ill defendants. He established Broward county’s drug court and after becoming the county’s Chief Public Defender in 2005 Finkelstein put measures in place that allowed defendants to spend more time with their public defenders where previously they were forced to decide their pleas after just a few minutes. [South Florida Times]

5 Comments Tags: 7news, awards, broward public defender, douglas brawley, help me howard, howard finkelstein, league of women voters of broward county, WSVN.

Monday Links

Author admin on 4/28/2008 in Links.

… another crazy sweeps day. Here are some links to cheer you up. Or not

0 Comments Tags: abc, glaad awards, hollywood reporter reesign, J.D. Eggleston, low ratings, meteorlogists, myley cyrus photos, weathercasters.

Major TV News Outlets Ignore PBS Request to Discuss Military Analysts

Author admin on 4/26/2008 in Notes.

PBS invited all major media news outlets to discuss allegations in a New York Times article that military analysts were used by the Pentagon to sell the Iraq war. The report also uncovered information that many cable and network news analysts were lobbyists or consultants for military contractors who are now in Iraq. All analysts participated in Pentagon meetings and were given talking points, sometimes repeating them almost verbatim in interviews on cable news channels

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0 Comments Tags: newshour, pbs, pentagon, propaganda.

Marching for a Good Cause

Author admin on 4/25/2008 in Local Media.

Hard to believe just a couple of years ago these two little bandits almost didn’t make it after being born prematurely.

Now that they’re all grown up and healthy (and doing a pretty good job at reminding some of us how fast time flies) Luke and Jake are taking to the streets of Key Biscayne along with their dad, mom Laurie Jennings, Local10 anchor Charles Perez )and probably other Local 10 employees), in the March For Babies to help raise money for the prevention of premature births.

The event kicks off tomorrow, April 26th, at 8:30am with registrations at 7:30am.

5 Comments Tags: charlez perez, laurie jennings, local10, WPLG.

Friday Links

Author admin on 4/25/2008 in Site News and Comments.
0 Comments

Showing the SWAT Dragging a Dead Person

Author admin on 4/25/2008 in Site News and Comments.

Yesterday the swat team shot a guy dead and a nearby witness recorded the whole thing with his camera from his balcony. 7News used parts of the recording in their report.

Including what you see below. The swat team dragging the dead man’s body, face down, over the asphalt. Uncensored, unpixelated, unblurred. I added the pixelation in Photoshop.

They have now run this video at least 3 times. Last night at 10pm, maybe at 11pm too, and already twice this morning so it can’t be an accident or an oversight on their part. It’s deliberate.

Now, I’m no prude by any stretch of the imagination and I’m most definitely not easily offended (offendable?). Easily pissed off maybe but as far as offending me it’ll take all 4 TV networks at once and a lot of trying to do it. And I happen to think reports from Iraq are too sanitized.

But when I saw Rene Marsh’s report on 7News this morning and this poor guy’s body dragged over the pavement face down without even a little pixelation I was like “What the fuck were they thinking?”. And not only in my mind.

And I don’t know what they were thinking. If they were even thinking at all. It pissed me off enough to write this post and edit it 4 times already due to too much “bad” language.

I like my 7News, but this stunt was stupid, over the top and dare I say disgusting. And just plain idiotic. Or maybe I’m too sleep deprived and over reacting.

What do you think? Am I right? Wrong? Whiny? Should the 7News editors have ran the video in the first place or at least added some pixelation?

You can watch the report on WSVN’s site here and judge for yourself

Channels 4, 6 and 10 covered the story as well. Only WFOR, at least their 11pm story, used the same video footage from the witness but only the part where the body was laying near bushes and added a large blurred area to conceal it even though you could barely see it!

17 Comments Tags: 7news, stunt, WSVN.

Morning Newscast on WSFL in 2009

Author admin on 4/24/2008 in Local Media.

Sun Sentinel TV critic Tom Jicha has more details on Tribune’s plans for a WSFL morning newscast.

The newscast will launch in early 2009 and run from 5am to 9am. It will be “fast-paced, personality-driven, nontraditional news and information format”.

Emphasis will be placed on local content most of provided by the Sun Sentinel with editors and reporters working at the paper possibly appearing on TV.

The newscast is still in the planning stages so not many details.
WSFL is entering a crowded market though. Nearly every station in town has a morning newscast and they are for the most part similar in content when it comes to news just wrapped up in a different package. So it will be interesting to see what’s going to be so different about WSFL’s new show.

Tribune will have to work hard to change people’s viewing habits or at least make them click the remote and check out the new product. Not to mention keep them.

6 Comments Tags: newscast, tribune, wsfl.

Thursday Links

Author admin on 4/24/2008 in Links.
0 Comments Tags: cnn, fcc ownership, jack cafferty, Links.

Sunbeam Releases Statement Regarding GM

Author admin on 4/24/2008 in Local Media.

Official statement from Ed Ansin President of Sunbeam Television:

Randi Goldklank is an outstanding broadcast executive with a record of great success. Since 2001 she has worked for Sunbeam Television Corporation in Miami and Boston as a sales executive and as general manager of WHDH/WLVI since July 2007. The unfortunate events of last Sunday night were unanticipated and Ms. Goldklank is deeply regretful. She is currently undergoing medical treatment and is on administrative leave from the company. We wish her a speedy recovery, as do her many friends in Boston and throughout the broadcasting industry.

Mike Carson, who was the previous general manager of WHDH/WLVI, has continued to work as a consultant to the stations. Effective next week, he will temporarily resume his previous responsibilities as general manager.

Looks like she’s keeping her job while getting some much needed help.

0 Comments Tags: randi goldklank, sunbeam, whdh.

Even more local news: WAMI Adds a 3rd Hour

Author admin on 4/23/2008 in Local Media.

Univision is adding a third hour of morning news to all its Telefutura stations and that includes WAMI-TV. Noticias 23 Al Amanecer (Univision 23 News At Sunrise) will now run from 5am to 8am.

5 Comments Tags: telefutura, univision 23, wami, wltv.