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Monthly Archive for November, 2009

Family of WPTV Photog Jim Sitton Attacked By Gunman

Author admin on 11/27/2009 in Local Media.

Update: turns out WPTV covered that story prior to that since around 10pm

At 12:06am last night Palm Beach stations broke into regular programming to cover a big shooting that happened in Jupiter. A gunman had walked into a house and attacked someone’s family. 7 People were shot.

This morning we are learning that it was longtime WPTV photojournalist Jim Sitton’s family that was attacked. His 6-year old daughter Makayla was killed by the suspect Michael Merhige who’s yet to be caught.

Page2Live is also reporting anchors Shannon Cake and Kelley Dunn who often work with Sitton were at his home shortly after the shooting.

At 12:06 WPTV was first to break from regular programming and cover the shooting, followed shortly by WPEC and WPBF. The suspect Michael Merhige is related to Jim Sitton’s wife. He was one of the invited to the Thanksgiving party but according to police left then came back and opened fire on the guests. The Palm Beach Post is reporting the suspect had an ongoing resentment toward several of the family members who were at the residence. He killed his twin sisters, 76-year old aunt, and Jim’s 6-year old daughter as she slept in her bed and injured two other relatives.

Continue reading ‘Family of WPTV Photog Jim Sitton Attacked By Gunman’

5 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving from SFLTV.com!

Author Alex on 11/26/2009 in Site News and Comments.
10645_Happy Thanksgiving

...From everyone here at SFLTV.com.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-SFLTV.com Staff

5 Comments Tags: SFLTV, thanksgiving.

Minor Graphics Refresh For WPTV

Author admin on 11/25/2009 in Local Media.

WPTV launched their new graphics recently as parent company Scripps centralized graphics production. The big giant caramel lower thirds made a big impression on us but as of last night they’re now smaller

wptv.graphics.refreshStill make me think of caramel candy and ice cream. For some reason now I prefer the bigger version it’s so much more … delishos, yum!

2 Comments Tags: broadcast graphics, graphics, wptv.

Why WTVJ and WPLG failed at being a News Station

Author Alex on 11/24/2009 in Local Media.
chase

Tri-County Chase

I’d like to offer my kudos to WFOR and WSVN  today. In case you missed today’s top story, there was a huge car chase spanning 3 counties, with excess speeds of 130 MPH. But you wouldn’t know that if you were watching WTVJ’s or WPLG’s afternoon soap operas. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the basic duty of  local news station’s to keep the public informed, safe, and out of harms way? WSVN broke into regularly scheduled programing to do just that; as did WFOR.   This pursuit wasn’t a short chase. It went on for nearly a half-an-hour, gaining national coverage on cable news stations, and other affiliates across the nation. Yet there was no mention of it on NBC6 or Local 10, both on-air and online. Local 10’s site, which claims to be “Just News,” didn’t have a mention of it until the chase was over. As for the joke called “NBCMiami.com,” nearly 30 minutes after the chase ended, there’s still no mention of it.

I would expect this from WTVJ, but I expected better from WPLG.

So what are your thoughts? Who’s right in this situation? Was WFOR and WSVN right for cutting into programing?… Or did WTVJ and WPLG do the right thing in not covering the story. Vote below.

25 Comments Tags: 7 news, car chase, cbs4, local 10, nbc6, WFOR, WPLG, WSVN, WTVJ.

Joel Connable Returns to South Florida TV

Author Alex on 11/23/2009 in Local Media and come backs.

ttvnFormer WTVJ lead news anchor Joel Connable departed from NBC6 just over seven months ago, and soon, you’ll be seeing him back on the TV airwaves in South Florida and nationwide in a revolutionary new way. It’s called ‘Travel TV News,’ and as Connable described it: “his dream job.” What is Travel TV News (TTN)? Founder and CEO Joel Connable describes it as a revolutionary new way to offer their clients (usually hotel resorts, cruise lines, and tourism ministries) a new and fresh way to advertise.  Connable says: Continue reading ‘Joel Connable Returns to South Florida TV’

17 Comments Tags: joel connable, nbc6, NBCMiami, Ted Goldenberg, Travel TV News, WTVJ.

PalmBeachPost.com Redesigned

Author admin on 11/16/2009 in Local Media.

The Palm Beach Post website received a much needed face lift last week.

palmbeachpost.online.redesign

4 Comments Tags: palm beach post, palmbeachpost.com.

Nervous Beaver Puts Its Mark on CBS Anchor

Author admin on 11/13/2009 in Videos.

A real beaver was on the set of CBS’s Early Show and ended up marking its territory which included one of the hosts. Watch the video after the jump below
beaver,pees.cbs.anchor Continue reading ‘Nervous Beaver Puts Its Mark on CBS Anchor’

4 Comments Tags: blooper, video.

WPTV Chopper 5 Crew Honored For Saving Missing Boaters

Author admin on 11/13/2009 in Local Media.

WPTV’s Chopper 5 crew Captain Julie and photographer Johann Hoffend were honored with ‘Samaritan Awards’ by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

In August 2009 the WPTV Chopper 5 crew took off looking for two boaters missing in the Everglades. Two miles off Belle Glade the crew spotted the missing men waving frantically at the news helicopter and radioed their coordinates to Palm Beach Fire Rescue. The men were found a top their capsized boat surrounded by murky water and alligators where they had spent the night.

0 Comments Tags: captain julie, chopper 5, johann hoffend, palm beach county sheriff's office, samaritan awards, wptv.

WPEC Owner Freedom Gives $2.6M in Bonuses to Execs

Author admin on 11/10/2009 in Local Media.

Jose Lambiet from Page2Live has a post on WPEC owner Freedom Broadcasting who gave themselves $2.6 million in bonuses as the company slipped into bankruptcy this year.

According to Page2Live Freedom Broadcasting president and West Palm Beach resident, Doreen Wade, got $150,000 bonus this year on top of her $300,000 salary and also billed the company for expenses as low as $12! Freedom’s executive vice president received slightly over $30,000 bonus on top of his $300,000 salary. HeatCity.org says in all Freedom’s suits awarded themselves $2.6 million in bonuses this year.

This at a time when Freedom Broadcasting is bankrupt and sitting on over $1billion in debt. In addition WPEC saw over 30 people laid off in April 2009 and then instituted salary cuts. WPEC anchors had their salaries reduced by 5% in July 2009 as part of cost reductions at Freedom.

14 Comments Tags: doreen wade, freedom broadcasting, wpec.

More on WFOR’s Medicare Collaboration With 60 Minutes

Author admin on 11/9/2009 in Local Media.

Some of you had a problem with my post about WFOR teaming up with ‘60 Minutes’ for the Medicare investigation saying that it wasn’t a big deal because all WFOR did was CBS’ dirty work.

Yesterday Al Tompkins from PoynterOnline posted an email interview with WFOR reporter Stephen Stock about what they found during the investigation and also asked him how the WFOR team came to be involved with it.

At the Investigative Reporters and Editors convention in Baltimore last June, investigative producer Ira Rosen, who works at “60 Minutes,” asked if I would be interested. A few months earlier, Jay Weaver at The Miami Herald had just done a great series on Medicare fraud and I was eager to advance the story or shed further light on it.

…

When “60 Minutes” came to town, we met with them and shared various ideas and resources. They shot their own interviews and B-roll, but asked us to commit resources to undercover visits to clinics, DMEs and providores.

…

Working with “60 Minutes” was a challenge. They have their own culture and expectations and they don’t share easily. Their long, successful history doesn’t contain many cooperative projects with local TV news operations. However, they did enable us to meet FBI sources we wouldn’t have found without them. We met and were able to work with the FBI informant, which wouldn’t have happened without them. They opened doors and gave insight and ideas that enabled us to be successful. And we contributed by successfully getting undercover video of an office worker offering money both for a list and to a “patient” to use her Medicare number. “60 Minutes” chose not to use the video and framed the story otherwise, but we contributed nonetheless.

Check out the whole interview here

12 Comments Tags: 60 minutes, cbs, stephen stock, WFOR.