Tag Archive for 'cbs4'

CONFIRMED: Michael Jackson Death; Local News Coverage

Author Alex on 6/25/2009 in Local Media.

According to TMZ.com, pop-star Michael Jackson has passed away at age 50. The local news coverage is as follows:

**CONFIRMED** By LA Times, and NBC News: Michael Jackson IS dead at age 50.

WFOR: has still not reported that he has officially “died.” Still only saying that he is hospitalized.

WTVJ: is saying that, “although NBC has not been able to confirm this, the gossip website TMZ.com is reporting that Michael Jackson has passed away.”

UPDATE: WTVJ just ran a promo for their 7PM show, confirming his death. ON THE 7PM SHOW: They had a HD liveshot from NBC (or KNBC?) reporter Jinah Kim. They are also having their health reporter, to explain what sudden cardiac arrest is. Also explaining how “AED defibrillators” are the only way to save someone suffering from the cardiac arrest, with only 3-5 minutes to act. Saying: “WTVJ just installed them at the studio.”

WSVN: was first on Twitter to link to TMZ saying he was dead – haven’t seen any TV coverage about it.

UPDATE: 7 just had a “News Alert” to confirm. WSVN staying with breaking news past 7pm

WPLG: only reporting on the hospitalization.

_______

MSNBC quoting: LA Times, saying that he is in a coma… Not dead.

Today Show’s Twitter: cites TMZ in saying Michael Jackson has died.

NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, and ABC’s World News: Reports that Michael Jackson IS dead.

NO cable news station has quoted nor cited TMZ. (Update:) However, they have now been able to confirm via NBC News and LA Time sources.

CNN Reports: Michael Jackson is in a coma. Now reports death as well.

With the Internet, and websites like Twitter – Even TV news seems dated… Not to mention print newspapers? HA!

LAST UPDATED: 7:07 P.M. 6/25/09


9 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Brian Andrews’ RCN Newscast Gets Some Mojo; Jim Robinson Joins

Author admin on 6/24/2009 in Local Media.
Jim Robinson Photo: @allplatform

Jim Robinson Photo: @allplatform

Former WFOR photojournalist Jim Robinson, aka the news mojo, recently joined Brian Andrews’ RCN News in English newscast as a South Florida based correspondent.

Jim shoots, edits and reports stories from South Florida then uploads the file to Bogota, Colombia where Brian Andrews and the RCN News in English team are based. US Americans call that a VJ (video journalist) or one-man band, which we’ll probably see a lot more at local stations in the future.

Jim was a photojournalist at WFOR and worked with Brian Andrews until Brian left CBS4 and moved to Colombia. Last year he became the station’s first mobile journalist (hence the mojo moniker) but ended up laid off at the end of 2008 when CBS went trough yet another round of layoffs at their local stations .

Some of the RCN News in English Staff

Some of the RCN News in English Staff. Photo: Brian Andrews Facebook Profile

Brian’s creation has grown like weeds since it launched an year and a half ago. What started as one-man band web newscast, with just one video a day, is now supported by 14 staff members who write, edit, report, encode video, upload and perform hosting duties for the newscast. They’re also adding video twice or more a day and in addition to news there are also entertainment reports, plus even if you have no interest in Colombian news you can check out some some of the stories on life in Colombia.

Recently RCN redesigned the site with a new look and its own domain name, ColombiaNews.tv. And also (my personal obsession) added a new large video player with big, clear video that doesn’t look like a postage stamp on my 27″ monitors unlike say some local stations. (WFOR and WSVN I’m looking at you!)

As a web geek I really like seeing how they grew backwards, if you will, at least by traditional TV standards, going from the web to now getting aired on RCN’s global channel TV Colombia as well as on those TV screens tucked in the headrests of Avianca Airlines’ airplane seats.

You can check out RCN News in English at ColombiaNews.tv and Jim is on twitter @allplatform

7 Comments Tags: , , , , .

WFOR’s Cool New Radar

Author Alex on 6/24/2009 in Links, Local Media and graphics.
cbs4weather

WFOR's New Doppler 4D

WFOR CBS4 just launched a new cool weather radar this Thursday! They call it Doppler 4D, and it’s like nothing else in the South Florida TV news market. According to Craig Setzer’s Inside Weather Scoop Blog:

“A typical radar view is two dimensional.  It is also typically the lowest “slice” out of a thunderstorm and indicates the intensity of rain (or possibly hail) falling out of the storm.  If you loop the image you add the dimension of time and how the storm is changing over time.  This, in some respects is three dimensions.  We can also look at a radar image in the form of a “range height indicator” or RHI.  Then you not only see a horizontal slice of the storm, but a vertical slice as well.”

“[…] So simple intensity of the storm is important and that’s what most radars show, but Doppler 4D shows the entire depth of the storm, revealing details we rarely see.  Potential hail, extreme winds, even tornadoes show up when viewed in this much detail.”

With hurricane season already a month old, and a tropical weather system inevitable, this may be an edge WFOR needs. It seems to be common knowledge that WTVJ doesn’t have a chance in hell of gaining any viewers this hurricane season with their (small) all-star weather team – but WFOR has a chance. Read more of this personal opinion in the SFLTV Forums.

12 Comments Tags: , , , .

WFOR Shoots Story About iPhone 3GS Using an iPhone 3GS

Author admin on 6/23/2009 in Local Media.

UPDATE: Gio Benitez in comments says that CBS4 is looking for viewer feedback. However you must do it using your iPhone 3GS. Contact Gio at his email address: gbenitez@cbs.com or @GioBenitezCBS4 on Twitter

The new iPhone 3GS, or whatever this thing is called now, has camera!!! Best thing since sliced bread!!! Nothing new for a cell phone but to the iPhone it is, considering the gadget didn’t even have copy and paste until recently.

And of course what’s a newscast without the obligatory video of crazy people who slept on sidewalks so they can get their hands on a piece of plastic and metal the day it’s released?

WFOR of course reported on the new super duper iPhone but went with a different angle. Instead of showing video from news services, or lug one of those big TV cameras around, they had producer Geo Benitez (who I guess didn’t sleep on a sidewalk for his iPhone?) shoot the story about the new iPhone 3GS … with an iPhone 3GS using the gadget’s new video camera.

Thankfully it appears they either used a device or someone with a steady hand because there were no vomit inducing hand shaking video.

I think the story came out pretty good, you can watch it here

Considering some stations are already using cheap video via Skype I’m thinking it is safe to assume that live video via iPhone (or any phone with video camera) is not too far off. It will make AT&T’s 3G network completely fall apart but who cares about them it’s the future today.

2 Comments Tags: , , .

WFOR Now an ‘Advocacy Journalism’ Station

Author admin on 6/23/2009 in Local Media.

In an ‘Inside the Newsroom’ post on June 19th WFOR’s news director Adrienne Roark writes that we can pretty much consider the station an advocacy journalism shop.

‘We are the station that is by, for, and about the people” she writes. “Consider us a media advocate; working to improve the lives of the people who live here. We take this commitment very seriously”

Wikipedia describes advocacy journalism as:

… a genre of journalism that intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose. Because it is intended to be factual, it is distinguished from propaganda.

…

News reports are intended to be objective and unbiased. In contrast, advocacy journalists have an opinion about the story they are writing. For example, that political corruption should be punished, that more environmentally friendly practices should be adopted by consumers, or that a government policy will be harmful to business interests and should not be adopted.

Lately there has been a noticeable trend where the CBS4 I-Team label is showing up quite a bit in WFOR’s newscasts or I-Team newscasts as some might argue.
Continue reading ‘WFOR Now an ‘Advocacy Journalism’ Station’

4 Comments Tags: , , , .

WFOR Site Gets New Look

Author admin on 6/3/2009 in Local Media.

WFOR, and all CBS-owned-and-operated stations, had their website’s design refreshed.

The layout is pretty much the same save for a bigger header that now more prominently shows the station’s logo, a bigger search box. And the site is centered instead of aligned-left.

Sadly the video player didn’t get tweaked, same flash player as before though it sounds as if the audio was improved and it’s not as compressed anymore.

check it out

4 Comments Tags: , , , .

Tom Doerr Considered for WTVJ News Director Job?

Author admin on 5/27/2009 in Local Media.

FTVLive Newsblues, says the now former WFOR VP and Station Manager Tom Doerr is being considered for the news director job at WTVJ which was recently vacated by Yvette Miley who left WTVJ for a gig at MSNBC

In November 2006 Tom Doerr moved to WFOR from the CBS-owned station in Dallas, TX where he was the news director as the network tried to revive WFOR’s sagging ratings. He replaced Shannon High-Bassalik who also left for a job at MSNBC.

In February of 2009, Doerr was canned by CBS after the network decided to get rid of all managers at their owned-and-operated stations, of which WFOR is one.

Doerr is University of Florida graduate and the last time he worked in the Miami-Ft Lauderdale market before coming to WFOR was from 1993 to 1998 when he was news director at WPLG.

18 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Prosecutor: Shooting Spurred by WFOR’s Jim DeFede Report

Author admin on 4/29/2009 in Local Media.

jimdefedewfor

According to The Miami New Times, Michael Von Zamft an assistant state attorney working on a January 23rd drive by shooting in Liberty City, in which someone opened fire with an AK-47 on a group of young men playing craps and killing two, says it’s his opinion a report by WFOR’s Jim DeFede is to blame for a second attack that happened recently.

In the story the mother of one of the two boys shot and killed openly criticised her neighbors for not coming forward with information about the January shooting. Her face and street address number were shown uncensored.

In the same story another woman who remained anonymous claimed at first she knew who killed her rapper friend, the January 23rd shooting allegedly happened as retaliation to his murder, and pointed out one of the boys as the killer but later backtracked saying she wasn’t sure.

Several days after the story aired on WFOR someone stopped in front of the mother’s home and opened fire on a group of young men standing in front, injuring five.

Michael Von Zamft told The Miami New Times he believes the second shooting was spurred by WFOR’s story because of the theory about the January shooting and because of the interview with the mother infront of her home.

On his part DeFede says his story may have contributed to the attack. His full response can be read here the police however have yet to officially link the two shootings.

/image Jim DeFede WFOR bio/

6 Comments Tags: , , .

That’s News?

Author Alex on 4/15/2009 in Local Media and Site News and Comments.

Update2: A tipster tells us 7 Skyforce was not sent to cover the stuck cow, 7 just picked up the metro traffic chopper feed.

Cool pictures of cow stuck already in front of us, there was no reason not to air it.. but, for the record, we did not, and would not pay to send skyforce.. and even Billi reported it rather tongue in cheek

Update: NBC6 just ran a small bit about it at the end of the 6PM news.

If you ever wondered why there’s little respect for local news now-a-days, here’s your answer. This is a “tweet” from @newschasers.

“Southwest Ranches: Griffin Rd, FD en route to cow stuck in mud, PIO also en route
MAY need tactical rescue for cow stuck in mud?”

Followed by:

“CFR ADVISES NEWS CHOPPERS OVERHEAD ON COW INCIDENT LOL, COWS FRONT LEGS ARE STUCK IN MUD NEAR CANAL, TRYING TO EXTRICATE NOW”

…and sad to say, that was 100% true. That’s right, WSVN was first to “break the story” of the stuck cow. They even wasted their money and sent 7Skyforce

WSVN picked up the feed from Metro Traffic with which they have a news sharing agreement. WFOR had the story as well labeled as Breaking News.

wsvnfamouscow Continue reading ‘That’s News?’

5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Alleged: Jim Berry Set To Leave WFOR?

Author Alex on 2/23/2009 in Local Media and departures.

xl15Is Jim Berry set to leave WFOR, CBS4? Rumors have allegedly been flying around the CBS4 newsroom. This is all still very new information, unconfirmed, and alleged. Though we have heard that someone one was working on his demo reel. We’ll keep you updated.

/Thanks to my tipser/

51 Comments Tags: , , .