| —
Headlines
from the TV news industry in
the northeast U.S.
and across the country. — Top News: Meredith big's alleged racist statements, Schieffer's new gig "This was the true definition of a 'power bigot.'" - NABJ veep Barbara Ciara of WTKR-3 opines on ex-Meredith TV head Kevin O'Brien |
 (DEVELOPING STORY/1pm ET) A features reporter for the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution was hit
and carjacked this morning,
likely by a rape suspect who had just shot three people to death inside
the Fulton County Courthouse. Don O'Briant, who had parked his car in a
garage near the newspaper building, was apparently giving directions to
a man who pulled up in a sport utility vehicle when the man pulled a
gun on him and demanded his keys, according to the paper. O'Briant
handed over the keys but the suspect wanted him to get him in the
trunk, which he refused to do. The man reportedly beat him, possibly
with a gun, before O'Briant took off running. As of this report, Judge
Roland Barnes, a court reporter, and a deputy are reported dead and
another deputy injured in the shooting about four hours ago. |
|
More details
are coming out about the firing
of a controversial broadcast group executive. In October, Meredith
Corporation fired Kevin O'Brien, who served as president of its
television
 stations, for what they called "violations of
Meredith's
equal employment opportunity policies." Now, a company memo obtained by
the Associated Press is revealing more about what led to O'Brien's
ouster. The unsealed information comes from Meredith's top lawyer,
writing about the situation in a memo. Among O'Brien's alleged
statements were "we can't right all the wrongs of the Civil War; we've
got to quit hiring all these black people" and "you shouldn't hire old
black guys -- [they] don't listen, they have attitudes, and you can't
control them." A lawyer
for O'Brien told the AP that the company is trying to embarrass
O'Brien and that he is not racist. In a release, Meredith said it
undertook a thorough investigation once it got information of claims,
taking "swift, decisive, and appropriate action" by firing its
three-year TV president. Meredith's TV stations include Atlanta CBS
affiliate WGCL-46, which O'Brien is said to have thought hired too many
black on-air personalities, along with WFSB-3 (CBS) in Hartford, WSMV-4
(NBC) in Nashville, and KPHO-5 (CBS) in Phoenix. |
 Longtime CBS
reporter Bob Schieffer took over the "Evening News" desk from Dan
Rather last night. "Tonight, we turn a page at CBS News," began
Schieffer, the network's Washington correspondent and "Face the Nation"
moderator, who has been named interim anchor for the program before it
is slated to transition to a new format, possibly with multiple
anchors. In closing the broadcast, Schieffer, who among other things
has to shuttle from the CBS base in New York to Washington for "Face
the Nation," called his new role "a daunting assignment" but said it
was an honor to follow Rather and his "hero" Walter Cronkite. There
were some other minor changes to the show, including a round-robin open
of reporter teases and a more conversational anchoring style being
employed by Schieffer. [ Scripts
from Rather's sign off and Schieffer's sign on ] |
 A
Chicago TV station revealed yesterday that it received a letter
apparently from the man responsible for the brutal murders of a judge's
husband and mother. The letter, sent
to WMAQ-5 in Chicago,
is helping to shed light on the case of the killings at the home of
Judge Joan Lefkow. In it, Bart Ross, who killed himself when he was
pulled over by a police officer in Wisconsin and also had a suicide
note with him indicating he was the Lefkow killer, said he intended to
kill Lefkow but fired shots at her family after Lefkow's husband
discovered him waiting in the house. The letter was discovered by the
newsroom staff yesterday morning after going through the Ch. 5
mailroom, the station
reported. |
After 31
years on the main newscasts for WKBN-27 in Youngstown, Tom Holden is
set to step down for a daytime anchor shift beginning next month.
He
will be replaced by sports anchor Robb Schmidt on the 6 and 11 p.m.
newscasts but continue on at noon and 5 p.m. "A generation of valley
viewers grew up watching Tom Holden report local news," read a statement
from the CBS affiliate. "This move is designed to give viewers a
long, gradual transition to a new era, as Tom begins to wind down a
spectacular career." Weekend sports anchor Ryan Allison gets bumped up
to the top sports job. Holden presided over Ch. 27's ratings dominance
in the Youngstown market -- the station has since lost ground to rival
WFMJ-21 (NBC). |
 Reporters or
anchors changing their names for an on-air job is not uncommon in the
TV news business, but doing it in the middle of a job is just about
unheard of. But that didn't stop WIS-10 anchor Dawn Mercer, who is
now going by Dawndy on the air. Mercer, who fronts the stations 7
and 11 p.m. newscasts, tells the local paper that Dawndy is her real
name but Ch. 10 bigs had her change it when she came to the station as
a weathercaster in 1992. "At the time I hated it. It wasn't me. It was
like I was somebody else," she told The State. She left after a few
years, but returned to anchor in 2001 and recently signed a new
contract with the NBC affiliate. |
