Castengera; Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction - EPIC 2015      Writer’s Workshop See today’s writing tip and more inside the writer’s workshop. Do you find yourself just staring at the keyboard?  Is it torture coming up with a lead line?  Are your teases dull?  Does your copy add to the groan-factor of TV news?  Are you grammar and spelling-challenged?  Welcome to broadcast newswriting. Look inside the writer’s workshop for help.  Share your favorite scripts, suggestions and copy.  Learn from the experts. Search The 24/7Newsroom Directories Are you looking for an agent?  Are you digging around for a piece of technology to add to your newsroom?   Do you need someone to design a set, overhaul your graphics, or do voice-over work? Where can you find a list of journalism schools or industry associations? Find it here, check out all the24/7Newsroom  directories.   Media News At This Hour Feeding the 24/7 News Cycle Blog, Tweet & Web World     © Tom Petner 2012 In This Week’s Web World Spotlight is the Facebook Page: Overheard in the Newsroom Become a fan of The247Newsroom on Facebook
Welcome to the247Newsroom.com Good morning, today is Friday, May 18, 2012 Here’s an ahhhhhh moment to close out your work week....try this exercise in your newsroom’s morning meeting: What Does a 1st-Grade Journalist Look Like?  Now onto the the latest media news at this hour: **Yesterday morning I posted the story about Warren Buffett buying 63 newspapers from Media General.      The Omaha World-Herald reported,”Warren Buffett made good Thursday on      his promise to buy more newspapers, agreeing to buy 63 daily and weekly      newspapers in the Southeast for $142 million from financially troubled      Media General Inc. of Richmond, Va....The purchase includes the      newspapers' web sites, printing operations and related businesses.      Berkshire would make a debt-refinancing loan to Media General, which      would keep its TV stations and sell separately the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, its      largest newspaper. “ (more) As the dust settles on the deal, people are wondering why Buffett would buy into an industry on the ropes.  Eric Wemple at the Washington Post put it succinctly: Warren Buffett buys newspapers. Is he nuts? Not likely that the Oracle of Omaha is nuts...it comes down to the money for him and Media General.  Check out this analysis of the deal from paidContent: Why Warren Buffett is buying newspapers.  And this one from the Wall Street Journal: Buffett Rides to Media General’s Rescue. **New York Market - Patch and WPIX make Content Partnership Deal - According to the release, “PIX11 Newscasts Will Feature Patch's Most Compelling Stories and Breaking News From Nearly 150 Communities in the Tri-State Area.” Patch on PIX" segments will kick off this week on PIX11 News at Five, and are expected to expand to the PIX11 Morning News.  "In our continuing goal to better serve our local communities, PIX11's partnership with Patch will deliver valuable content to our viewers, creating a richer and deeper news experience," said Bill Carey, PIX11 News Director. (link to the release) **Philadelphia market - Fox 29 hires Weather Channel anchor as permanent Bolaris replacement.  Dan Gross at the Daily News reports, “Fox 29 has hired Weather Channel morning anchor Scott Williams as its new chief meteorologist, finally installing a permanent replacement for John Bolaris who left the station in January. Williams will do weather on the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts and starts on-air June 4 a station spokeswoman confirms.” **Miami market - Spanish TV anchor Frank Cairo charged with grand theft.  Spanish-language television anchor and producer Frank Cairo is accused of stealing chairs and a carpet from a neighbor.  According to the Miami Herald, “Spanish-language television anchor and producer Frank Cairo was charged Thursday with grand theft after he allegedly stole a set of chairs and a carpet from a neighbor in Doral.  A surveillance video shows Cairo, 48, whose real name is Iván Valdés, and a friend, Jorge Acuña Arias, 47, during the alleged theft on April 29.   Doral Police Chief Rick Gómez said Valdés “admitted” to the theft, saying he had entered the apartment because he thought it was abandoned.” (more) **I have another media quiz this morning.  This one comes from the Chicago market and Robert Feder at TimeOutChicago.com -  A quiz in quotes: Think you know Chicago television? Match these phrases with the Chicago television personalities who made them famous. Here’s the first ten quotes:  1. How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?  2. Bozo’s Circus is on the air!  3.The lively art of conversation.  4. Hey! Hey!  5. Take it easy, but take it.  6. Someone you should know.  7. Man on the Go.  8. Berwyn!  9. Peace. 10. Whoosh! (link to the remaining quotes and answers) **Miami Moves - WTVJ promotes Adam Kuperstein to Main Anchor; Trina Robinson Now Evening Anchor.  SFLTV.com reports “WTVJ sports reporter Adam Kuperstein has been promoted to main anchor. He was supposed to anchor the weekday morning newscast with Pam Giganti but instead got put on the evening newscasts after Kevin Corke was shown the door. Kuperstein joined WTVJ in July of 2005 from the FOX station in Toledo, OH as a sports reporter and anchored WTVJ’s Sunday sports show.” (more) *Cronkite hated Dan to the end: book...according to a piece by Michael Starr in the New York Post, “An increasingly bitter Walter Cronkite never hid his disdain for his “CBS Evening News” successor, Dan Rather — until his bosses ordered him to zip it as part of his final contract with the network.  That’s one of the revelations about the complicated, stormy Cronkite-Rather relationship in “Cronkite,” Douglas Brinkley’s upcoming biography of the legendary CBS News anchor, who died in 2009 at the age of 92.” (more) **I want to share a note came into the 247newsroom from Chris Allen at WBKO in Bowling Green, Kentucky: WBKO is calling all alumni back home to Bowling Green,Kentucky to help celebrate channel 13’s 50thanniversary!  The ABC affiliate began as “Wonderful LiveTeleVision” with the calls WLTV on June 3rd, 1962.  In a time before computers, video tape and fancy newsrooms, all the programming was live and local which included wrestling and Country music jamborees. Friday, June 1st will be a day of reunion and celebration as former news anchors and staff return for a live “Midday”show followed by a one-hour “50th Anniversary Special”that evening. If you’ve hallowed the halls of WBKO some time in the past 50 years, you’re invited to be a part of this special celebration starting 10am CT at the station.  For more information, contact chris.allen@wbko.com. WLTV became an ABC affiliate in 1967 then later changed itscall letters to WBKO in 1971.  Besides ABC, WBKO now carries FOX and TheCW on it’s digital sub-channels. **More Market & Media Matters: .....Denver market - When TV stations attack: it's "Bear Week" on CBS4 Joanne Ostrow at the Denver Post writes, “Six nights' worth of stories about bears — bears in suburban backyards, bears in trash cans, bear attacks, adorable bear cubs — sounds like a canny way for local TV news to draw eyeballs during the May sweeps.  True, but it's not just a ploy. According to CBS4, the Colorado Division of Wildlife believes this could be the state's worst summer for bears in a decade.” .....Houston market - Mike McGuff reports on his blog that KPRC 2 hires first social media producer. .....Austin, Texas - Former News Director Bill Church evaluates the latest offering of sweeps special reports in this piece: Sweeps: Local TV news race for ratings supremacy. .....KVDA Telemundo San Antonio Premieres New Local Newscasts Beginning May 21st .....New morning newscast in Toledo.  The Blade reports: “With the recent combined newsroom of WTOL and WUPW-TV, Channel 36, as part of a shared services agreement, a new morning newscast will debut June 11 on WUPW.” .....More from Toldelo and the Blade: Ailing Voetsch takes more time off “Nearly five months after returning to work, WTOL-TV, Channel 11, anchor- reporter Melissa Voetsch has taken another medical leave. Voetsch, who suffers from cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart and a leaky valve, posted on her Facebook page that she is "taking some more time to continue my healing.” .....Kansas City market - KCTV’s Morning Show Hurting in Ratings. .....Twin Falls TV Station KXTF to Drop FOX Programming. .....Dalglish Named New Dean of UMD's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Enter the247Newsroom here to search the archives and  read more about these stories.  If you have a story, comment or suggestion, drop me a note at: editor@the247newsroom.com. Tom Petner  Editor & Publisher   Click Here - Sign up for the FREE daily newsletter   Price: Establish a Protocol For Breaking Weather News
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