By Trevor Pettiford If the news coverage of the July Primary serves as a sneak preview of how the four local news stations will cover the general election come November, then I’d keep my eye on 11Alive if I were you. WXIA’s coverage won by a landslide. Reporters and producers kept at least two if not [...]
Archive for July, 2008
17 Jul
Wanna be a ND?
It was always striking to hear employees of WXIA’s news room refer to Cal Callaway in rather affectionate terms. Such terms rarely came from the mouths of employees of other newsrooms while speaking of their managers. Callaway, by all accounts, is a reasonably sane man. Inside his chest, there reportedly beats an actual human heart. [...]
16 Jul
WXIA News Director Steps Down…
WXIA announced today that news director Cal Callaway is leaving that post. He will remain on the payroll and will oversee day-to-day newsroom operations. WXIA is looking for a new news director.
16 Jul
Career change
TV reporters will tell you there are many reasons they do what they do. As youngsters, they enter the business with a romantic view of journalism and the notion that it can change the world. Or they want to be part of the events that shape their world and community. Some may have the more [...]
15 Jul
Re-education camp
Earlier this month, WXIA sent one of its most experienced reporters to backpack journalism school and scheduled classes for another. The reporters, Paul Crawley and Jon Shirek, began work in TV news during the film era. Crawley (left) joined WXIA in 1978, Shirek in 1980. “Backpack journalism” is a 21st century term for a brutal [...]
14 Jul
Free Lunch
The dean of Atlanta’s investigative reporters delivered a clean, solid hit to an odd, costly practice by the Forsyth County Tax Commissioner. It seems commissioner Matthew Ledbetter habitually buys meals for his staff, spending taxpayer dollars to do so. It was so conspicuous that somebody finally tipped WSB’s Richard Belcher, who delivered a report on [...]
11 Jul
Nuts
Atlanta TV news took a sudden a-block interest in politics Thursday. An imminent primary election might logically explain it, except it doesn’t. Instead, we can thank Jesse Jackson. His whispered “cut his nuts off” remark about Barack Obama spurred an atypical lead story on WGCL’s 6pm news. The story is what producers like to call [...]
10 Jul
Welcome to the train wreck
To: Steve Schwaid, new News Director at WGCL From: LAF Subj: WTF were you thinking? It seems you have accepted one of the most challenging– perhaps impossible– jobs in all of TV news. For this, you gave up a career as a suit at NBC. You’ve got guts. Doubtless you’ve gotten lots of helpful insight [...]
9 Jul
“We have a situation…”
Once, while putting the finishing touches on a story that took all day, the following phone conversation took place: News manager: We need you to go to Norcross. There’s a police situation. Yours truly: What’s going on? News manager: We don’t know, but the chopper is showing us cops with lots of guns. How soon [...]
7 Jul
Hell hath no fury…
In light of his documented sexual exploits– the fact that DNA tests prove that he’s the real father of his nephew, for example– Earl Paulk is a remarkable dude: Megachurch founder, jowly pompadoured Lothario, libidinous egomaniac. Dale Russell of WAGA has had his number for several years now, thanks to the fact that Paulk’s ex-secretary [...]
Recent Comments