Steve Schwaid is the news director at WGCL. After an LAF commenter mentioned that he helped cover the fatal Atlanta Botanical Garden construction accident, we wanted his impressions. He agreed to answer some e-mailed questions: –Word is that you actually showed up at the Botanical Garden accident and helped out / observed. Care to answer [...]
Archive for December, 2008
28 Dec
Accidental
The holidays can be desperate times for the news biz. With vacations, staffs are pared to a bare minimum. Offices are closed. Newsmakers disappear. Friday’s late news on WAGA was a fine example of such desperation. A pickup truck crossed a center line in rural Douglas County, struck an oncoming vehicle and killed a woman. [...]
23 Dec
“Don’t come in my ear”
Happy holidays. And happy birthday to Harry Shearer, who posted this nine-minute-long diva moment. more about “My Damn Channel » Found Objects » Fou…“, posted with vodpod
22 Dec
High profile
Too often, when a newsmaker says “I don’t want my face on TV,” reporters quickly agree. They may ask their photogs to videotape the interviewee in the classic silhouette. But more often, it’s done on the fly. So they shoot the back of the subject’s head. Or their hands. Or the reporter nodding as the [...]
21 Dec
Garden variety
One can just imagine the cell phones lighting up a little after 9am Friday. That’s when the Atlanta Botanical Garden construction accident happened — right at the time that day shifts started for TV news folks and their managers. All four stations threw resources at the story. By 11pm, it was still the lead. Many [...]
18 Dec
The Cult of Dagmar
The subject of this post is kinda the proverbial gorilla in the room, an issue mostly sidestepped on this modest blog. Dagmar Midcap is the foremost face of WGCL’s news, a weather forecaster without any meteorological bona fides. But that doesn’t seem to matter (in light of that, though, it’s always amusing to see WGCL [...]
17 Dec
Winne Watch 12.16.08
“He had just changed out of his court clothes and was about to change his address — from a local jail, to state prison.” WSB’s Mark Winne, Tuesday at 6pm. Drama points: √√√√ (out of five). Winne had obtained tape shot by Fulton Co. Sheriff’s deputies, showing convicted killer Brian Nichols transferring from local custody [...]
14 Dec
Appreciating Bisher
It’s past time we gave this man his due while he’s still among us, still covering games and still banging out copy on, we hope, a Royal manual typewriter. Furman Bisher, forever an Atlanta Journal guy dragged kicking and screaming into the AJC, is 90 years old and still covering sports in Atlanta, Georgia. Let’s [...]
11 Dec
City liquidity
You probably didn’t see what may be the most relevant TV investigative report of 2008. It aired this week on WGCL, showing that the city of Atlanta’s money woes are, in part, due to its own failure to collect money owed to the city. Wendy Saltzman reported that the city is owed more than $30 [...]
10 Dec
One gem, three oddities
Four stories jumped out at us from WGCL’s website. All had an odd quality to them. (None was the “Restaurant Report Card,” which we’re unofficially ignoring these days…) Mike Moore delivered a piece the site calls “bad news takes stressful toll on Atlantans.” Predictably, WGCL took no credit for any of that “bad news.” Moore [...]
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