The 119 Words You Can't Say On Tribune Radio and TV Stations

By Ken Levine

Randy Michaels is the CEO of the Tribune Company. Once a major broadcasting and publishing giant (Chicago Tribune, LA Times, etc.), it is now crumbling like a sand castle. And Michaels, who in a similar role with Clear Channel Communication, laid the groundwork for that empire to collapse.

So it’s understandable why Tribune would hire a non-newspaper man to oversee their operation in it's most dire time. Anyway, recently he issued an edict to the news director of WGN radio listing 119 words or phrases WGN newscasters were no longer allowed to say.

WGN, Chicago was once one of the most respected radio stations in America.
I can just see it -- "Mr. Michaels, the editor of the Los Angeles Times is on line one. He can't meet payroll."

"Call them back! I'm busy with something far more important! Let me see... "pedestrian". We can't have our newscasters say pedestrian."

The absurdity continues as Michaels instructed WGN staffers to snitch on each other if they hear one of these dastardly words aired. "Dan, I know you hired me and rescued my family from financial ruin but you said "at risk" on the 5:30 cast so I just sent a text to Randy Michaels."

Oh, the morale must be sky high.

So here is the complete list.

“Flee” meaning “run away”“Good” or “bad” news“Laud” meaning “praise”“Seek” meaning “look for”“Some” meaning “about”“Two to one margin” . . . “Two to one” is a ratio, not a margin.

A margin is measured in points. It’s not a ratio. “Yesterday” in a lead sentence, “Youth” meaning “child”, 5 a.m. in the morning, After the break, After these commercial messages, Aftermath

All of you, Allegations, Alleged, Area residents, As expected, At risk, At this point in time, Authorities, Auto accident, Bare naked. Behind bars, Behind closed doors, Behind the podium (you mean lecturn), Best kept secret, Campaign trail, Clash with police, Close proximity, Complete surprise, Completely destroyed, completely abolished, completely finished or any other completely redundant use.

Death toll, Definitely possible, Diva, Down in (location), Down there, Dubbaya when you mean double you, Everybody (when referring to the audience), Eye Rack or Eye Ran, False pretenses Famed, Fatal death, Fled on foot, Folks, Giving 110%, Going forward, Gunman, especially lone gunman, Guys, Hunnert when you mean hundred, Icon, In a surprise move, In harm’s way, In other news, In the wake of (unless it’s a boating story), Incarcerated, Informed sources say.

Killing spree, Legendary, Lend a helping hand, Literally, Lucky to be alive, Manhunt, Marred, Medical hospital, Mother of all (anything), Motorist, Mute point (It’s moot point, but don’t say that either)

Near miss, No brainer, Officials, Our top story tonight, Out in (location), Out there, Over in, Pedestrian, Perfect storm, Perished, Perpetrator, Plagued, Really, Reeling, Reportedly, Seek, Senseless murder, Shots rang out, Shower activity, Sketchy details, Some (meaning about), Some of you, Sources say.

Speaking out, Stay tuned, The fact of the matter, Those of you, Thus, Time for a break, To be fair, Torrential rain, Touch base, Under fire, Under siege, Underwent surgery, Undisclosed, Undocumented alien, Unrest, Untimely death, Up in (location), Up there, Utilize (you mean use), Vehicle, We’ll be right back, Welcome back, Welcome back everybody, We’ll be back, Went terribly wrong, We’re back, White stuff, World class, You folks.

*

To help guide the WGN news staff I've written a couple of examples of how news stories should now sound. What can I say? I'm a giver.


"In other bummer news today, President John Kennedy was shot and is believed dead but not fatally. He underwent that thing that doctors do when they cut you open and the results were not awesome. The gang-of-one armed homo sapien they think did it – Lee Harvey Oswald – tore ass out of the adjacent book depository as men in blue uniforms with responsibility ran after him, giving it somewhere between 109 and 111%. At the moment we have crude pencil doodle details but the innocent-until-proven-guilty murderer is still in close propinquity. According to reliable no-name people with knowledge, the FBI is lending that appendage with an opposable thumb. Mrs. Kennedy, the mammy of all her children is submerged in the dumps as a result of her husband being untimely whacked. You can drain the lizard for two minutes because I won’t be reading any more news until then."

*
"Reports from the U.N. in Ee-Ran have Dee-termined U-ranium eff-orts Bee-lieved U-seable are ex-traneous. Meanwhile, fighting has become explosive and by that I mean things have actually gone boom. For retreating Ee-ranian soldiers, their boot heels have been a wandering since they are car and truckless. Many people were in harm’s crosshairs. The corpse count continues to climb but one non-military looky-loo who survived a near-hit said he’s lucky to still be pre-deceased. The end to the bloodshed is possibly definite but for now army guys with fruit salad on their uniforms say bombers will maintain their over fire. Coming up after you flog your bishop Marcie will have weekend weather including details on what could be an ideal storm."

Ken Levine



KEN LEVINE is an Emmy winning writer/director/producer/major league baseball announcer. In a career that has spanned over 30 years Ken has worked on MASH, CHEERS, FRASIER, THE SIMPSONS, WINGS, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, BECKER, DHARMA & GREG, and has co-created his own series including ALMOST PERFECT starring Nancy Travis. He and his partner wrote the feature VOLUNTEERS. Ken has also been the radio/TV play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres. Currently Ken is the host of Dodger Talk after every Dodger game on Talkradio 790 KABC, Los Angeles.

_______


Glad to see Randy has so much free time. These are the sort of ideas that bankrupt Tribune just paid out $45 million dollars in executive bonuses for. Wow! -BD

FCC KO’s Cable Interests In DC Circuit Court

RBR-TVBR

The FCC’s program access rules, which require cable companies to make critical must-have programming available to their competitors, were upheld in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a setback for plaintiffs like Cablevision and Comcast and a win for the FCC in a venue that has often called the Commission arbitrary and capricious.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski hailed the FCC win. “The Commission’s program access rules have played a vital role in making diverse and attractive video programming available to cable and satellite TV viewers,” he said. “I’m pleased that the D.C. Circuit court has confirmed the Commission’s authority to prevent vertically integrated cable companies from denying critical television programming to their competitors and consumers.”

The issue primarily revolves around regional sports networks, which often tie up play by play rights for key professional and college athletic teams, the lack of which on a channel lineup would be an instant turn-off for many potential subscribers.

The Commission actually beat the “arbitrary and capricious” rap directly. The Court’s Chief Judge David B. Sentelle wrote, “In these consolidated cases, Cablevision Systems Corporation and Comcast Corporation petition for review of the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to extend for five years a statutory prohibition against exclusive contracts between cable operators and cable affiliated programming networks. Petitioners assert that the Commission misinterpreted the plain meaning of the underlying statute. In addition, they argue the Commission’s decision was arbitrary and capricious and therefore violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Lastly, petitioners claim the decision fails under First Amendment intermediate scrutiny.“

We hold that the Commission’s interpretation of its statutory mandate was reasonable. Because we also hold that the Commission’s decision satisfies arbitrary and capricious review, and that intermediate scrutiny is not applicable, we deny the petitions for review.”

Cablevision did not agree with Sentelle. The company issued a statement, saying, “Like the must carry and retransmission consent regime that allowed ABC to blackout the Oscars for 3 million New York households this week, the program access rules are based on an outdated and obsolete view of the competitive landscape. In today’s highly competitive video marketplace these rules do nothing but tilt the playing field in favor of phone companies and broadcasters to the detriment of fair competition and consumers.”

RBR-TVBR observation: The real-life implications of this decision are difficult to guage. Just the day before the Court ruled, a Comcast competitor repeated testimony in Congress to the effect that access appeals are lengthy and expensive, making the process fairly useless.

Comcast, on the other hand, and whatever its true feelings about the access rules, has a conflict removed that had been troubling many legislators. It has said it would provide access to its programming regardless of the outcome of the court case, even while supporting the Cablevision-led court action.

This caused no end of consternation for many legislators, who at numerous Hill hearings have been free to accuse Comcast of saying one thing and doing another. This at least relieves Comcast of that conflict.

See the entire court decision here: http://www.rbr.com/files.php?force&file=pdfs/031210-DCIRCUIT.pdf

Job Opening:

New Media Online Campaign Manager

Location: Washington DC

Category: New Media

Summary: This is a senior position within the SEIU New Media team, with two positions available. The New Media Campaign Manager is responsible for working with designated departments and campaigns to integrate online organizing with traditional organizing methods. Campaign Managers will be responsible for running online campaigns using new media tools like email, sms, video, working with bloggers, online ads and more.

Description:

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: (Any one position may not include all of the specific duties and responsibilities listed. Examples provide a general summary of the work required and should not be treated as a total and complete list of expected duties to be performed by employees in the classification.)

Manages every aspect of online campaigning in their designated issue areas, including (but not limited to) making a campaign plan; writing content for email and websites; directing the purchase of online advertisements for list-building and persuasion, coordinating the direction of online video creation, and other responsibilities as needed.
Works with Industry Division and Department leaders on the development of online strategy, content, and technology to advance campaign goals.

Analyzes and reports on metrics for their campaigns; works with other New Media campaign managers and directors to develop internal “best practices”.

Monitors the latest news in their designated issue areas; looks for opportunities for online activism.

Reviews bills from vendors for accuracy, and ensures invoices are paid on time.

Performs other duties as required to support the department and its mission.

Contacts: Include SEIU and affiliate staff, consultants, vendors, allies.

Direction and Decision Making: This position reports to the Deputy

Director and the Director of New Media.

Qualifications:

Education and Experience: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required. Three to five years experience in online organizing. Some field organizing experience preferred. Labor movement experience is a plus.

Other abilities include: Proven experience managing strategy, content creation, and technology acquisition and development for Web and Internet campaigns.

Experience developing and implementing strategy on a wide range of campaigns, including organizing, contract, political, and legislative, as well as experience working with community allies.

Thorough knowledge of Web site development, architecture, and navigation protocols.

Thorough knowledge of online publishing and related use of Internet technology for communication, education, and advocacy.

Knowledge of the use of new technology for community advocacy.

Knowledge of software product development.

Knowledge of building online audiences and communities.

Knowledge of unions, the labor movement, and their mission and objectives.

Knowledge of union organizing, political, and advocacy campaigns.

Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.

Excellent writing and editing skills required.

Ability to effectively use Internet communications tools.

Ability to make effective presentations.

Ability to handle multiple “priority” projects simultaneously and meet established deadlines.

Ability to coordinate with others on projects so that deadlines are satisfactorily met.

Ability to work effectively with elected leaders and staff in complex and sometimes political situations.

Ability to continually develop skills related to use of rapidly changing technology, and communications best practices.

Ability to write and proofread Spanish desired.

Skill in the use of HTML and Microsoft Office programs.

Physical Requirements: Work is generally performed in an office setting. Long and extended hours and travel may be required.

Compensation: MGT I

Submission Instructions: Please send resume and cover letter to matthew.browner-hamlin@seiu.org

Study of TV news takes Copps from worried to “flat out alarmed”

The average amount of time spent on local government during the 30-minute newscasts of eight Los Angeles television stations is 22 seconds, according to a study from the Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

And that has FCC Commissioner Michael Copps even more eager to leap into FCC proceedings that the report may tie into.

The study found that commercials take about eight and a half minutes of the half hour, and promos, weather and sports reports leave less than 16 minutes for other matters.

Crime and non-local stories take the biggest chunk out of that quarter hour.

“I was worried before the study was released,” said Copps. “Now I’m flat out alarmed. This is not picking on the good folks of L.A. I’ve been in all four corners of the country where this is unfortunately the case. This study should be incorporated into the work being done at the FCC on the Information Needs of Communities in a Digital Era. This is an evidential versus anecdotal perspective of local broadcast news and the results are most troubling. The digital divide continues to separate our lower income, less educated members of society from broadband media, and we simply cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the media that those Americans without broadband are receiving.”

Copps indicated that the FCC is on the case. “I look forward to a comprehensive FCC report dealing with the information needs of our communities to be completed in late summer and proceed to action by year’s end. There’s no time to be wasted.”Copps concluded, “People are still receiving much of their news over the airwaves as numerous recent studies have shown. Anyone dubious or skeptical of these findings and how they relate to their own community should do one simple thing: Watch your news with a stopwatch and then ask if your needs are being met.”

RBR-TVBR observation: Copps is right about one thing – to make the most of a station, a broadcaster has to be local – that is the critical competitive advantage that other electronic media have a great deal of difficulty mimicking.

That said, as consumers of local media, we’ve long since come to realize that a 30 minute local telecast is not the best place to get political coverage – the format just isn’t conducive to really delving into complex municipal issues.

Responsible citizens find the information they need elsewhere.It is a sad commentary that so many citizens are too busy or worse, too apathetic to stay on top of the issues, but that seems to be the unfortunate reality. You can certainly make the case that local television stations should at the very least find a way to increase the admittedly shoddy 22 seconds detailed in the Lear report and find a way to get two or three minutes on local government topics on an average newscast.

To say the least, it will be interesting to see how the Quadrennial Review and the localism proceedings play out. But the First Amendment limits what the FCC or any other branch of government can do in this area, and whatever they do will not even begin to address the apathy problem.

But get ready – it looks like this issue is going to generate a lot of heat as 2010 spools out.

Media Execs Weigh In On Comcast-NBCU

By Claire Atkinson

Panelists at media summit ask: What will the affect be on indie producers?

A variety of media executives delivered their views, positive and negative, on the Comcast NBC Universal get together at the Bloomberg Businessweek media summit Wednesday, March 10.

Reveille managing partner, Howard T. Owens, wondered what the impact of the deal on the independent production community might be, once complete. "The sharp stick is the fact that there are no more indies... If you're Reveille and you cant control any kind of upside if you have the next Survivor, ultimately that would be a disincentive for good new ideas." Reveille produces The Office and The Biggest Loser for NBC.

Separately, Standard & Poor equity analyst, Tuna Amobi, wondered why the supposed synergies frequently touted as a benefit of such mega mergers, weren't articulated. Speaking at the Summit in New York, Amobi said: "What we've been telling our clients is do not invest in Comcast simply because you expect it to throw off synergies." Amobi compared the deal to Livenation/Ticketmaster merger where the legal conditions of the deal were expected to cost millions of dollars. "I would argue that Comcast and NBC conditions will be much harsher, expect stringent conditions about program access and net neutrality."

Discovery's president of digital media and corporate development, Bruce Campbell spoke up in favor of the deal saying: "If you look at the structure, Comcast is already in the content business. They were able to get a pretty good deal."

The panelists also touched on the subject of how Apple is transforming the media business and what monies might flow from new technologies, Owens commented: "I feel like The Office is the most downloaded TV show in history and the money isn't that great. Pricing seems a little unfair." Pricing is a big topic of conversation between big media companies and Apple with content producers eager to move Apple towards more variable pricing.

Speaking to B&C after the event, Kevin Conroy, President of Univision Interactive Media, said Univision is talking to Apple about making its shows available on iTunes. Conroy said he thinks the company's variety shows would be most appropriate for mobile platforms. Speaking as part of the panel, he said: "There really hasn't been that much experimentation around pricing. If the technology player was in fact more a platform and creators and consumers could engage and experiment with prices that would be a far more engaging robust model."

Job At AFL-CIO Available

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR –
CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS

Position: Senior Writer
Public Affairs Department
Washington, D.C.

OVERVIEW OF RESPONSIBILITIES:

The AFL-CIO is seeking an outstanding writer for print and online projects ranging from speeches, columns and op-eds to blog posts and policy reports. The Senior Writer will be able to craft compelling material that will move the audience to action, basing the writing on policy positions, polling and other data and message templates.

The Senior Writer reports to the Deputy Director.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES:

Technical Skills

*Translate complicated subject matter into compelling and interesting presentations.

*Locate obscure information/details to support facts in speeches and talking points.

*Articulate goals, programs and direction of the AFL-CIO in clear and concise manner.

*Write a variety of advocacy and policy materials, for print and online use, that move the audience to take action.

*Rewrite or over-write additional materials as assigned.

*Use social media tools and contacts with progressive social media community to extend message reach.

*Work with program departments to plan, draft and revise campaign materials.

*Contribute creatively to message framing, audience targeting, campaign planning, etc. and execute print and online products.

*Keep the director fully informed on a regular basis on issues affecting all project work.

*Prepare and submit regular and ad hoc reports on activities as required.

*Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

*Bachelor’s degree in English or related field preferred.

*Minimum of 4 years writing for social advocacy group.

*Strong knowledge of the labor movement and the movement for progressive social change.

*Demonstrated experience integrating messaging in social media outreach such as Twitter and Facebook.

*Involvement in the social media community.

*Ability to exercise excellent political judgment and discretion.

*Strong interpersonal skills.

*Ability to collaborate and work well with staff.

*Excellent research, reporting and writing skills and engaging writing style.

*Demonstrated success in writing a range of advocacy materials including op-eds, speeches, etc.

*Ability to cultivate sources and understand and translate nuances.

*Ability to meet deadlines while juggling several projects simultaneously.

*Ability to adjust tones and capture different voices.

*Ability to work long and extended hours.

Three (3) Writing Samples Required - Must include a speech and an op-ed.

People of color and women are encouraged to apply.

Please send a cover letter describing your interest and qualifications for the position, a resume, and the requested writing samples to the contact listed below:

Jobpost
AFL-CIO Human Resources Department
815 Sixteenth Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006 FAX: (202)508-6961
EMAIL: jobpost@aflcio.org

WABC-TV Off Cablevision For Less Than A Day

RBR-TVBR

The midnight Saturday deadline came and WABC-TV was pulled off of Cablevision’s three million plus subscribing households. But just after 9:00 pm Sunday – in the middle of the Academy Awards broadcast on ABC – a deal was struck and the station restored to Cablevision’s subscribers.

As is usual in these situations, the antagonists were quick to pretend that no animosity had ever existed.
"We are happy to report that WABC Channel 7 has returned to Cablevision's 3 million New York area homes. We are very grateful to our customers for their support and pleased to welcome ABC back," said a statement from Charles Schueler, Cablevision's Executive Vice President of Communications. “ABC7 and Cablevision have made significant progress and have reached an agreement in principle that recognizes the fair value of ABC7, with deal points that we expect to finalize with Cablevision. Given this movement, we're pleased to announce that ABC7 will return to Cablevision households while we work to complete our negotiations," said a statement from WABC-TV.

No terms of the retransmission consent agreement were disclosed. Cablevision had previously paid zero for the right to resell WABC programming to its cable subscribers. Although they are paying ABC parent company, Disney $ 200 million a year in retransmission fees. -BD

During the 21 hours that WABC was missing from its cable systems, all in the Tri-State area of greater New York, Cablevision had announced that all on demand movies ordered on Sunday would be free to its subscribers.

RBR-TVBR question: What caused Cablevision to come to grips with reality? It could have been many things, but we noticed that the Facebook page it established for subscribers to bash ABC and applaud Cablevision didn’t exactly work out as planned.

Media Watchdogs Object To Negotiation Hostage Taking

Members of the watchdog community are not objecting so much to negotiations between cable operators and programmers – but they are objecting to the fact that consumers who pay good money for their cable service are often held hostage during the process.

Cristina C. Caballero, in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski written 3/5/10 while Cablevision/WABC negotiations were still in progress, wrote, “The recent news that transmission of WABC-TV might be terminated incident to negotiations between Disney and Cablevision draws attention to the practice of such broadcasters and cable companies, for the second time this year, of willingly leveraging the interests of consumers as part of their private negotiations. This type of conduct flies in the face of good faith and fair dealing, and it should not be encouraged or permitted by the Federal Communications Commission.”

She concluded, “It is our hope, therefore, that the Commission, under your leadership, will take a firm stand with the companies and require that, regardless of the outcome of their negotiations, carriage of WABC-TV will continue uninterrupted until an agreement is reached.”

Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Executive Director David Honig also weighed in, saying that he was expressing his own thoughts as a citizen and was not writing as a representative of his organization. Also addressing Genachowski, Honig wrote, “Events like the Superbowl and the Academy Awards have been used as leverage in these private retransmission consent negotiations. That is wrong. While the parties work out their differences, they should continue to satisfy consumers’ reasonable expectation that when they tune to Channel 7, they will see programming - not a slide that says ‘two large corporations couldn’t work out contract terms, so you, the viewer, have to suffer.’”

Honig went on to lament the dearth of reporting on serious issues facing minority communities, and said that is the kind of thing the FCC should be spending its time on. He said if television fails to provide in-depth coverage on important issues, “who cares whether their stations are available on cable?”

Shame on Sam Zell and Shame on Judge Kevin Carey

The NYT's Andrew Ross Sorkin explained in a recent New York Times article: "Real-estate billionaire Sam Zell used more than $13 billion in loans to take control of Tribune in 2007. One year later, he put the company into bankruptcy."

Mr. Sorkin goes on to say: "Mr. Zell financed much of his deal’s $13 billion of debt by borrowing against part of the future of his employees’ pension plan and taking a huge tax advantage."

Tribune employees ended up with equity, and now they will be left with very little, if anything at all.

As Mr. Newman, an analyst at CreditSights, explained at the time in that same New York Times article on the Tribune bankruptcy: “If there is a problem with the company, most of the risk is on the employees, as Zell will not own Tribune shares.” He continued: “The cash will come from the sweat equity of the employees of Tribune.”

Mr. Zell recently asked for, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved, $45 million dollars in executive bonus payments to his management team for their work at the bankrupt Tribune Company in 2009.

Now, Sam is adding insult to injury by including an additional bonus program in his reorganization plan that would pay as much as $20 million more in bonuses to the company’s top 30 to 40 executives.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey, who approved the first $45 million dollar executive bonus plan, will no doubt be happy to allow Sam to give his cronies an additional $ 20 million bonus bucks, once Tribune files its reorganization plan.

All these millions in bonus dollars to Tribune executives while benefit cuts, salary freezes, and layoffs are the order of the day for the working people at Tribune's newspapers and TV stations.

Shame on Sam Zell and shame on Judge Kevin Carey.

Bob D -Broadcast Union News

Tribune Bondholders Sue Lenders Over Bankruptcy

WILMINGTON, Del., March 4 (Reuters) - Holders of bankrupt Tribune Co bonds have filed a lawsuit to disallow claims by banks that funded the company's $8.2 billion leveraged buyout, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware's bankruptcy court by Wilmington Trust Co on behalf of holders of $1 billion of bonds, blames the bankruptcy on the banks that financed the buyout that put real estate developer Sam Zell in control of the Tribune.

"The lead banks structured the LBO knowing that it would add a tremendous amount of debt to Tribune and render it insolvent," said the complaint.

The owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times filed for bankruptcy a year after Zell completed the buyout.

Bondholders want the leveraged-buyout debt, which currently has priority over bond debt, to be disallowed or subordinated so that bondholders are paid first.

For bondholders, litigation represents their best hope for a recovery from a company that is likely worth less than the senior, buyout-related debt.

A similar claim was made successfully against lenders to Tousa Inc (TOUSQ.PK), a bankrupt Florida homebuilder. Banks in that case were ordered to return $600 million.

The complaint said that the Tribune and its creditors did not benefit by incurring the leveraged buyout debt, which was used to pay Tribune's existing shareholders and refinance the company's senior loans -- which were held by the same lenders who financed the leverage buyout.

The complaint was filed against operations of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Bank of America (BAC.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Barclays PLC (BARC.L) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N).

Last month, Kevin Carey, the bankruptcy judge overseeing the case, gave Tribune to the end of this month to file a plan of reorganization before he allows competing plans.

Carey also postponed ruling on a request by Wilmington Trust to appoint an examiner to investigate the leveraged buyout. Wilmington Trust has complained the company and senior lenders were cutting bondholders out of talks to reorganize the company.

The case is In re Tribune Co, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 08-13141.
Thursday's adversary lawsuit is Wilmington Trust Co, as Successor Indenture Trustee v JP Morgan Chase Bank et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 10-50732.

(Reporting by Tom Hals; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

In an earlier Reuters article:

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Tribune Co's senior creditors warned that allowing bondholders to sue over the legitimacy of $10 billion of the bankrupt company's debt would touch off "World War III" and upend settlement talks, according to court documents.

A group of hedge funds that holds $4.6 billion in senior secured claims on the bankrupt media company also said in court papers that if claims about the legitimacy of the debt exist, they should be pursued by Tribune and not unsecured creditors.

"The committee seeks authorization to initiate the bankruptcy equivalent of World War III -- with the apparent objective of avoiding upwards of $10 billion of debt -- without a single statement about why commencement of litigation at this critical junction in the reorganization is necessary or appropriate," said the group in a court document.

The dispute stems from a request by the official committee of unsecured creditors to begin pursuing claims relating to the debt that financed the 2007 leveraged buyout of Tribune.
Real estate developer Sam Zell took control of Tribune in 2007 through the leveraged buyout and the company, which owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy in 2008.

The committee said there is evidence that $10 billion of LBO debt was fraudulently incurred and therefore holders of the debt should have their claims disallowed or subordinated below the claims of bondholders. The committee also wants to recover fees and interest paid on the debt.

The dispute over the leveraged buyout debt is the final major roadblock to the company's emergence from bankruptcy. For the unsecured creditors, subordinating senior debt may be their best avenue for a recovery.

Creditors often begin investigations of fraudulently incurred debt and arrive at a settlement that may improve the recovery for unsecured claimants, as was recently the case in the bankruptcy of Magna Entertainment Corp.

The group of senior secured creditors in the Tribune case have countered the push to pursue fraudulent debt claims with a proposal to bring Tribune's newspapers and television stations out of bankruptcy, largely under their control.

They proposed leaving the parent in Chapter 11 until the dispute over the leveraged buyout is settled. The judge rejected that proposal.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), which holds senior claims against Tribune, requested the court deny the committee's request to begin litigating its claims regarding the leveraged buyout debt.
The bank said negotiations should be given more time "rather than allowing the process to be overtaken by a rash of competing motions by various parties jockeying for position."

The case is In re Tribune Co, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 08-13141.

(Reporting by Tom Hals; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

NYC Mayor: Lights, Camera, Careers!

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/

The Bloomberg administration is launching a program to teach struggling New Yorkers about finding jobs in the city's film and television production industry.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration is launching a program to train women, minorities and struggling New Yorkers for jobs in film and television production.

Actor Anthony Anderson, MOFTB Commissioner and International Cinematographers Guild Local 600 Eastern Regional Director Chaim Kantor joined Mayor Bloomberg at the announcement. Photo courtesy of the Mayor's Office

Participants will learn skills like rigging and dolly operation. The city says they will also receive placement services for mid-level jobs.

Classes begin in the spring and will have about 24 participants at first.

The teachers are members of the International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees.

The city will hold a recruitment event this spring at the New York City College of Technology.

Mayor's Press Release:

March 3, 2010 - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting Commissioner Katherine Oliver, and “Law & Order” actor Anthony Anderson today launched the “Made in NY” Production Crafts Training Program to help women, minority and struggling New Yorkers prepare for and get jobs in film and television production.

The City selected Brooklyn Workforce Innovations to administer the pilot program. Classes, which will begin in the spring, will take place at Brooklyn Workforce Innovations on Degraw Street in Brooklyn and Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens.

The announcement, which took place on the set of “Law & Order” at Silver Screen Studios at Chelsea Piers, was also attended by Production Director for the new program Katy Finch, Studio Mechanics Local 52 President John Ford, International Cinematographers Guild Local 600 Eastern Regional Director Chaim Kantor and representatives from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts.

“In New York City’s growing film and television production industry, there are two separate, yet equally important groups,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The production companies that spend money in the City and the New Yorkers they hire. These are their stories.”“Fighting unemployment doesn’t just mean creating new jobs – it also means helping more people access the jobs that are available,” said Speaker Quinn. “Since 2006, the City Council has been working with Mayor Bloomberg to promote diversity in film and television, and make sure all New Yorkers have the chance to get good jobs in that industry. The ‘Made in NY’ Production Crafts Training Program will build on those efforts, providing New Yorkers with the necessary training and connecting them with job opportunities.”

“The ‘Made in NY’ Production Crafts Training Program is a key component of our ongoing efforts to encourage diversity in the local entertainment workforce,” said Film, Theatre and Broadcasting Commissioner Oliver. “The program will put persons of color, women, veterans and economically struggling New Yorkers on the path to careers in the entertainment industry by providing top-of-the-line training from NYC labor representatives, and connecting them with new opportunities.”

Participants of the “Made in NY” Production Crafts Training Program – roughly two dozen in its pilot year – will be taught technical skills by members of the International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees, including industry veterans William Miller and Michael Barrow, and taught production basics and job readiness skills by Program Director Katy Finch. Guest instructors will teach other skills such as rigging and dolly operation in the grip department. All participating trainees will be provided with a year of job placement assistance.

The program’s pilot year is supported with $120,000 in City Council allocated funds and grant funding from the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. The Mayor’s Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to aiding innovative public programs throughout the five boroughs. The program is currently funded for its first year.

A recruitment event for the program will take place this spring at New York City College of Technology. Ideal candidates are individuals who have shown their commitment to working in TV and film production, as well as display an active interest for the grip department, but who now lack the opportunity to enter and advance in union positions. For more details about the recruitment event, visit www.nyc.gov/film.

“This education and employment opportunity is exceptional,” said Council Member James. “The ‘Made in NY’ Production Crafts Training Program initiative opens doors for diverse individuals who want careers within the entertainment industry, but have not had direction about how to become involved. I am excited to recommend this program to my constituents interested in film and television that may be caught in-between attending school and joining the workforce.”

“We are proud to be a part of this initiative and to host the unveiling at the “Law & Order” set today,” said NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker. “Fundamentally changing the way we bring more diversity into our business is a priority for me, and for NBC Universal. It requires change from top to bottom, and that is exactly why this program is unique and I think will go a long way to making a difference.”

“I’m thrilled with the City’s efforts to work toward diversifying our local entertainment industry,” said Anthony Anderson. “NBC’s ‘Law & Order’ has long been a supporter of the City’s other diversity initiatives like the ‘Made in NY’ PA Training Program, and I’m proud to be here today as the City launches its latest effort.”

“Brooklyn Workforce Innovations is proud to be developing this groundbreaking program to diversify the local entertainment industry,” said Program Director Katy Finch. “We look forward to working closely with labor and the City’s employers to find better jobs for the program’s graduates.”“We look forward to working with the City and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations to train the next generation of union members,” said John Ford, president of Studio Mechanics Local 52. “This is an important initiative that will help grow our local entertainment industry.”

The “Made in NY” Production Crafts Training Program is the latest initiative to promote diversity in the City’s entertainment industry that grew out of the recommendations of the Mayor’s Task Force on Diversity in Film, Television and Commercial Production. Launched in October 2006, the Task Force was charged with exploring initiatives and opportunities that would help to diversify employment in the City’s production industry.

The Task Force was comprised of representatives from the Mayor’s Office, City agencies, the City Council, the production industry, labor groups and industry associations, all of whom are committed to ensuring a diverse group of New Yorkers has access to job opportunities created by the film and television industry.

The new program builds on the success of the “Made in NY” Production Assistant Training Program, which prepares disadvantaged and unemployed New Yorkers for entry-level jobs in TV and film production. There are now 211 graduations from the program, many of whom have advanced to higher level positions. Participants learn set and office production assistant skills and are placed in jobs on feature films, episodic and reality TV, commercials, music videos and other productions.

More than 1,000 productions have hired “Made in NY” PAs, including “Law & Order,” “30 Rock,” Julia & Julia and Brooklyn’s Finest. Other initiatives include the “Made in NY” Mentorship program which promotes the recruitment of persons of color, women, veterans and economically disadvantaged New Yorkers to the film and television industry by increasing access through mentor relationships. Now in its first year, 15 individuals are currently meeting with industry experts who serve as mentors and provide career advice.

The program is operated by the Independent Feature Project.Filmed in New York City Now and now in its twentieth season, “Law & Order” is tied with “Gunsmoke” as the longest-running drama series in the history of television. Starring NAACP Award winner S. Epatha Merkerson, Jeremy Sisto, Anthony Anderson, Sam Waterston, Alana de la Garza and Linus Roache, “Law & Order” is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Media Studios. Dick Wolf is creator and executive producer; Rene Balcer, Fred Berner and Peter Jankowski are executive producers. The series, which airs on NBC on Mondays at 10pm, employs thousands of individuals each season and is based at Silver Screen Studios in Chelsea Piers, Manhattan.

Court Says $18 Million Dollar Freelancer Settlement Approved

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday revived an $18 million settlement of a dispute involving payment to freelance writers for online use of their work.

The high court overturned a lower court decision throwing out an 418 million dollae settlement between freelancers, publishers, and database owners including Reed Elsevier Inc., educational publisher and owner of the LexisNexis information service.

The proposed settlement covers freelancers who registered the copyright to their works as well as those who didn't. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York had said courts generally don't have authority over infringement claims on works that are not copyrighted.

Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed, writing that the lower court did have authority to approve the settlement.

The lawsuit followed a Supreme Court ruling in 2001 that freelance writers have online rights to their work.

The case largely applied to articles, photographs and illustrations that were produced 15 or more years ago, before freelance contracts provided for the material's electronic use.

The case is Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, 08-103.

_______

NYC to Treat Bloggers Like Journalists, by Giving Them Press Passes

By Mike Taylor
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/new_media

City Hall just made life a little easier for bloggers who do shoe-leather reporting. New York City will now issue press passes to qualified online journalists, allowing them access to areas where the city restricts public access. We can thank blogger Rafael Martinez Alequin, who filed the lawsuit that precipitated the change.

Update: Gotham Gazette alerts us that two additional plaintiffs -- Featurewell.com's David Wallis and Guardian Chronicle's Ralph E. Smith -- also pressed the case.

Before today, journalists who worked online were routinely denied press passes, presumably owing to antiquated definitions of what it means to work in media. Frankly, we're surprised it took this long.

From today's announcement:

"Under the proposed new rules published today, to obtain a press credential, an applicant must show that he or she has covered, in person, six news events where the City has restricted access, within the two-year period preceding the application. In addition to employees of traditional news gathering organizations, the new rules cover self-employed newspersons and other individuals who gather and report the news. The new press card will be issued every two years."

So it's not like any old yahoo with a blog can get special access to exclusive or difficult-to-access events; the yahoo must be invested enough in the beat to have written about restricted events six times. Only the most dedicated bloggers get access. Seems fair.

The press release, which appeared in today's City Record, is available in full at the Observer and the Gotham Gazette.

Trade unionists under attack: Urgent appeals for help from Mexico and Zimbabwe

Eric Lee from labourstart.org sent me the following:

Some 1,200 members of Mexico's National Miners' and Metalworkers'Union, or Los Mineros, have been on strike since July 2007 at theCananea mine over health and safety and other contract violations.

Grupo Mexico, the mining giant which operates Cananea, and the Mexican government have continuously tried to end the strike and crush the union.

The police have threatened and jailed union leaders, illegally frozen union bank accounts and failed to investigate or prosecute assassinations of union members.

On February 11, a federal court gave Grupo Mexico permission to fire the striking workers and terminate the labor agreement. The government has threatened to use armed force to gain control of Cananea.

The Los Mineros members at Cananea are resolved to continue occupying the mine until a fair labour agreement is reached. Los Mineros is one of thestrongest and most democratic trade unions in Mexico.

Please take a moment to send off your letter of protest today to:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=637

In Zimbabwe, on 3 November 2009, three armed men forced their way into the home of Gertrude Hambira, the Secretary General of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ).

Gertrude was away at the time of the attack but her husband, her elderly mother and the couple's children were at home. Her husband was awoken by the men, who demanded to know the whereabouts of his wife. He was pinned down by the intruders, and they threatened to shoot him if he called for help.

One of the men fired a single shot into the roof of the house, and they only left when a security alarm was activated. Her husband immediately alerted a neighbour before calling the police.

Gertrude Hambira is now in hiding and fears for her safety. She fled after individuals identifying themselves as officers from the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) raided the union's head office on 24 February 2010, in a search for her.

Five days earlier she had been called to a meeting at Police Headquarters in Harare, where she was interrogated by a panel of seventeen high ranking security officials. During the interrogation the panel stated that Ms. Hambira should be behind bars.

Amnesty International is campaigning to pressure the Zimbabwean government to protect her and to stop intimidating her and other human rights defenders.

Please visit their page and support the campaign at:

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=668

Please forward this message on to your fellow trade union members.

NO JOB ACTION by IATSE Local 1 Stagehands Against NEP Studios and the Emeril Lagasse Show

IATSE Local 1 was preparing for a possible job action at the NEP Studios located at The Pennsylvania Hotel, but this action was avoided by a settlement with the company.

The job action would have begun on Friday, March 5th at 9:00 a.m. if an agreement had not reached between Local One and After Five Productions for the theatrical labor for the new Emeril Lagasse Show which will be broadcast on the ION TV Network.


Broadcast Union News Note: We congratulate IATSE Local 1 and applaud their efforts in obtaining a fair collective bargaining agreement with NEP.

RBR-TVBR http://www.rbr.com/

The clock is ticking down to midnight Saturday, when WABC-TV New York could disappear from Cablevision’s systems.

That would leave millions of households on Long Island and in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Westchester County without the ability to view Sunday’s Oscar broadcast on ABC, unless they happen to have some rabbit ears around the house.

As usual, each side is blaming the other for being unreasonable in retransmission consent negotiations.

"It is shocking that in these difficult economic times, ABC Disney is threatening to remove WABC unless Cablevision and its customers pay $40 million in new fees for programming that it offers today for free, both over-the-air and online. It is not fair for ABC Disney to hold Cablevision customers hostage by forcing them to pay what amounts to a new TV tax. We urge ABC Disney not to pull the plug and instead work with us to reach a fair agreement," declared Charles Schueler, Cablevision’s Executive Vice President, Communications and Community Relations.

For WABC President and General Manager Rebecca Campbell, it’s very simple – Cablevision can no longer take a free ride. “With the help of our viewers, we’ve built ABC7 into the most watched station in the country, and have been trying for two years to get Cablevision to acknowledge the station’s value to their business. Despite our best efforts, it has now become clear that Cablevision has no intention of coming to a fair agreement. We can no longer sit back and allow Cablevision to use our shows for free while they continue to charge their customers for them. We’ve worked too hard and invested too many millions of dollars in programming and community outreach, to be taken advantage of any longer – especially since our viewers can watch their favorite ABC7 shows free, over-the-air, or by switching to one of Cablevision’s competitors,” she said.

Indeed, WABC has set up a website that includes a Zip Code based search box that will allow viewers to find which satellite and/or telco providers are available to them as a replacement for Cablevision.

The website, http://www.saveabc7.com/, also highlights the station’s side of the retrains dispute and invites viewers to use a link to email Cablevision to demand that the ABC Network flagship remain on their local cable system.

The current standoff is reminiscent of the battle between Cablevision and Scripps Networks Interactive that had Food Network and HGTV off of the Cablevision systems for most of January. That was finally resolved when the two sides came to terms on an increased fee payment by Cablevision.

In this case, though, Cablevision is starting from the point of paying zero for WABC.

RBR-TVBR observation: The world has changed and the MSOs don’t like it. The reality is that they now have to pay for the most-watched programming on their cable systems. Given what happened with Scripps and Cablevision in January, it is likely that Cablevision will remove WABC come Sunday – but we wouldn’t expect that to last for long.

Broadcast Union News Note: Cablevision currently pays Disney $200 million dollars a year to broadcast ABC, ABC Family, Disney, ESPN 1, and ESPN 2. ABC is asking for an additional $ 40 million for WABC, which is a 20% increase. This at a time when ABC is cutting 25% of their News division employees and offering zero percent raises to their union employees, along with the promise of further layoffs. According to a November 12, 2009 Orlando Sentinel article by Jason Garcia "the Walt Disney Co.’s profit leapt 18 percent during the final three months of its 2009 financial year, lifted by the strength of its ESPN sports channels and its television-syndication sales. Burbank, Calif.-based Disney said it earned $895 million during the three months that ended Oct. 3, compared with $760 million a year ago. Revenue climbed 4 percent to $9.9 billion. The company’s strongest performer continued to be its media networks, particularly its cable-TV operations such as ESPN and ABC Family, where operating profit inched up despite the difficult economy. Including broadcast network ABC, the division’s overall operating profit slipped only 4 percent to $4.8 billion." - BD

http://cablevision.com/abc/

ABC is threatening to pull the plug on WABC-7 unless Cablevision and its customers agree to pay millions of dollars in new fees. Cablevision has asked ABC to continue delivering WABC-7, but instead ABC is holding Cablevision customers hostage by threatening to pull its programming.

In these difficult and challenging economic times, it is not fair for ABC to force Cablevision and its customers to pay what amounts to a new TV tax for the same programming that is available today for free over the air and on the Internet.

Cablevision already pays ABC's parent company more than $200 million per year to carry its channels; now ABC wants a 20 percent fee increase for exactly the same programming.

It is wrong for ABC to demand $40 million in new fees to help pay the salaries and bonuses for top ABC executives.

Cablevision has tried in good faith to reach a fair agreement with ABC. In fact, top Cablevision executives traveled to ABC offices in California earlier this month, and had lengthy face-to-face meetings this week in Bethpage and New York City. We have made numerous proposals, all of which have been rejected.

E-mail or call 1-877-NO-TV-TAX and tell ABC not to turn off WABC-TV while negotiations continue for a deal that is fair for everyone.

Les Moonves Says CBS is Getting a Cut of Affiliates Retrans Fees

RBR-TVBR
http://www.rbr.com

It’s no longer a question of whether network affiliate stations will share their retransmission consent fees with the networks. CBS Corporation Les Moonves told the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference in San Francisco Monday that CBS is now receiving retrans cuts from some of its affiliates.

Moonves first declared publicly in November 2009 that CBS would insist on getting a share of the retransmission consent fees that its affiliate stations negotiates with cable MSOs and satellite TV companies.In a Q&A session with Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne, Moonves noted that the network TV companies are no longer dependent just on advertising revenues. “The game has now changed. Fox is getting paid by Time Warner [Cable], we’re getting paid by Time Warner. We recently concluded a deal with Cablevision. We have a deal with Dish. We have a deal with Verizon. We have a deal with AT&T – to get paid a second revenue stream,” the CEO said of recently concluded retrains deals for the CBS O&O stations.

“So no longer can it be ‘network is doomed’ because they only have a single revenue stream, while cable is a much better business because they have two revenue streams. Now we are achieving that dual revenue stream as well and that’s going to be significant as we move toward the future. I think it’s now a given that retrains is part of the game,” Moonves said.

Then came the revelation that CBS is, indeed, collecting a cut of retrains from some affiliates: “And retrains is paid on our owned and operated stations, but we are also sharing in the retrains that our affiliates have, in a certain manner.” Moonves did not elaborate on how that is being paid and how much it currently amounts to.

“So the fact is, if you want to get our top programming – which we believe network programming is at the top – and if we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bring you NFL Football, or ‘CSI,’ then we should get paid as much as a cable network showing repeats,” Moonves concluded.

“In 2010 we’re going to take in over $100 million in retrans fees. That number will grow in 2012 to at least $250 million,” Moonves had said earlier in the discussion at the investor conference.

RBR-TVBR observation: Whether or how the retrains pie is cut up is not a matter of what is right or wrong, or whether the local station or network is more deserving. It is simply a matter of what the parties negotiate when affiliation agreements come up for renewal. Some of those negotiations are going on right now – and they sometimes feature negotiators with very different views of the relative value of the network and the local stations.

AFTRA and SAG Link Over Next TV Contract

By MICHAEL CIEPLY; Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS

The New York Times

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, (AFTRA), said its national board of directors had approved plans to negotiate jointly with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)toward its next prime-time television contract.

The vote, taken on Saturday, ended a split between those actors’ unions, which in the last round bargained separately after a disagreement over strategy but had previously joined in making deals with the major television production companies.

Current contracts with the two unions do not expire until June 2011, but the unions are expected to begin an early negotiating session with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in October.

The talks are aimed at averting the sort of uncertainty that occurred when SAG failed to reach a deal with the production companies in 2008 and worked for nearly a year without a contract, though AFTRA had settled separately.

Network News at a Crossroads

By BRIAN STELTER and BILL CARTER

The New York Times

ABC News is making no secret about what is behind the sweeping staff cuts it now faces: raw survival instinct.

I just looked out at the next five years and was concerned that we could not sustain doing what we were doing,” said David Westin, the president of ABC News, as he explained the decision last week to jettison up to 400 staff members, a quarter of the news staff, in the coming months.

The same compelling motive already instigated strategic retrenchment at ABC’s broadcast competitors. NBC, the one network with a cable news channel, MSNBC — and, not coincidentally, the only network in a sound position of profitability — has drastically pared down its operations over the last few years. So has CBS, which is losing money already and has cut about 70 jobs this year.

But with news available more places than ever, on cable channels and Internet sites, and with revenue challenged by heavy dependence on shrinking advertising dollars, the future for the news divisions at ABC and CBS remains deeply insecure.

“Long term, it’s going to get harder for these guys to exist as they are currently constructed, with the exception of NBC because it can offload the costs on MSNBC,” Michael Nathanson, an industry analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said.

The economic problems facing ABC News and CBS News in many ways mirror those faced by newspapers, which have been similarly afflicted by a drop in advertising revenue. The reaction — severe cuts in personnel and other costs — also looks to be the same.

But can you shrink your way to prosperity? Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News who is now a news media consultant (NBC News is one client), said of the ABC cuts: “The real issue after this is what is going to drive growth? How do you generate more profit? And this doesn’t address that.”

The easy answer would seem to lie in NBC’s structure, because in contrast to its competitors, that news organization is flush, making an estimated $400 million in profit a year.

“We actually think we have a completely different model,” Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, said. That model: win every significant ratings competition on the broadcast side and rely on MSNBC’s revenue stream of advertising plus cable subscriber fees to subsidize the high costs of news gathering.

The effectiveness of that formula inevitably resurrects predictions that a marriage with a cable news organization is imperative for CBS and ABC. The obvious partner is CNN, and both those networks have been in courtships with it before. To date, the cultural challenges have been insurmountable. CNN, which says last year was its most profitable since its founding in 1980, would seem to have little incentive to rush to the aid of a network. And neither network wants to cede editorial control to CNN.

“If it were easy or obvious, it would have happened by now,” Mr. Heyward said.

But a longtime network news executive, who asked not to be identified because of connections to previous private negotiations involving CNN, said that ABC or CBS was likely to enter into an alliance with a partner like CNN “within the next few years.”

Even Mr. Westin, who said he did not see how a match with CNN “makes sense for us,” conceded: “In general, in business, when there is real decline, consolidation inevitably happens.”

Already, outlines of consolidation are discernible. Several CNN stars contribute to “60 Minutes” on CBS. And CBS executives, mindful that Katie Couric’s contract expires in a little over a year, have talked to Anderson Cooper of CNN about an anchor job, according to two TV veterans informed of the meeting.

In recent months, a handful of ABC News reporters has appeared on the business channel Bloomberg, and the two organizations have tried to jointly hire at least one person, according to two staff members who asked not to be named because they were not authorized by their employers to speak. Those two, and two others, labeled the sharing by ABC and Bloomberg — what one person called flirting — a possible prelude to a broader news-gathering pact.

A Bloomberg spokeswoman said that the company was a client of ABC’s affiliate service and declined to comment on any talks about a broader relationship between the organizations. An ABC spokesman said the current level of cooperation with Bloomberg was “hardly unusual.”

Network news divisions have historically been family jewels for their parent corporations, lending prestige and an aura of public service — as well as a shield against government intrusion. Mr. Heyward called the network evening newscasts a “bastion of serious news coverage at a time when so much of television has become tabloid and trivial.”

While they have steadily shed viewers, to a cumulative 22 million in 2009, from about 50 million in 1980, the newscasts still amass an audience that dwarfs any show on a cable news channel. In the last five years, the more lucrative network morning shows have also shown declines, Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said. “What’s occurring in broadcast news is not some sudden crisis. This has been a glacial erosion,” he said.

A survey by the Pew Research Center last year reported that three-quarters of respondents thought the cancellation of the evening newscasts would be an “important loss” to the country. Mr. Rosenstiel said, “None of these news division presidents wants to be the first guy to kill an evening newscast.”

Not that it would be their call. That decision would fall to the networks’ corporate parents. Executives from CBS News and ABC News said the top corporate executives for both networks remained outspoken supporters of the news divisions.

ABC employees were reviewing buyout packages last weekend. Eligible staff members have until March 26 to decide whether to leave. If ABC cannot meet its goal, layoffs will follow.

Mr. Westin said ABC News could no longer afford to support a worldwide staff of about 1,500, with bureaus in cities foreign and domestic, most with traditional TV news work forces: camera operators, sound engineers, tape editors, assignment editors and, of course, correspondents, many with substantial salaries.

More journalists will become jacks-of-all-trades, wielding cameras, microphones and lights, as well as lists of interview questions. More production work will be conducted out of New York. “The ones who fear the most from the cuts are the ones that have a single function,” one ABC staff member said.

Mr. Westin said high-priced and purely cosmetic talent would become an increasingly endangered species. “There have been people in television news — very successful people — who do not write,” he said. “We are going to definitely require more of our journalists.”

Mr. Westin said he did not think the cuts would compromise ABC’s journalism, but not everyone shares his confidence. One veteran ABC News executive said, “Clearly the signal is: It’s not important to create anything new. We simply have to figure out a way to manage it cheaply.”

CBS, similarly, is trying to do the same with less. In an interview after its layoffs in early February, the CBS News president, Sean McManus, said the organization was figuring out how to “utilize our resources in a more efficient way.”

NBC News, meanwhile, remains the envy of the business, largely because of its decision in 1996 to start up a separate cable news channel.

The total work force at NBC News — which includes MSNBC — is 1,100, the size ABC now aspires to be. CBS is believed to have fewer than 1,400 on staff.

So far, Web revenue is a rather small part of the broadcast networks’ bottom lines, although Mr. Westin said ABC’s digital income was “up substantially.”

But if digital revenue cannot offset ad losses, Mr. Heyward suggested there was high ground from the flood if the networks could find a way to make their news stand out.

“The notion of investing more in distinctiveness and less in sameness is critical,” he said. That means more enterprise reporting and less overlapping coverage of news that cable handles, like reporters standing in snow drifts with yardsticks.

But the networks will surely stick it out, he predicted, if only because they do not want to see their competitors win.

“I sometimes compare it to three people in a leaky boat,” Mr. Heyward said. “Each one sees an island shimmering in the distance and starts thinking: I could jump out and swim for the island and maybe I could make it.

“On the other hand, I could drown and make the boat lighter so the other two make it. I think you are going to see everybody staying in the game because everybody knows leaving guarantees a longer lease on life for their competitors.”

A version of this article appeared in print on March 1, 2010, on page B1 of the New York edition.

The Shot Heard 'Round the Industry. Backpack Journalism on the Rise

By Gail Shister
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser

Will the increased demand for correspondents' multi-tasking hurt the quality of their reporting?

That's the big question as prodigious job cuts at ABC and elsewhere force more correspondents to shoot their own video, gather their own sound and edit their own pieces in addition to reporting them.

Certainly, the consolidation saves money, but at what cost to journalism?

To many, the question is moot. Digital one-man bands are the inevitable result of a receding economy and an advancing technology. Expand your skill sets or it's game over.

Others argue that reportage suffers when a correspondent - particularly a veteran used to having a crew - botches a breaking interview because he's worried about getting the shot.

"There's always the potential for missing something if you're trying to do three things at once," says Charles Bierbauer, Dean of the College of Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina and a former correspondent at CNN and ABC.

"There's a lot of value in having a two or three-person team because it gives you more eyes and ears covering the story. I'm not a very good shooter. I don't have the eye for it. But then I wasn't trained to be shooter."

PBS's Gwen Ifill wasn't either, but she will be, whether she wants to or not. "What choice do I have? Do it or don't be employed."

At J-schools around the country, students are learning every survival skill for the New Order. These "backpack journalists," in Bierbauer's words, have been tested and found to work. Having control over every aspect of their stories gives them independence, he adds.

As for the older folks, Bierbauer says he's seen "some seasoned journalists become very adroit at new media." At 67, he Tweets. "Why not?"

Why not, indeed. "The only way to survive in this business is to keep shifting," says Ifill, 54, moderator of "Washington Week in Review" and senior correspondent for "The NewsHour." (She is on the short list for the anchor job at ABC's "This Week," sources say.)

"We have to change our ideas about what we're putting on the air," Ifill continues. "I'm not willing to say it's a terrible, terrible thing. But if you're not worried, you're not paying attention."

Lou Ureneck, 59, chairman of Boston University's journalism department, says multi-tasking has "a flattening effect" on the quality of reporting.

"It doesn't allow for the reporter to focus on gathering information, which is the principle mission of reporting. It's not like walking and chewing gum at the same time. It's like driving and trying to read a map. Being a reporter is a fully engaging task."

Not always. Networks routinely air amateur video, especially on big breaking stories. A correspondent's pictures may not be network quality, either, but most viewers don't notice, or care, according to Ureneck.

PBS's Ifill disagrees, in part.

"I hope they care. If you do it well, I hope they won't know the difference. I don't know what 'well' is. The fact is, viewers left us before we left them. We're catching up to what viewers' demands are."

Those demands could change the whole look of TV news, says Andy Mendelson, 42, chairman of the journalism department at Temple University.

Correspondents' added technical responsibilities could lead to less face time on their stories, he explains. "At the very least, it will be more challenging."

Film at 11 - probably shot by a reporter.

Writers Guild 2.0: The Message? Get Your Hustle On & Online

By Chrissie Brodigan

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

NEW YORK - Anita Ondine, Mo Koyfman, and Mark Lukasiewcz rallied to discuss the economics of digital media as a kickoff to the WGAE's new digital media education program. The message? Pretty simple. It's time for writers in the guild to get their hustle on and online.

It's been two years since the Writer's Strike, and in those two years the entertainment industry has been revolutionized by technologists and entrepreneurs, many attempting to democratize media distribution, kill the old models (cable, primetime, and even advertising), and move to transform the experience of consumption into a deeply engaging and social one.

With ubiquitous connectivity, the result of broadband penetration and expansion of mobile platforms, consumers now count web video series, internet radio, podcasts, twitter, blogs, tumblogs, multiplayer gaming, and more, as additions to previously limited traditional choices of TV, radio, and feature films.

The integration of social interactions by these new media forms and the personal choice of distribution channel, model, and time of day, have required a rapid reinvention of an industry previously caught off guard by cable television nearly overnight.
Even more complicated is that what's true today, what's available today, who is using it today, will likely not be true three months from now.

With the recent launch of HBO's online web channel, Hulu's evolving free-to-pay model, companies like Next New Networks, individuals like you and me with our LOL kittens, puppies, and kids, Tim Kress-Spatz, creator of popular beer drinking show Tap That and the advent of many others, alongside revenue generation, distribution, this is an industry in which change is now a constant variable.

It's surprising to learn that at the heart of the disruption is a union voice. It's no secret that unions are seen as bastions of the old guard and the old ways. What makes this series and exploration of the WGAE's strategy worth writing about is that it belies a movement towards encouraging and empowering writers to become evangelists for their own personal presences online, so that they are not only producers of content, but consumers and likely innovators for how that content and those technologies being formed.

But, really, writers as technologists? Indeed!

Writers have been writing for digital media since its inception, in fact last year the guild tripled its number of digital media signatories.

Unfortunately, writers haven't always had a voice at the bargaining table and were long setback by the disruption caused by cable television. As writers do more and more work in digital media in both entertainment and news, it's undeniable that the industry needs to be nimble and profitable and not fall into the struggles that continue to plague print journalism.

Perhaps one reason we aren't yet seeing the kind of turmoil that journalists and newspapers are struggling with is that the video storytelling arm of the entertainment industry has long had a pay-for-play model.

However, Mark Lukasiewicz aptly answered:

"It's a mistake to think all the rules of the game have changed. Facts still matter. Sharp analysis still matters. Strong narratives and compelling characters still matter. Almost all of the things that made great TV journalism a generation ago still make great video storytelling today."

I asked Lowell Peterson, executive director of WGAE and Elana Levin, Communications Director of WGAE, a few questions about the future, problems of the past, and the overall relevance of the union alongside rapid technology-driven innovation:

Q: What were some of the major downfalls and challenges and historical mistakes that were made when cable came out for writers and fair compensation?

At first the programs made for cable channels were pretty basic and low budget. The production models were fluid and writers were not paid much. As I understand it, there was a general consensus that the Guild should wait until the economics became more favorable. (And some of the cable television producers did not want to deal with the union.)

Unfortunately, this meant that basic cable grew up non-Guild; when the business and production models crystallized, we were simply not there. The high-quality shows on premium cable are all Guild, but there are large swaths of non-Guild programming on the basic channels.

Q. Have writers been as surprised and caught off guard as the newspaper, magazine, and print industry or have they been able to roll with the rapid change?

WGAE members are keenly aware of the shifts in their industries - broadcast news, public television, comedy/variety, dramatic television, film, and so forth. The rise of digital media was the central issue in the 2007-2008 strike.

People were focused, not only on getting paid when their material was streamed or downloaded from the internet, but on Guild coverage for material made for digital distribution in the first place.

Our members are eager to learn more about the creative and economic trends in digital media and to develop the skills they need to participate. We know the change is already happening and that it is fundamental, and we are positioned in this space.

Q: How is the Writer's Guild organizing to stay ahead of the technology? What will keep this union relative as writers become their own agents?

We are immersed in a digital media education program. We read everything we can get our hands on; we present seminars, workshops, and classes; and (perhaps most importantly) we talk with lots and lots of people who are active in digital media.

By that I mean people who create content and people who finance and distribute it. This helps us learn what is happening but it also helps us insert the writers' perspective into the conversation. The business and distribution models are not set. The narrative structures and styles are still being developed. By becoming active in the digital world now, when it is still mostly unformed, the Guild can help shape it and make sure that the interests of the content creators are fully recognized.

It is true that, at this point, the traditional production and ownership structures have not taken hold in the digital realm. There are major studios and broadcasters producing original content for the internet, and we are representing the people who write that content.

But a lot of the work is done by writer-owned companies, some of which are quite small. We do have some experience with that model, particularly in independent film and to some extent in public television, but we think there will be a lot more of it in digital media.

The open structure of the internet makes this possible; creators do not have to work with major studios to get access to audiences. The Writers Guild will remain very relevant to writers in this model because the money is still coming from other sources - advertisers, sponsors, foundations, studios, distributors, whomever - and we will help maximize the amount of that money going to the writers.

Also, people get their health and pension benefits through the Guild including people who own their own companies. Their benefits are portable between Guild covered jobs because the benefits plan is already set up to accommodate freelance and independent writers. And the Guild is a creative community.

The educational and social events we present to our members are very important. Writers learn from each other, they network, they rely on each to think about style and structure and career. Fundamentally, a vibrant community of creators can improve conditions; working together, writers can improve compensation and can assert greater creative control over their work. That is what we are here to do.

We are still learning how to monitor the flow of Guild-covered content over the internet and mobile devices to make sure writers are getting paid properly. The monitoring technology is developing rapidly; web sites and other distribution companies rely on it to attract advertisers. So we will get this right, soon.

Digital technology has made it much easier for writers to bypass the majors and get their work to audiences directly. At the same time, getting audiences to pay attention requires people to do many different things -- putting themselves out in all the social media, taking on more production tasks, and raising money. We have a training program to help people do those things.

The more work that Guild members do in the digital world, the better the conditions will be. And the more that people writing for digital media participate in the Guild, the stronger we will be.

Speaker Bios:

Anita Ondine, CEO of Seize the Media, which creates and finances transmedia entertainment properties that fully integrate feature films, TV and web series, mobile micro-narratives and gaming applications.

Moshe "Mo" Koyfman, Principal at Spark Capital, a venture capital firm focused on the media, entertainment and technology industries.

Mark Lukasiewicz, VP of NBC News specials and digital media.

Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East, launched the Writers' Guild 2.0 initiative to to address the changing territory of digital content, ensuring that writers are at the table when decisions are made that impact their creative lives and livelihood. Previously Peterson was a partner at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, a firm specializing in all aspects of labor law practice. He has extensive union experience, including work with the AFL-CIO, UAW, Communications Workers of America, NABET, and Laborers, among others. Representing laid off workers in the Enron and WorldCom bankruptcies, he won tens of millions of dollars in severance pay, and in many other cases he has defended unions from attacks on organizing and other activities and successfully litigated against employers for evading contract obligations.

Elana Levin, Director of Communications for the Writers Guild of America, East, a labor union that represents professional writers in film, television, digital media and radio. (The union just organized writers of an iPhone app-- cool!) Most recently Elana was Assistant Director of Communications for New Media for the SEIU affiliate Workers United and before that, UNITE HERE. Elana ran communications for the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy where she launched the popular DMIBlog. Elana has done everything from press to organizing for unions, community groups and has worked many New York Primary Elections while keeping some of her personal belongings intact. Elana blogs on Daily Kos, Huffington Post & tweets at @Elana_Brooklyn & @WGAEast.

Follow Chrissie Brodigan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tenaciouscb

Read More : Anita Ondine , Elana Levin , Lowell Peterson , Mark Lukasiewcz , Mo Koyfman , Organizing 2.0 , Writers Guild Of America , Writers' Strike , Media News

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