Justin's Political Corner
Longtime KMOV (Channel 4) anchorman Larry Conners is “off the air” until further notice.
The station is examining Conners’ recent allegations that he was targeted by the Internal Revenue Service after interviewing President Barack Obama.
“He’s not suspended. We just all thought it made sense (for him) to take a few days off,” news director Sean McLaughlin said.
“We take this very seriously, and we don’t expect this to drag on. We’re still looking into the situation and weighing our options,” he said.
The situation arose Monday night with a post from Conners on his Facebook page. In that post, Conners said he had been getting “pressure” from the IRS after the Obama interview in April 2012.
On Tuesday — in a televised statement near the end of KMOV’s 5 p.m. newscast — Conners backed off that initial claim.
“To be fair, I should disclose that my issues with the IRS preceded that interview (with Obama) by several years,” Conners said Tuesday in the 35-second statement.
St. Louis County records show that a federal tax lien has been placed on Conners’ property in Clayton. The lien claims that Conners and his wife,Janet L. Conners, owe more than $85,000 in “small business/self employed” taxes.
The lien, filed Sept. 20 in Chicago and then recorded in St. Louis County on Oct. 4, specifically alleges that the Conners owe the government $7,793 from 2008, $38,482 from 2009 and $39,508 from 2010.
“His Facebook post and his Twitter posts, as a result, were inappropriate,” he said. “And we don’t condone personal posts that jeopardize the journalistic nature of our business. It’s really that simple.”
KMOV NEEDS to permanently pink-slip this “reporter.”
h/t: STLtoday.com
The legendary newscaster will leave TV journalism next summer
For decades, Barbara Walters has inspired millions with her groundbreaking interviews — but after 37 years with ABC News, the newscaster is announcing on “The View” Monday that next summer, she will retire from TV journalism. Until then, she will continue to anchor and report for ABC News, appear on “The View,” and anchor specials throughout the year including a “20 Years of 10 Most Fascinating People” special in December, an Oscars special, and a May career retrospective.
Walters will remain Executive Producer of “The View,” the show she created in 1997.
“I am very happy with my decision and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead both on ‘The View’ and with ABC News,” she said. “I created ‘The View’ and am delighted it will last beyond my leaving it.”
Walters began her career in 1961 at NBC’s “Today Show,” where she eventually became a co-host.
Still, in 1976, Walters found a new home at ABC “Evening News,” where she became the first female anchor on an evening news program. Three years later, she became a co-host of “20/20.”
At ABC, her interviews were wide-ranging and her access to public figures, unparalleled; Walters crossed the Bay of Pigs with Fidel Castro, conducted the first joint interview with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin. She also developed a reputation for asking tough questions. In one instance, “I asked Vladimir Putin if he ever ordered anyone to be killed,” she recalls. “For the record, he said no.”
But there were lighter interviews too. Walters hosts a “Most Fascinating People” special in December, which has afforded her the opportunity to chat with stars from Angelina Jolie to Tom Cruise. She has also interviewed every U.S. president and first lady from the Nixons to the current administration. But perhaps one of her favorite contribution to the network has been “The View.”
h/t: ABCNews.com
(via Worst First Day Ever? TV Anchor Fired After Profane Debut : The Two-Way : NPR)
I’m sure many of us have had pretty bad first days — at school, at a new job, a bad first date. But this weekend, we got word of a case that may take the cake.
A.J. Clemente was making his debut as weekend anchor for KFYR in Bismarck, N.D.
Just before his co-anchor made the big introduction and obviously unaware that he was live, he let a series of bad words fly, apparently because he was not succeeding at pronouncing the name of the London Marathon winner, Tsegaye Kebede.
h/t: NPR.org
Right-wing funders and business industrialists David and Charles Koch may purchase the Tribune Company newspapers, which include the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and the Los Angeles Times. The brothers are “interested in the clout they could gain through the Times’ editorial pages,” the Hollywood Reporter notes. Responding to the report, a spokesperson for Koch told the website that the brothers are “constantly exploring profitable opportunities in many industries and sectors”:
Missy Cohlmia, a spokeswoman for Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, issued the following statement to THR: “As an entrepreneurial company with 60,000 employees around the world,we are constantly exploring profitable opportunities in many industries and sectors. So, it is natural that our name would come up in connection with this rumor. We respect the independence of the journalistic institutions referenced in today’s news stories, butit is our long-standing policy not to comment on deals or rumors of deals we may or may not be exploring. ”
The Los Angeles Weekly was the first to report that the Kochs could be mulling the purchase of the newspaper assets, which make up $623 million of the company’s $7 billion holdings.
The Koch Brothers may be interested in TV stations (including WGN, KPLR, WPIX, KTLA, et al.) owned by Tribune as well:
Sources tell the Weekly’s Hillel Aron that the Kochs are “considering an offer on either the Tribune Co. newspaper group, which includes the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun or the entire Tribune Co., which includes more than 20 stations like WGN and KTLA Channel 5.”
h/t: Think Progress Media
The View is losing Joy Behar.
“Joy Behar has been instrumental in the success ofThe View from the very beginning,” read a statement from ABC. “We wish her all the best in this next chapter, and are thrilled that we have her for the remainder of the season.”The actress and comedian’s contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the current season, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. A panelist alongside creator Barbara Walters from the very beginning, Behar leaves the ABC News vet as the last original member of the daytime show.The View is losing Joy Behar.
OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDSThe actress and comedian’s contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the current season, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. A panelist alongside creator Barbara Walters from the very beginning, Behar leaves the ABC News vet as the last original member of the daytime show.
“Joy Behar has been instrumental in the success ofThe View from the very beginning,” read a statement from ABC. “We wish her all the best in this next chapter, and are thrilled that we have her for the remainder of the season.”
h/t: THR
PPP’s annual poll on TV news finds that there’s only one source more Americans trust than distrust: PBS. 52% of voters say they trust PBS to only 29% who don’t trust it. The other seven outlets we polled on are all distrusted by a plurality of voters.
When it comes to asking Americans which single outlet they trust the most and least out of the ones we polled on, Fox News once again wins both honors. 34% say it’s the one they trust the most, compared to 13% for PBS, 12% for CNN, 11% for ABC, 8% for MSNBC, 6% for CBS, and 5% each for Comedy Central and NBC. Fox News is the choice of 67% of Republicans, while Democrats basically split their allegiances four ways between ABC and CNN, both at 17%, and MSNBC and PBS, both at 16%.
Even more Americans identify Fox News as the outlet they trust the least- 39% give its that designation to 14% for MSNBC, 13% for CNN, 12% for Comedy Central, 5% for ABC and CBS, 3% for NBC, and 1% for PBS. 60% of Democrats give it their lowest marks while Republicans split between MSNBC (24%), CNN (19%), and Comedy Central (14%) on that front.
Bob Schieffer announced on Sunday that Condoleezza Rice is joining CBS News as a contributor.
“Everybody knows Condoleezza Rice was President Bush’s Secretary of State but I’m highly pleased to announce she has a new job. As of today, she’s joining CBS News as a contributor,” Schieffer said at the top of the roundtable discussion on “Face the Nation.” Rice was a member of the show’s panel.
h/t: Huffington Post
The Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office has declined to prosecute “Meet the Press” over host David Gregory’s alleged display of a high-capacity gun magazine on-air, the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple reported Friday:
D.C. Attorney General declines to prosecute David Gregory for mag display on “Meet the Press.”
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) January 11, 2013
(via Sahil Kapur at TPM: Obama Blames GOP For Fiscal Cliff On NBC’s Meet The Press (VIDEO))
President Obama appeared on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday to ratchet up the pressure on Congress to act to avoid the fiscal cliff — and repeatedly blamed Republicans for the impending crisis in the event of failure.
“So far, at least, Congress has not been able to get this stuff done,” Obama said. “Not because Democrats in Congress don’t want to go ahead and cooperate, but because I think it’s been very hard for Speaker Boehner and Republican Leader McConnell to accept the fact that taxes on the wealthiest Americans should go up a little bit as part of an overall deficit reduction package.”
Although congressional leaders say discussions are ongoing, the prospects for a deal have diminished since Friday afternoon when Obama issued his ultimatum to Republicans. He again dared them to filibuster his middle class tax cut in the new Congress come Jan. 4 if they fail to reach a deal by then.
It was Obama’s first “Meet The Press” appearance since 2009. Asked by host David Gregory if he, as president, has an obligation to make sure Congress acts, Obama pointed the finger at Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
“At a certain point, if folks can’t say yes to good offers, then I also have an obligation to the American people to make sure that the entire burden of deficit reduction doesn’t fall on seniors who are relying on Medicare,” Obama said. “There is a basic fairness that is at stake in this whole thing. And they listened to an entire year’s debate about it. They made a clear decision about the approach they prefer.”
“It is very important for Republicans in Congress to be willing to say, ‘we understand we are not going to get 100 percent. We are willing to compromise in a serious way to solve problems as opposed to being worried about the next election.’ … The offers I have made are so fair that a lot of Democrats get mad at me,” he said, naming the entitlement cuts he has proposed, including Medicare cuts and Social Security cuts via “Chained CPI.”
Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, chafed at Obama’s claims.
“While the President was taping those discordant remarks yesterday, Sen. McConnell was in the office working to bring Republicans and Democrats together on a solution,” he told TPM in an email. “Discussions continue today.”
CBS News has reportedly hired Frank Luntz, the Republican strategist and pollster best known for helping Republicans craft often-deceptive messaging to torpedo liberal policies. In his post announcing the move, Politico media reporter Dylan Byers writes that Luntz will “make a number of appearances across the network between now and Election Day.” Luntz’s hiring comes only a few months after New York Times Magazine contributor Robert Draper reported that Luntz orchestrated a 2009 meeting where prominent Republicans formulated a plan to win back Congress and the White House.
In his book Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives, Draper reported that Luntz “organized a dinner” on Obama’s inauguration night featuring a handful of “the Republican Party’s most energetic thinkers.” The attendees — which included current vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan — reportedly emerged from the nearly four hour dinner “almost giddily” after having agreed on “a way forward.”
Luntz’s influence in GOP politics isn’t limited to organizing high-level strategy dinners — he’s been credited with coining some of the most infamous lines from conservative media figures and politicians.
Luntz has been a regular fixture on Fox News for years. His appearances have featured him praising dishonest conservative ads and asking focus groups questions about whether Obama is a socialist. During a 2010 appearance on The O’Reilly Factor, Luntz praised the Chamber of Commerce for having “done some of the best advertising across the country” without disclosing that the Chamber was one of his corporate clients.
h/t: Ben Dimiero at MMFA
