Taking Shots at FTVLive
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A number of you passed a long a link to a story in the Arizona Republic, in which newspaper reporter Kerry Lengel gives his characterization of me as the guy that runs FTVLive, while writing about KSAZ anchor Kari Lake.
First, we should point out that Kerry Lengel is the Performing-arts reporter and theater critic for The Arizona Republic and not the media reporter for the newspaper.
Lengel told us that he was assigned the Kari Lake story, because the media critic was on vacation.
So, when it comes to TV news, Lengel is wading in waters that he is not familiar.
It is here, that I should get to parts of his story and the part where it takes some shots at FTVLive.
He is still covering the story that FTVLive broke about Kari Lake joining what is described as an alt-right social media website called Parler.
FTVLive reported that Lake was a member of the site and promoted that fact on her station branded Twitter account. After FTVLive’s story, her bosses told her that she could stay on Parler, but asked her to take down the link to the site from her station branded Twitter account.
Lake was in studio, whining about her bosses to her co-anchor John Hook.
Hook was trying to explain why her bosses did what they did and then Lake dropped a big old F-bomb. That in itself would not have been a big deal, except their conversation was being streamed to anyone that was logged on.
After FTVLive’s story, Lake went missing from the station’s air for a week and returned this week with no comment.
The story seemed pretty much over, but then the Arizona Republic’s Kerry Lengel decided to write another story about the incident yesterday.
The story was titled “Parlergate? What we know and don’t know about Kari Lake’s return to Fox 10”
Lengel writes, “Here’s what we know and don’t know about Kari Lake-gate.”
Damn! This guy really likes putting “gate” on the end of everything, doesn’t he?
He adds:
“Know: Lake introduced herself to Parler on June 7. “Ok. Here we go! This is my FIRST post on Parler. Sounds like this is the only social media site that is actually putting the First Amendment, first. Bravo!”
Don’t know: Who tipped industry blogger Scott Jones that Lake was on Parler, but he confirmed it by checking her Fox 10-blessed Twitter page, which linked to Parler. So he wrote a post about it, citing it as further evidence that she “often uses her social media to push her right wing agenda.”
Know: Shortly thereafter, Lake removed the Parler reference but did not stop posting on the platform. The Facebook Live, made public on July 15, strongly implies this was at the direction of management.
Don’t know: What exactly Lake has been told about what she can and can’t do on social media. Co-anchor John Hook may have been speculating when he told Lake management wanted to avoid blowback from the Phoenix New Times (“or whoever”). This, of course, is what prompted her ready-to-go-viral response: “They're 20-year-old dopes. That's a rag for selling marijuana ads.”
Know: Scott Jones has an agenda. A former TV reporter and news director, he launched FTVLive 19 years ago and posts upwards of two dozen stories a day, focusing on gaffes, scandals and lawsuits at local stations around the country.
Don’t know: All of the particular axes Jones is grinding, but he definitely has an eye out for colleagues with “conservative bias,” despite his own blurry lines between reporting and opinion.
Know: Lake became a target last November in an FTVLive post headlined “No. 1 on our list of the worst TV news person on social media.” In addition to a bit of anonymous hearsay, it cites as evidence three controversial tweets (including the “#RedForEd = legal pot” knee-slapper). During the 2016 election, Lake expressed lack of shock at the instantly infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which then-candidate Donald Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women: “I think DT is talking ‘big’ to fit in with the guys.”
OK, first off, it is clear that Kerry Lengel has read many of the stories that FTVLive has written about Kari Lake. It is also clear, that he has not read much of anything else that FTVLive is written about TV news.
You see Mr. Lengel, we did not call out Kari Lake because she is a conservative. We called her out, because she is a TV Anchor and we KNOW that she is a conservative.
Now, you cover the preforming arts as your normal job. I’m sure it does not make any difference if that the actor playing the lead role in MacBeth is a liberal or a conservative? But it does make a difference if they are a Journalist.
TV Anchors, Reporters, Producers and Photographers are taught to deliver the story unbiasedly and giving both sides. That is what a Journalist is and that is what they do.
If you look at the social media of most TV Anchors, you would be hard pressed to figure out which way they lean politically?
That, Mr. Lengel is the way it is supposed to be.
If you read FTVLive you would see that I call out people that show bias on either side.
I have called out CNN’s Brian Stelter for this strong liberal, anti Donald Trump stance, many more times than I have Kari Lake.
I called out MSNBC for letting Rachel Maddow be involved in the Democratic debates. Maddow is a host and not a Journalist, she should have been nowhere near those debates and clearly not in a moderator role.
In more times than I can count I have called out networks, media companies and talent for letting their political bias show on one side or the other.
Mr. Lengel you write that I “definitely has an eye out for colleagues with “conservative bias,”
I have an eye out for any bias being shown by a Journalist.
As for Kari Lake, she clearly has shown her bias and that is unfortunate. When Donald Trump said that he likes to “grab women by the pussy” Lake said that did not bother her.
Lake could be a role model to young women. She is in a high profile role that many people look up to. The idea that she did not have a problem with Trump’s grabbing pussy remark and the fact that she made that public is unsettling.
FTVLive has called out stations and companies for the lack of women in management roles. We have done the same with minorities. Stations do make an effort to be more diverse on air (some would say a piss poor effort) but almost no effort is made to do so off air.
Look at the GM’s and News Directors across this country, most of them are old white guys. FTVLive has done story after story, to try and get companies to see this and change it.
My mom was a manager at a TV station back when seeing a woman in management was not heard of. I saw what she went through and how she was so strong to stand up to all that. I often say that my mom was rattling cages, before women were let in the zoo.
My respect for women is strong and that is all because of my mom.
So, when I see Kari Lake saying she it did not bother her when Trump talked about grabbing women by the pussy, yeah I’m going to call it out.
Because you know what, it bothered the hell out of me.
To wrap this up, I did not call Kari Lake out because she is a conservative, I called her out, because viewers know that she is a conservative and that Mr. Lengel is not how this business is supposed to work.
TV Anchors should not show their bias, report both sides of the story and let viewers decide what they want about the story. The idea that viewers knows that Kari Lake is for this and against that makes her ineffective as a Journalist and hurts the industry as a whole.
Now, lastly, a number of you emailed me to say that Lengel was wrong and that he should not be calling me out.
Some of you even tweeted out those same thoughts.
I personally have no problem with the story.
I dish it out, so surely I should be able to take it.
Of course, I don’t agree with what Lengel wrote and I think it’s completely wrong. But the guy is also entitled to his opinion and to say what he wants.
Plus he goes to plays for a living.
So let’s all cut him a break, because I for one, can not think of a more boring job to do.
