MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A "different" lesson today. Take a look at this excerpt from a Chicago Tribune sports story: When you include radio and Internet, the ...
HANDS OF THE JURY Closing arguments concluded Tuesday in the trial of disgraced former Philadelphia sportscaster Don Tollefson, and the case was handed to a Bucks County jury of six men and six women. ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When Mrs. B read this in The Daily Beasts Cheat Sheet, she thought a lesson on the difference between foreboding and forbidding would ...
BACK TO WORK Patrick Crawford, the morning meteorologist at KCEN-6-NBC in Temple, TX (Market #87), returned to work yesterday, one month after being gunned down in the station parking lot by an unknown assailant. ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." This is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, also called MLK Day and King Day. The birthday anniversary of the civil rights leader is ...
UNINTENDED DECEPTION Don Tollefsons fraud trial heads down the home stretch this week in Philadelphia. It will resume Tuesday. The trial has not gone well for Tollefson, who is representing himself after turning down ...
SETTLED UNDER PRESSURE Fox News and Fox Business Network returned to Dish Networks 14 million households overnight as the two sides settled their carriage fee dispute. Fox has been off Dish since Dec. 20. ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Diffuse means to spread, as in: ~The photog used a screen to diffuse the light. Defuse means, literally, to remove the fuse, as ...
ONE LESS ROSIE Four months in, actress Rosie Perez has left "The View." She had planned to take off the month of January to appear in Broadways "Fish in the Dark," but she will ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A historic is a combination of words Mrs. B rejoices over. Take this example: Yesterday, the US said Cuba had released 53 prisoners ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Accept is a verb that means to receive. ~The producer said she wouldnt accept the late package. Except is usually a preposition meaning ...
GOLDEN PARACHUTE Two and a half years after being run off the reservation at NBCs "Today" show, Ann Curry has finally negotiated her exit from NBC News, where she was being paid $12 million ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." To reign means to rule, as in this headline: Royal family with Spanish ancestry selected to reign during St. Augustines 450th year (staugustine.com, ...
SHRINKING AJAM Al Jazeera Americas inevitable collapse has begun. The New York-based cable news network plans to eliminate all of its morning programming and replace it with a re-broadcast of Al Jazeera English from ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B reminds you that theres no such thing as "a phenomena." And theres no such thing as "phenomenas." A phenomenon is a ...
NEW DAY AT NEW DAY Late Friday afternoon, CNN quietly confirmed that former Fox News anchor Alisyn Camerota (near left) would replace Kate Bolduan as co-anchor of the networks struggling morning show, "New Day." ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B appreciates this correct use of the words suspect and suspects: Hamyd Mourad, 18, suspected in an assault on the satirical newspaper ...
STONEWALL AND BLAME The incorrect report Wednesday night that the gunmen responsible for slaughtering 12 people in Paris had been killed or were in custody is not the first time NBC News justice correspondent ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A note about "armed gunmen," which was part of a recent Washington Post caption: Armed gunmen face officers near the newspaper offices ("Gunmen ...
LAPSE IN JUDGMENT CBS News correspondent Steve Kroft has confirmed The National Enquirers report that he has had a three-year extramarital affair with Lisan Goines, a married Manhattan lawyer. They met at the St. ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B is probably opening a can of worms. And thats OK. Its a can that needs to be opened occasionally. Take a ...
BAD BUSINESSMAN The fraud and theft trial of Don Tollefson began Tuesday in Philadelphia. Tollefson, the former sports anchor at WPVI-6-ABC and WTXF-29-Fox, pleaded guilty in September to scamming more than 200 people out ...
DOOMSDAY VIDEO When CNN debuted at 5 p.m. on June 1, 1980, Ted Turner promised viewers, "We wont be signing off until the world ends. Well be on, well be covering it live, and ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." We trip up on every day and everyday because we get careless. If you stop to think about it, you wont confuse the ...
TROPHY JOURNALISM Melinda Roeder, the "award winning journalist" who was fired last week by Sinclair flagship WBFF-45-Fox in Baltimore (Market #24) for her role in the deceptive editing of video of a police protester, ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A Charleston promotions producer writes: One of my pet peeves is seeing "suppose to" instead of supposed to, as in: The officer said ...
HEADS ROLL IN BALTO Melinda Roeder, a veteran reporter for the past seven years at Sinclair flagship WBFF-45-Fox in Baltimore (Market #24), has been fired for her role in the deceptive editing of a ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets spend our time together today looking at some more words that sound alike but have different meanings. Apprise means to inform. For ...
NOT DEAD YET Now that viewers can watch news on a mobile device as it happens throughout the day, nightly newscasts increasingly feel like a rehash of outdated remnants. Yet, in 2014, all three ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Its New Years Eve. The apostrophe goes before the "s" because the day belongs to only one year. And since you may be ...
NO COTTON FOR HEATHER Heather Brinkmann, the wife of Patrick Crawford, the morning meteorologist at KCEN-6-NBC in Temple, TX (Market #87) who was gunned down by an unknown assailant Dec. 17 in the station ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." You may work full time at your job. The Surly Editor and Mrs. B work part time at their jobs. How do you ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Before Christmas, Mrs. B invited her readers to send in words for the last installment of the series on mispronunciations. And here they ...
CHRISTMAS EVE TRAGEDY Marty Matthews, a longtime news anchor at Gannetts WTSP-10-CBS in Tampa (Market #13) who was dismissed in 2009 after 15 years with the station, narrowly escaped death Christmas Eve in a ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." The Oxford English Dictionary shows the first known English use of Xmas in 1551. But if youve used Xmas as an abbreviation for ...
CLOSE CALL A gas leak in the living room fireplace at the home of Martha Sugalski, the former anchor at WESH-2-NBC in Orlando (Market #18), exploded Sunday during a party for friends and family. ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Kwanzaa begins Friday, December 26th. Its a 7-day celebration that honors Americans of African heritage and their culture. And Mrs. B hopes youll ...
JUST STARTED SHOOTING Patrick Crawford, the morning meteorologist at KCEN-6-NBC in Temple, TX (Market #87), appeared in public yesterday for the first time since he was gunned down Wednesday morning in the station parking ...
STREET-FRONT TARGETED Man Haron Monis, the self-styled Iranian cleric who took 17 people hostage inside the Lindt Chocolate Cafe about 9:45 a.m. on Monday, had initially planned to disrupt "The Morning Show" on Australias ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B so enjoyed an article titled "6 Grammar Points To Watch Out for in Christmas Songs" in the web version of "Mental ...
STILL ON THE LOOSE Patrick Crawford, the morning meteorologist at KCEN-6-NBC in Temple, TX (Market #87), says this is the guy who shot him Wednesday morning in the station parking lot. Crawford, who remains ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Before we get to todays list of mispronunciations, submitted by readers, Mrs. B reminds you that winter officially begins Sunday evening, with the ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B hopes youll pay close attention to your pronunciation of these words. mastectomy: muh-STEK-tuh-mee, not muh-SEK-tuh-mee (Dont leave out the first "t.") ...
GUNNED DOWN Police continued their search for a gunman who shot Patrick Crawford, the morning meteorologist at KCEN-6-NBC in Temple, TX (Market #87), outside the TV station Wednesday morning. The assailant confronted Crawford in ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B continues her week-long series on mispronunciations: jewelry: JEW-el-ry, not JEW-el-er-y. (It has just three syllables not four.) library: LI-brar-ee, not LI-berry ...
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT Talk about being in the right place at the wrong time. Seven News, the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia, is based at studios in Martin Place….a ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Hanukkah (thats the most common spelling) begins at sundown tonight. Its the 8-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the rededication of the Temple of ...
WORD OF GOD Don Tollefson, the former sports anchor at WPVI-6-ABC and WTXF-29-Fox in Philadelphia (Market #4), who pleaded guilty in September to scamming more than 200 people out of approximately $317,000, unexpectedly withdrew ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B wants to spend her time with you this week on mispronunciations she wants you not to make. The word mispronunciation does ...
LEGENDARY SWAGGER Bill Bonds, the legendary Detroit news anchor known for his on-air swagger as much as his colorful off-camera behavior, died Saturday after having a heart attack at home. He was 82. For ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets begin todays lesson with a quick assignment. Google "first discovered." Go ahead. Did you see this one? Treatment and prevention has come ...
TOO MANY COOKS The ratings woes at NBC News are due, in part, to a bureaucratic jumble of managers and yes-men who have been more focused on career advancement than solving the networks news ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." If you think "how come," instead of "why," sounds like slang, Mrs. B wants you to hear what author and language commentator Charles ...
NO JOKE IN THE BURG Al Gnoza, the veteran news anchor who was fired last week for making a bad joke on Media Generals WHTM-27-ABC in Harrisburg (Market #45), says he cant say much ...
FIRED FOR BAD HUMOR Al Gnoza, a veteran "anchor, reporter and traffic schmo" for the past 10 years at Media Generals recently acquired WHTM-27-ABC in Harrisburg (Market #45), has been fired for making a ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." If Mrs. B hadnt checked under the hood, she might have driven off with the kitten nestled on the engine. See how that ...
COMEDY CENTRAL President Obama, appearing as a guest for the first time on Comedy Centrals "The Colbert Report," booted Stephen Colbert from his anchor chair last night, just as Colbert was about to do ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A longtime news director writes to Mrs. B: Here are my two "fingernails-on-the-blackboard" mispronunciations: "News" as "nooze." A cow moos, a kitten mews. ...
SAD STATE AT CNN As you have probably heard by now, Candy Crowley, CNNs chief political correspondent and a veteran of 27 years at the network, is leaving "so she can embark on the ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." The best thing about Mrs. Bs job is hearing from her readers, like this from a meteorologist in Orlando: I hear this all ...
MOVING WEATHER We told you yesterday about major staff changes at WeatherNation, where nearly all of the original on-camera meteorologists in Minneapolis (Excelsior, MN) were replaced recently when operations were moved to Denver. Only ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Sunday is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. It commemorates the day in 1941 that more than 2000 Americans were left dead in Pearl Harbor, ...
HLN NOT FOR SALE Albie Hecht, the executive vice president and general manager of HLN (formerly known as Headline News), called an all-hands-on-deck meeting (#NextYearNow) yesterday at the "W" Hotel in downtown Atlanta. The ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A Sioux City producer makes a plea to Mrs. B: Could you please help me prove my colleagues wrong in that the word ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Voil?! is a French interjection used to call attention to something. Pronounce it vwah-LAH! Thats a "v" sound before the "w" sound. And ...
LOST APPEAL CBS did not defame Amy Jacobson, a former reporter at WMAQ-5-NBC in Chicago (Market #3), when it aired videotape of her with the husband of a missing woman. On July 6, 2007, ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." This is an example of why Mrs. B recommends that in most cases you use "who" instead of "whom": The video features Mr. ...
YOUR SALES STATION The final shoe has dropped in the Cox-Fox station swap. Earlier this summer, under threat of losing its Fox network affiliation, Cox Media agreed to trade KTVU-2-Fox and independent sister-station KICU-36 ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B found this in her mailbox: I was watching my local TV News…and they did a touching Thanksgiving story about an elderly ...
RUDE ROSIE Rosie ODonnell is a "malcontent" who is bringing down "The View," according to well-placed sources in the shows production, reports TMZ. She is unlikely to return for a second season, and may ...
TEN ANSWERS In this post-sweeps day-after-Thanksgiving newsletter, we reprint an interview with the Surly Editor? that first appeared in Terry Heatons PomoBlog on November 16, 2007. At the time of the interview, seven years ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A freelance producer/news writer in San Jose asks Mrs. B for a lesson on using more important instead of the incorrect "more importantly." ...
NIGHTMARE ENDED Julie Tremmel, the showboat reporter who was abruptly fired from WJAR-10-NBC in Providence (Market #53) in February after doing handstands during a liveshot, has reached an out-of-court settlement with station owner Media ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. Mrs. B hopes if youre responsible for news graphics or web stories that youll capitalize both Thanksgiving and Day. ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Now that you and Mrs. B are into the holiday season, lets look at how to make last names plural. Rule #1: Do ...
FAILING TO DISPERSE To the surprise of no one, demonstrators protested yesterdays grand jury verdict in Ferguson, Missouri. And, to the surprise of no one, national and local media swarmed to the scene to ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Ok, lets get a few things straight: An alumna (uh-LUM-nuh) is a female graduate. An alumnus (uh-LUM-nus) is a male graduate. Alumni (uh-LUM-nye) ...
SWAB THE DECKS The housecleaning at KSNV-3-NBC in Las Vegas (Market #41) continues. Just three weeks after the Sinclair Broadcast Group officially took control of the station from Intermountain West Communications, News Director Craig ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Before you say lame-duck president again, know that a president is a lame duck only after a successor has been elected. Heres how ...
ORDERLY TRANSITION CBS News announced a shake-up in leadership yesterday, elevating David Rhodes to the top job in the news division, while moving the chairman, Jeff Fager, back to running the network?s flagship news ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B wants your grammar to make your high school English teacher proud. But more than that, she wants your viewers and your ...
RUMORS DENIED Another day, another round of damage control for beleaguered NBC News President Deborah Turness. US Weekly reported yesterday the EXCLUSIVE details that "Natalie Morales [and] Willie Geist Were Told They Were Fired ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Incredible means hard to believe. For example: To capture the incredible scene, Nichols quietly followed the pride for almost six months, until the ...
MSNBCS TAX CHEAT The Rev. Al Sharpton, who hosts a nightly show at 6 p.m. on MSNBC, owes more than $4.5 million in state and federal taxes on his personal income and his for-profit ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Whos is a contraction of the pronoun who and the verb is, as in: ~Whos going to do the headlines from the newsroom? ...
HERE TODAY, GONE TODAY Less than three months after starting work as senior vice president and general manager at NBCs "Today" show, former ESPN wunderkind Jamie Horowitz has been fired. According to at least ...
DRIVING WHILE STUPID Marc Mullins, who has anchored "Good Morning Indiana" for the past two years on WRTV-6-ABC in Indianapolis (Market #27), was arrested for OWI early Saturday, after he made an illegal turn ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Heres a sentence in a Washington Post story that inspired Mrs. B to do a lesson on comprise versus compose: Stacked atop one ...
GREEN TEA AND LOZENGES By the time you read this, NBCs Al Roker will have completed 34 hours of live television (although on the internet, not broadcast), allowing him to break the Guinness World ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B wants you to look at this sentence in a story about the NFL banning the n-word: But like the others, it ...
NAPTOWN ALL-STARS On Jan. 1, Tribunes WTTV-4-CW in Indianapolis (Market #27) will become a CBS affiliate and will launch its own news department, supported from behind by sister-station WXIN-59-Fox, but with its own reporters ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B continues the Veterans Day discussion, following yesterdays lesson on "commemorate vs. celebrate," with this opinion from a West Virginia newsie: I ...
SLEEPLESS AT 30 ROCK Starting tonight at 10 on MSNBC, Al Roker will embark on a 34-hour weathercasting marathon, dubbed the "Rokerthon," which will be live-streamed on the web and to NBC affiliates. The ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." This day after Veterans Day, Mrs. B shares email from an assignments manager in Fargo, whos also an adjunct professor at Minnesota State ...
CELEBRATING BROKAW Tom Brokaw will receive the coveted Presidential Medal of Freedom on Nov. 24, becoming the fifth television news anchor to be so honored by the White House. He follows CBSs Edward R. ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Veterans Day is today, and Mrs. B reminds you of the correct way to write it. Veterans Day has no apostrophe. ~Well send ...
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Our Surly Editor? is having a hard time growing squash. Its probably because therere no honey bees to do the pollinating. Squash is ...
FLEEING SINCLAIR Less than three weeks ago, Scott Livingston (left), Sinclair?s VP of news, told TVNewscheck.com that reports of newsroom unrest at Sinclairs WJLA-7-ABC in DC (Market #8) were overblown. Livingston agreed that while ...
