Mrs.B-Archive-11-07-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B knows its tricky sometimes deciding whether to use a singular verb or a plural one. In the case of average, it ...
Category: Top Story
Archive Date 2014-11-07
CRAPPER FLAP Eric Frisbee, a content manager at Scripps-owned WEWS-5-ABC in Cleveland (Market #19), has sued The E.W. Scripps Company, Inc. and its former director of engineering, Barry Pinney, for invasion of privacy. His ...
Archive Date 2014-11-06
CUTS CONTINUE Staff cuts continued yesterday at The Weather Channel. As many as 40 senior producers, show producers, and weather producers were let go, according to TVNewsers Chris Ariens. TWC insiders tell NewsBlues the ...
Mrs.B-Archive-11-06-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." You find the principal in a school. Mrs. Bs elementary school principal used to say, "You can remember Im your principal by thinking ...
Archive Date 2014-11-05
AND THE WINNER ISNT Cable news smotherage of the mid-term election wasnt without its highlights. Fox News reported exit poll results from the New Hampshire Senate race almost two hours before voting ended in ...
Mrs.B-Archive-11-05-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Group is one of those collective nouns that can be either singular or plural, depending on how you use it. If the group ...
Archive Date 2014-11-04
NON-COMPETE UPHELD A Franklin County (Columbus, OH) Common Pleas Court judge has ruled against former WBNS-10-CBS anchor Kurt Ludlow, upholding the non-compete clause in Ludlows employment contract with Dispatch Broadcasting. Magistrate Timothy P. McCarthy ...
Mrs.B-Archive-11-04-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B wants you to look at this sentence, and think about it: During the search, officials closed schools, had helicopters flying overhead, ...
Archive Date 2014-11-03
NO YELLOW SNOW Our Atlanta-based Weather Channel pal Mike Seidel, who makes a living reporting live from some of the crappiest weather in the universe, was dispatched to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina ...
Mrs.B-Archive-11-03-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Using jargon, the technical language of a profession, can get us into trouble. We sometimes do more harm as communicators than good. One ...
Archive Date 2014-10-30
CLEANING HOUSE Days before the Sinclair Broadcast Group officially takes control (Nov. 1) of KSNV-3-NBC in Las Vegas (Market #40), Bob Stoldal, the executive vice president of news at Intermountain West Communications, has been ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-30-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Daylight-saving time, or DST, ends Sunday at 2 a.m. So does daylight-savings time, daylight saving time, and daylight savings time. The Associated Press ...
Archive Date 2014-10-29
WITHOUT SKEPTICISM Critics of Sundays CBS "60 Minutes" report on the nurses who treated the United States first Ebola patient are charging that the segment offered a one-sided account that overlooked the Dallas hospitals ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-29-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A note from a former TV newsie in Omaha begins todays lesson. Mrs. B: Can you please revisit the topic of "first ever" ...
Archive Date 2014-10-28
LORDS RETURN Bill Lord, 67, the former general manager of Allbrittons WJLA-7-ABC and Newschannel 8 in DC (Market #8), has been named station manager and executive news director across the street at Gannetts WUSA-9-CBS. ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-28-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Instead of wordy phrases, Mrs. B hopes youll start using simpler ones. Instead of "as a means to," say to. Instead of "at ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-27-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." "Utilize" is a useless word for people who are trying to show off. It means the same thing as use. Most of the ...
Archive Date 2014-10-27
BAIT AND SWITCH Under ABC News President James Goldston (left), ABCs "No World News" has cut back on international and political stories and introduced a sensibility closer to that of "Good Morning America," complete ...
Archive Date 2014-10-24
BROADCASTERS THREATENED The FBI yesterday issued a nationwide "Bulletin" to news media outlets, warning that ISIL is looking at local TV anchors, reporters, and talk show hosts as "desirable targets" for execution. The bulletin, ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-24-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Of is the preposition to use after accused and after guilty or not guilty as in: ~He is accused of grand theft auto. ...
Archive Date 2014-10-23
AMHQ REBOOT Scott Warren, the senior executive producer of The Weather Channels unwatchable Sam Champion morning show, is out. The show debuted March 17 to lousy ratings and, despite solid backing from the network, ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-23-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Alleged and allegedly are police-blotter jargon. Instead, use "accused of," "charged with," or "suspected of." If your news director insists that you use ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-22-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A euphemism is a nice-sounding word substituted for one that is harsh or ugly. Most are evasive at best and deceitful at worst. ...
Archive Date 2014-10-22
POLITICALLY POLARIZED When it comes to getting news about politics and government, liberals and conservatives inhabit different worlds. There is little overlap in the news sources they turn to and trust. And whether discussing ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-21-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." You dont have to turn cartwheels to avoid putting a preposition at the end of the sentence. Theres nothing wrong with asking: ~Where ...
Archive Date 2014-10-21
ETHICAL INFECTION The quarantine against possible Ebola exposure ends this week for Dr. Nancy Snyderman, but the troubles clearly arent over for NBC Newss chief medical editor. An admitted lapse in the quarantine, combined ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-20-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Heres a question from a South Carolina reporter about a subject that may have stumped you, too: Politics is/are a nasty thing, but ...
Archive Date 2014-10-20
BATTLE FOR SEATTLE FOX Television Stations, Inc. and Tribune Broadcasting have decided to kiss and make up. Last month, Fox informed Tribune it planned to yank its network affiliation from last-place KCPQ-13-Fox in Seattle ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-17-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." "Worser" is one of those words Mrs. B hopes will never come from your mouth or from your keyboard, unless its someones family ...
Archive Date 2014-10-17
ACTION TAKEN Scripps-owned WFTS-28-ABC in Tampa (Market #13) yesterday fired News Director Bill McFarland and Assistant News Director Michele Murray after an internal review questioned their handling of a recent story involving a missing ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-16-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B is always appreciates lesson suggestions. Heres one from a program consultant in northern Maine: In listening and watching coverage of the ...
Archive Date 2014-10-16
ABCs FEAR FACTOR ABC News chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser, an infectious disease specialist and the former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the similarly ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-15-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." We hear it all the time: "theres a lot of." But sometimes it should be "therere a lot of." How do you know ...
Archive Date 2014-10-15
OH, NEVER MIND As Roseanne Roseannadanna might have said on Saturday Night Lives "Weekend Update," "Oh, never mind." (Correction: It was Gilda Radners character Emily Litella who made the phrase famous on SNL.) Nielsen ...
Archive Date 2014-10-14
LOST FOCUS So, lets make sure weve got this straight. NBC News President Deborah Turness abruptly pulled out of Fortunes "Most Powerful Women" summit in California over the weekend so she could "focus" on ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-14-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets look at some old-fashioned words that still pop up in our stories and be sure you know what they mean. Yore means ...
Archive Date 2014-10-13
NUMBERS GLITCH Nielsen executives admitted Friday that a software glitch in their ratings tabulation system has been fouling up the national network numbers since March 2. Most specifically, the glitch had been inflating ABC?s ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-13-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets be sure youre using the correct preposition. ~Perhaps you have an aversion to seeing blood. (It might even make you feel woozy.) ...
Archive Date 2014-10-10
BABY MOORE Jimmy Moore, the former news photog for Media Generals WSPA-7-CBS in Spartanburg, SC (Market #37) who was paralyzed in a freak auto accident on his way to work three years ago, is ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-10-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." If youre not sure when to use into and in to, then this lesson is for you. Into is about direction or motion. ...
Archive Date 2014-10-09
COURTING JON At roughly the same time NBC News President Deborah Turness was professing her support for David Gregory as host of "Meet the Press," she was privately wooing Jon Stewart. According to three ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-09-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." No one will ever know you dont the difference between there, theyre, and their, until the slip-up appears on a graphic or in ...
Archive Date 2014-10-08
BREACH OF PEACE Hot-headed former WCBS-2 morning anchor Rob Morrison cut a plea deal in a Connecticut court Tuesday that spared him jail time for bombarding his estranged wife with more than 120 phone ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-08-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B was watching a network newscast earlier this week when up popped "cemetary." She nearly choked on her mac/cheese/tuna casserole. The correct ...
Archive Date 2014-10-07
JOBS FOR HOOPS Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner, said Monday it would shed 1,475 jobs, or about 10% of its workforce, as part of a cost-cutting plan aimed at freeing up ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-07-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Todays lesson is on capital, capitol, and Capitol. A capital is a place serving as the seat of government in a nation or ...
Archive Date 2014-10-06
EXCLUSIVE INFECTION Ashoka Mukpo, the freelance photog who came down with Ebola last week while working for NBC News in Liberia, arrived in the US this morning aboard a private charter flight from Monrovia. ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-06-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B invites you to look at some gender-neutral terms today. Within the military, service member(s) is now the accepted term, as opposed ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-03-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B likes the sassy tone of theSkimm and appreciates the free email subscription to its daily summary of news. So whats a ...
Archive Date 2014-10-03
NOT SO SUDDEN Heather Van Nests sudden departure as the blondiful primary news anchor at Gannetts WTSP-10-CBS in Tampa (Market #13) turns out to have been not so sudden. She and the station have ...
Archive Date 2014-10-02
DISAPPEARING LOOKER In what is surely a first for NewsBlues, this weeks Looker, Heather Van Nest, the blondiful primary news anchor at Gannetts WTSP-10-CBS in Tampa (Market #13), abruptly left the station yesterday when ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-02-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Postpone means to delay until a future time. The Penn State Board of Trustees is postponing a public debate over the Freeh Report ...
Mrs.B-Archive-10-01-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B shares email from one of her readers on the subject of revelations: I?m dismayed about something I?ve been hearing on my ...
Archive Date 2014-09-30
GUILTY AS CHARGED Don Tollefson, the former sports anchor at WPVI-6-ABC and WTXF-29-Fox in Philadelphia (Market #4), pleaded guilty yesterday to scamming more than 200 people out of approximately $317,000 that was meant to ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-30-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Extradite means to return to a jurisdiction, as in: Charlottesville police are now working on getting him extradited to Virginia. ("Suspect Captured in ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-29-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A station in El Paso posted a story earlier this week that included this sentence: The woman – whose truck was swept into ...
Archive Date 2014-09-29
QUIETLY DISMISSED DUI charges have been quietly dismissed against Mary Beth Sewald, the former general manager and director of news operations at Sinclairs KRNV-4-NBC in Reno (Market #107). Sewald was arrested in June, while ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-25-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." One of the most frequently misused words is dilemma. A dilemma is a choice between two undesirable options. For example: ~Many communities now ...
Archive Date 2014-09-25
SUSPENDED DISBELIEF Bill Simmons dared ESPN to suspend him. The network took the bait. On Monday, Simmons ripped NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell?s handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, repeatedly called Goodell a ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-24-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." On this National Punctuation day, Mrs. B reminds you of how easy it is to mix up these two little words: its and ...
Archive Date 2014-09-24
FOX SQUEEZE PLAY FOX Television Stations, Inc. is making another West Coast power play. According to Deadline Hollywood, Fox has told Tribune it will yank its network affiliation from last-place KCPQ-13-Fox in Seattle (Market ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-23-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." On this first day of autumn or fall (notice the lowercase "a" and the lowercase "f" since seasons begin with a lowercase letter), ...
Archive Date 2014-09-23
UP IN SMOKE Charlo Greene, whose legal name is Charlene Ebge, the former reporter at KTVA-11-CBS in Anchorage (Market #147) who famously quit her job Sunday evening with the catchy sign-off, "Fuck it. I ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-22-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Autumn, or fall, officially begins tonight at 10:29 p.m. EDT, at the autumnal equinox. Autumnal is pronounced aw-TUM-nul. The word equinox comes from ...
Archive Date 2014-09-22
GONE TO POT Charlo Greene, a reporter at KTVA-11-CBS in Anchorage (Market #147), did a report on the Alaska Cannabis Club, a medical marijuana business, on Sundays late news. At the end of the ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-19-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When Mrs. B read this in the Washington Post, she flinched: Under Weymouth, The Posts newsroom shrunk from about 800 staffers to fewer ...
Archive Date 2014-09-19
FULL CIRCLE Less than a month after "retiring" from Scripps-owned KMGH-7-ABC in Denver (Market #17), Mike Landess, a veteran of fifty years in broadcasting, has found work elsewhere. He will debut Monday as the ...
Archive Date 2014-09-18
TICK, TICK, TICK "60 Minutes" begins its 47th season Sunday night. The venerable news magazine, which, in recent years, has disappointingly skidded into a rut of cutesy news-you-can-use profiles and poorly vetted rehashes of ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-18-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B would appreciate your taking a little time this morning to look at some soundalike words that mean nothing alike. Flak is ...
Archive Date 2014-09-17
ACCORDING TO PLANS Sheinelle Joness mom has let the cat out of the bag. In March, Jones, who hosted the "Emmy Award-winning" breakfast show "Good Day Philadelphia" on Fox-owned WTXF-29 in Philadelphia (Market #4), ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-17-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." PC stands for personal computer. Originally, it stood for computers compatible with the IBM PC that was introduced in 1981. IBM doesnt make ...
Archive Date 2014-09-16
CNNS MONKEY WRENCH Just as Time Warners Turner Broadcasting was in the process of offering buyouts to an many as 550 staffers, in an effort to trim hundreds of employees at CNN and HLN, ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-16-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." An aide is an assistant or a consultant. Note the "e" on the end. Heres a Green Bay stations headline: Former Teachers Aide ...
Archive Date 2014-09-15
IN GODS HANDS Ten months after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor, Dave Benton, the morning news anchor at Nexstars WCIA-3-CBS in Champaign, IL (Market #85), has been told the tumor has returned, ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-15-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Time was that Mrs. B would have had a hissy fit about using a singular verb with the traditionally plural media, as in ...
Archive Date 2014-09-12
CLEARLY CHANGING Merediths last-place WGCL-46-CBS in Atlanta (Market #9), which seems to always be reinventing itself, is reinventing itself again. Trey Fabacher is out after just two years as general manager. He was hired ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-12-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B hopes you remember that centered on is the term to use, as in: ~Tonights lead story is centered on the reaction ...
Archive Date 2014-09-11
PETRI DISH ABANDONED Geoff Roth, the vice president of local content (news director) at Fox Televisions WJZY-46-Fox in Charlotte (Market #25), has left the station, just 14 months after being hired from Fox-owned KRIV-26 ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-11-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Enormity is a word used to describe something monstrously evil. ~Today we remember the enormity of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. ~Until ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-10-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Acronyms are abbreviations that can be pronounced as a word, for example NATAS, AFTRA, NASA. ISIS in the acronym most media have been ...
Archive Date 2014-09-10
TRIED AS CONSPIRATORS A Sacramento Superior Court judge yesterday ordered Emmy award-winning former anchor Sabrina Rodriguez to stand trial with her ex-fianc? on felony charges of grand theft, burglary, and conspiracy. Prosecutors say the ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-09-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When Mrs. B saw this in the Washington Post, she grimaced (and that is not a pretty picture): In recent years, the militias ...
Archive Date 2014-09-09
SHRINKING SUPPORT An odd thing happened to the "Help Kurt Ludlow Legal Fund" GoFundMe campaign yesterday. Some contributors withdrew their support. This time yesterday, Ludlow, who was dropped in May after 24 years as ...
Archive Date 2014-09-08
PICK-AND-PAY, EH? Canadas version of the FCC, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, is set to begin a two-week public hearing on sweeping proposals that could, if adopted, dramatically change how Canadians receive and ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-08-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. Bs mother watches MSNBCs "The Daily Rundown" and was troubled that in Chuck Todds farewell last week, he misused a pronoun when ...
Archive Date 2014-09-05
YOUNG, BLOND AND HOT When the NFL kicks off Sunday, Erin Andrews will be the new primary sideline reporter for Fox Sports coverage. She replaces Pam Oliver, who held the job for 19 seasons. ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-05-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." One in any number always takes a singular verb. Heres an example: Nearly one in five Americans has a diagnosable mental illness, according ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-04-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." You may have wondered why Ebola virus is capitalized. The Ebola virus first appeared near the Ebola River in Zaire. When diseases are ...
Archive Date 2014-09-04
TWO ROSIES In a surprising last-minute turn-around, ABCs "The View" yesterday named actress Rosie Perez (left) and conservative Republican apologist Nicolle Wallace as the shows new co-hosts with Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O?Donnell. October ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-03-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B has heard from several of her readers asking about the appropriate use of epidemic and pandemic. We often use the word ...
Archive Date 2014-09-03
ESTATE SALE Two months after the death of Jim Rogers, the longtime owner of Intermountain Wests KSNV-3-NBC in Las Vegas (Market #40), the station has been sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. His widow, ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-02-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When youre talking about catching or developing a disease, you might want to use the verb contract (con-TRACT). For example: ~Since hes never ...
Archive Date 2014-09-02
YOUTH APPEAL "It is an honor to begin this journey with you," David Muir said at the top of Mondays "ABC World News Tonight with David Muir." He held his hands wide to welcome ...
Mrs.B-Archive-09-01-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." The nouns damage and damages are not the same thing. They are not interchangeable. Mrs. B has read and heard "damages" in California ...
Archive Date 2014-09-01
BUSTED IN WYOMING Ken Bastida, an "Emmy award-winning" evening news anchor at CBS-owned KPIX-5 in San Francisco (Market #6), is on vacation. Last week, he drove his classic 1966 Corvette Stingray (with a big ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-29-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B puts on her history hat today, in preparation for Labor Day on Monday. The tradition got its start in 1882, when ...
Archive Date 2014-08-29
STAGE-MANAGED PLEA Sabrina Rodriguez, the "Emmy-winning" former anchor at Tribunes KTXL-40-Fox in Sacramento (Market #20), flanked by her attorney and prompted by a "reputation enhancement specialist," entered a not guilty plea yesterday morning in ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-28-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B hopes you wont be careless with your contractions. Have you ever written "would of," "could of," or "should of," or "must ...
