Archive Date 2014-08-28
DISAW SIGNOFF Diane Sawyer ended her 4? year tenure as anchor of "ABC World News" on Wednesday with a long, well-rehearsed goodbye. "It has been wonderful to be the home port for the brave ...
Category: Top Story
Archive Date 2014-08-27
THE NEWS SORORITY News executives and network publicists have been poring over bound galleys of "The News Sorority," veteran journalist Sheila Wellers gossipy chronicle of the rise (and occasional stumbles) of three of TVs ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-27-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." "The number of" takes a singular verb, as in: The number of nursing homes with five stars in quality measures has increased significantly ...
Archive Date 2014-08-26
BUYOUTS BEGIN Time Warners Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting is expected to begin offering buyouts this week to an many as 550 staffers, including hundreds of employees at CNN and HLN. Layoffs will follow. Although Turner ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-26-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." This question for Mrs. B is one you may have, too: Should we write that terrorists have "executed" their hostage(s), or should we ...
Archive Date 2014-08-25
DIRE STRAITS Layoffs are coming to CNN. "We are going to do less and have to do it with less," Jeff Zucker told employees last week during a call-in to a news meeting. "We ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-25-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B has heard this kind of construction a few times lately: I wish I would have done more research before I went ...
Archive Date 2014-08-22
SQUEEZING LEMON Ongoing cable coverage of racial unrest in Missouri has come to this: two black men arguing on TV. Don Lemons interview with rapper Talib Kweli in Ferguson yesterday afternoon on CNN started ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-22-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When Mrs. B read this, she sprang into action with a lesson on nauseous and nauseated: Police evacuated the first floor of the ...
Archive Date 2014-08-21
TIDYING UP Pressed by the FCC to eliminate ownership conflicts in the proposed merger between Media General and LIN Media, the two groups yesterday agreed to sell five of their TV stations. Other deals ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-21-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." One of Mrs. Bs anchor friends in Chicago writes: Is ?persons? correct when used with a specific number? For example: Two million persons ...
Archive Date 2014-08-20
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOW "Brendan Higgins is no longer with the station," a spokesperson for CBS-owned KTVT-11 in Dallas (Market #5) confirmed late yesterday. His bio has been taken down. The veteran morning news anchor ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-20-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." If you say a list includes, please dont add "among others." Heres what Mrs. B is talking about. ~Ellen said the 5:00 rundown ...
Archive Date 2014-08-19
DOESNT MAKE SENSE Media nearly outnumbered protestors in Ferguson last night. And cops outnumbered them all. "A huge police presence for a very small number of protesters," Jake Tapper reported on CNN. "Nobody is ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-19-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B knows you hear it a lot, and maybe have even said it or written it, but "convicted felon" is redundant. A ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-18-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Today Mrs. B wants you to look at torturous and tortuous. That second "r" in torturous makes the difference in their meanings. Torturous ...
Archive Date 2014-08-18
FANNING THE FLAMES With the community of Ferguson, Missouri, teetering on the edge of anarchy, ripped by bloody protests and looting, Gannetts KSDK-5-NBC in St. Louis (Market #21) further inflamed the situation Friday by ...
Archive Date 2014-08-15
SHADES OF ANN CURRY After months of empty support and hollow denials, NBC News yesterday replaced David Gregory with Chuck Todd as host of "Meet the Press." Todd will debut in two weeks, on ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-15-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Before we get to todays lesson, Mrs. B reminds you that protesters is spelled with an e in the last syllable and demonstrators ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-14-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B wants you to look at two sets of words that are often confused and misused. To indicate something indirectly is to ...
Archive Date 2014-08-14
RABEL ROUSER Ed Rabel, who spent 19 years as a correspondent for CBS News and 13 years with NBC News as the national security correspondent at the Pentagon, caused quite a stir last year ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-13-2014
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 ...
Archive Date 2014-08-13
AWKWARD FAREWELL Shepard Smith apologized Tuesday for calling Robin Williams a "coward," shortly after the actor was found dead Monday. "I would just like to apologize to the end of the earth to anyone ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-12-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When Mrs. B read this, she thought it might be a good time to review some plurals: Israel and Hamas both see reasons ...
Archive Date 2014-08-12
WISH DENIED After 58 years as the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis (Market #26), Lin Medias flagship WISH-8-CBS will become an independent on January 1. CBS will move to Tribunes WTTV-4-CW, which is co-located with ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-11-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B heard the mispronunciation of infrastructure by one of her local NPR news anchors the other day. That second syllable, "fra," is ...
Archive Date 2014-08-11
TASED IN MONTAUK When last we heard from John Bolaris, the former chief meteorologist at Fox-owned WTXF-29 in Philadelphia (Market #4) was vigorously denying court testimony that he had crapped his drawers while being ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-08-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." In this hurricane season, lets review the difference between farther and further. Farther is about physical distance. (It helps that far begins the ...
Archive Date 2014-08-08
CHEMISTRY TESTS Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd did their final live taping of "The View" yesterday in New York. The show will air Monday. A teary McCarthy said, "I am so grateful." She thanked ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-07-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When to use lie and lay is one of the most challenging lessons in grammar. And even the best writers have trouble with ...
Archive Date 2014-08-07
EXECUTIVE SWAP Bill Wolff (near left), the vice president of prime-time programming at MSNBC who also executive produces "The Rachel Maddow Show," is leaving the network to become executive producer of ABCs "The View." ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-06-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Affect and effect have confused people since the words first started showing up in English in the 14th century. So dont feel bad ...
Archive Date 2014-08-06
DISTRUST AND BROWBEATING Rolling Stone has a brilliant essay by Reid Cherlin, a former spokesman for Barack Obama, on the toxic relationship that has developed between the president and the press. In fact, the ...
Archive Date 2014-08-05
TRIAL BY MEDIA CBS-owned KOVR-13 in Sacramento (Market #20) has obtained court documents outlining details of the case against Sabrina Rodriguez, an "award winning storyteller" and morning news anchor at Tribunes KTXL-40-Fox, who was ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-05-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets look at a few words that are often mispronounced even by network anchors and reporters. The correct way to pronounce intravenous is ...
Archive Date 2014-08-04
BUSTED STORYTELLER Sabrina Rodriguez, an "award winning storyteller" and morning news anchor at Tribunes KTXL-40-Fox in Sacramento (Market #20), has been arrested for grand theft, burglary, and conspiracy. She surrendered Thursday when an arrest ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-04-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Tact has to do with what is proper and appropriate in dealing with others. For example: Coping With A Co-Workers Body Odor Takes ...
Archive Date 2014-08-01
O-TOWN SHOCKER Martha Sugalski, the blondiful cocktail dress-wearing primary news anchor for the past eight years at WESH-2-NBC in Orlando (Market #18), has left the station and is rumored to be headed across the ...
Mrs.B-Archive-08-01-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets look at two expressions that have the same root word but have different meanings: bullying and bully pulpit. Bullying is treating someone ...
Archive Date 2014-07-31
URGE TO MERGE Journal Communications Inc. of Milwaukee and E.W. Scripps Co. of Cincinnati have agreed to merge their broadcast operations while spinning off their newspapers into a separate company. Translation: Journal is going ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-31-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B has been wondering if the mind of the person who created this graphic was wandering. Wondering is feeling curiosity. Wandering is ...
Archive Date 2014-07-30
LIVE FROM WASILLA Jonathan Klein, the former president of CNNs US operation, and Jeff Gaspin, the former chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, have launched a subscription-based online TV channel for Sarah Palin. Its ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-30-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B cannot promise that this will be the last of the eggcorns series. There are just too many garbled words and phrases ...
Archive Date 2014-07-29
CLEARING THE DECK Bill Lord, the longtime news director at Allbrittons WJLA-7-ABC and Newschannel 8 in DC (Market #8) who was promoted to vice president and general manager in December 2011, has been told ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-29-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Its just too hard to stop when youre having a good time. And Mrs. B is having the time of her life. Well, ...
Archive Date 2014-07-28
INTENT TO DECEIVE The FCC, on Friday, approved Sinclair Broadcast Groups $985 million purchase of Allbritton Communications but also accused Sinclair of "serious breaches of trust" in its widespread use of local marketing, shared-services, ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-28-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B continues her series on eggcorns today with more garbled phrases her readers submitted: case and point, instead of case in ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-25-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." It takes two to tango. Have you heard that phrase? It comes from a song in the 1950s used for most anything that ...
Archive Date 2014-07-25
SALE APPROVED Nearly a year after it was first proposed, and 327 days after an investigation was opened, the FCC has approved the $985 million deal between Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Allbritton Communications ...
Archive Date 2014-07-24
SATIRICAL BID Comedian Jon Stewart has an idea. "If Rupert Murdoch buys Time Warner, CNN will be for sale!" he says. "So lets buy it and do something with it. Were not sure what ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-24-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A jamb is the vertical part of the frame of a door or window. Mrs. B hopes you wont confuse it with the ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-23-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Here we go with todays list of eggcorns, or garbled phrases: darkest before the storm, instead of darkest before the dawn deformation of ...
Archive Date 2014-07-23
UNCONSCIOUS VULTURISM Colin Brazier, the Sky News correspondent who sparked outrage by rummaging through victim belongings at the scene of the Malaysia Airlines crash, explains why he did it. "While presenting Skys lunchtime coverage ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-22-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B will not go so far as to call eggcorns word crimes. In fact, they inject a little humor into our everyday ...
Archive Date 2014-07-22
THEY REPORT, YOU DECIDE If you live in Russia (and own a television) and watch Kremlin-controlled Russia Today, you would have heard far different reporting on the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. According ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-21-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Monas first daily grammar lesson, called "Mrs. Bs Grammar Corner," debuted on February 21, 2001, and in the 13 years since, she has ...
Archive Date 2014-07-21
DOWN TO THE WIRE Suzanne McNay Teagle, the president and general manager for the past 13 years at Allbrittons WCIV-4-ABC in Charleston (Market #95), has parted ways with the station, just a week before ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-18-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." One of Mrs. Bs readers who says she needed to vent writes: Have they changed the rules of grammar since I went to ...
Archive Date 2014-07-18
DUMBASS EXCLUSIVE The commercial break couldnt come soon enough. MSNBCs Krystal Ball introduced a "BREAKING NEWS EYEWITNESS EXCLUSIVE" interview with US Staff Sgt. Michael Boyd, who claimed to have witnessed the crash of Malaysia ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-17-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B invites you to consider prepositions today. Lets be sure you use the right one. For example: ~Perhaps you have an aversion ...
Archive Date 2014-07-17
PROMOTED DOWNWARD John Bachman, who has fronted the 4 p.m. newscast for the past three years at top-rated WSB-2-ABC in Atlanta (Market #9), has been "promoted" to the primary anchor seat at Cox Medias ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-16-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B wants to get a couple of things straight today. The word kind is singular. So, say or write this kind or ...
Archive Date 2014-07-16
TALENTS TO MIAMI Ashley Morrison and her 9-year-old son, Jack, have moved to Miami, and the former CBS MoneyWatch reporter says she plans to start work at a TV station there in a few ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-15-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Surplusage. Mrs. B gets all tingly-toed saying that word. Its one newswriting coach Merv Block introduced to her. Surplusage means excess, more than ...
Archive Date 2014-07-15
THE FUTURE IS HERE Sara Hopkins is a reporter at WWAY-3-ABC in Wilmington, NC (Market #131) and shes as cute as a button. Her Twitter handle is "Sayhop." Hopkins was hired in January from ...
Archive Date 2014-07-14
CABLE REDEMPTION DirecTVs WeatherNation has hired Rhonda Lee, the former weekend weather guesser at family-owned KTBS-3-ABC in Shreveport (Market #82). Lee was fired in Nov. 2012 for responding to a racial remark posted by ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-14-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets talk about cement and concrete today. Mrs. B hopes you know they arent the same thing, but if youre having any doubt ...
Archive Date 2014-07-11
DEADLINE APPROACHES There has been an interesting development in Sinclairs nearly year-long attempt to buy what remains of the eight-station Allbritton Communications group, which is now down to six stations…and is fast approaching a ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-11-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Lets look at the differences among the three major no-nos of polite language: A vulgarity is a crude word or phrase usually associated ...
Archive Date 2014-07-10
TRUTH AND DUTY Former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, who was fired by the network in 2004 for her role in "Memogate," the political firestorm that erupted around Dan Rathers "60 Minutes II" reporting ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-10-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B gets into a family discussion today, thanks to a message in her emailbox: I hear the following reference all the time ...
Archive Date 2014-07-09
EMOTIONAL PERIL Isis Romero, the primary news anchor at Post-Newsweeks KSAT-12-ABC in San Antonio (Market #36), broke down in tears Monday while reading sad back-to-back stories about children in peril. Romero is pregnant. Co-anchor ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-09-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." News and views rhyme. Really. If youve been saying "nooz," Mrs. B hopes youll do a pronunciation adjustment. And that W that probably ...
Archive Date 2014-07-08
NEWS IS HARD Bianca Tanner was a second-grade teacher from Greensboro who moved to Charlotte last month, with her 3-year-old son, and was soon reported missing by her boyfriend. Yesterday, the Mecklenburg County Medical ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-08-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Resolutions, amendments, ordinances, and rules are adopted or approved. Bills are passed. Look at this headline from WHTMs website: Legislature passes bill to ...
Archive Date 2014-07-07
RUNAWAY BUS A Metro Transit bus veered out of control Friday morning on a downtown Minneapolis street when the driver had a medical emergency and later died. Witnesses watched as the Number 10 bus ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-07-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Cache and cachet are two words that are likely to be a part of your newswriting. A cache, pronounced CASH, is a collection ...
Archive Date 2014-07-03
GUNNED DOWN IN YUMA Four months after officially taking over as the new owner of KSWT-13-CBS and KYMA-11-NBC in Yuma, AZ (Market #165), Blackhawk Broadcasting has announced plans to merge the stations with four ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-03-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Tomorrow is July 4th, the Fourth of July, or Independence Day. Take your pick. Theyre all correct. Just please dont say July "the" ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-02-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A dilemma is having to make a choice between unpleasant options. For example: ~Many communities now face a common dilemma: raise taxes or ...
Archive Date 2014-07-02
OPEN MIC IRONY Remember Justin Kraemer… the weekend news anchor at KSNW-3-NBC in Wichita (Market #67) who was fired in December for the inadvertent hot mic farewell, "Lets get the fuck outta here"? That ...
Archive Date 2014-07-01
ALL ACT SURPRISED Less than two years after leaving TV news, and just six months after her husbands highly publicized departure from Congress, Amy Wegmann is returning to her old station, Journal Broadcast Groups ...
Mrs.B-Archive-07-01-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A Panama City anchors quandary might be one you have too: As you can imagine, we do a lot of weather stories. I ...
Mrs.B-Archive-06-30-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A news manager in Lake Charles, Louisiana is asking for some clarification: Mrs. B: Need your help big time! We had a ...
Archive Date 2014-06-30
INNOCENCE INSISTED Charles Leaf, the former investigative reporter at Fox flagship WNYW-5 in New York, was sentenced to 26 years in prison on Friday after being found guilty earlier this year of sexually assaulting ...
Mrs.B-Archive-06-25-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Former and formal dont sound that much alike, but their -ly versions do. Mrs. B wants to be sure you know the difference. ...
Archive Date 2014-06-25
PAINTED INTO A CORNER FOX Television Stations, Inc. and Cox Media Group yesterday announced a four-station swap that looks and smells like a Fox Network power-play. Cox has agreed to give up its coveted ...
Mrs.B-Archive-06-24-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." A technical editor in North Carolina wrote to Mrs. B with something important to think about: I always get a twinge when I ...
Archive Date 2014-06-24
TICK, TICK, TICK With the clock ticking on what was originally proposed as the $985 million purchase of the eight-station Allbritton Communications group, Sinclair Broadcasting and Allbritton have knuckled under to the FCCs new ...
Mrs.B-Archive-06-23-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Todays is a simple lesson on the pronunciation of a and the, thanks to a Tennessee reader: Im curious. Theres an anchor who ...
Archive Date 2014-06-23
THE FUTURE IS NOW The Supreme Court is expected to rule today later this week on the legality of Aereo, a New York company that uses tiny antennas to retransmit free broadcast channels to ...
Mrs.B-Archive-06-20-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Tomorrow is the first day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, the day of the year when sun is at its greatest ...
Archive Date 2014-06-20
NO CONFIDENCE Confidence in the news media has hit an all-time low, according to Gallup. And the least amount of confidence is in TV news…which actually surpassed the notoriously unreliable internet echo chamber. <<<>>> ...
Mrs.B-Archive-06-19-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." Mrs. B knows you want your tease to grab viewers, but "very" is trying too hard when stuck between "the" and "latest." It ...
Archive Date 2014-06-19
SLIPPING DEMO ABCs Disneyfied "No World News With Diane Sawyer" has been regularly beating NBCs "Nightly News With Brian Williams" in the demo (ages 25 to 54) where most TV news ads are targeted. ...
Mrs.B-Archive-06-18-2014
MRS. Bs GRAMMAR YAMMER "A PBS mind in a Twitter world." When Mrs. B hears a describer word used before an absolute, she grimaces. For example: very unique very favorite most perfect very final ...
Archive Date 2014-06-18
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Rob Morrison, the former morning news anchor at WCBS-2 in New York who was arrested in Feb. 2013 and charged with choking his blondiful wife, Ashley, during a domestic spat, turned himself ...
Archive Date 2014-06-17
TWISTED DEAL The FCC has approved the sale of former Belo independent KTVK-3 and KASW-61-CW in Phoenix (Market #13) to Meredith Broadcasting. Sounds simple, but its not. The stations were part of Gannetts $2.2 ...
