Wendy Bell To Fox News CEO: "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Ailes!"

With reverse discrimination lawsuit and new blonde 'do in tow,

Wendy Bell readies for an audition with FOX News (we assume).

Inside the Mind of Wendy Bell (UPDATE)

Pittsburgh's WTAE News anchor Wendy Bell majorly stepped in it when she decided to profile the yet unknown killers of the March 9 mass shooting in Wilkinsburg by stringing together a bunch of stereotypical racist insults on her Facebook page. She then contrasted them with a virtually tap-dancing Mr. Bojangles, Jr. version of a young man who happened to be busing tables at a restaurant where Miz Wendy was eating with her family. 

The post was so disgusting, that she received a great deal of push-back. Then came the inevitable blocking of people and removal of comments, and, eventually, some editing of the original post*. It's led to a "Demand WTAE Hold Wendy Bell Accountable" Facebook campaign and a Post-Gazette article. But the best analysis comes from Damon Young at verysmartbrothas.com. Here's a taste, but please, read the whole article:

There are so many layers and layers and layers to Bell’s abject obliviousness to how racist this is; all made clear by the fact that she thought it was fine to print it. She’s practically a White privilege lasagna caught in the throat of a White privilege turducken. 

[snip] 

Seriously, read this scribbled-on-some-toilet-paper-at-a-Hallmark-factory-bathroom bullshit again. And think about the state of mind that allows someone to juxtapose that awful tragedy with a night at the Cheesecake Factory. As if there’s any connection between the two besides the race of the server and the race of the victims. And, I don’t know, the fact that they’re both made out of space dust.

* To read her original version of the post, click on the arrow in the upper right corner and hit "View edit history."

UPDATE: In an AP story at ABC News (WTAE is an ABC affiliate), Wendy Bell gave a pro forma apology. The entire Facebook post has been removed.

Fairness 4 WTAE: Real Life & Virtual Rallies on Thursday

Perhaps you've heard -- there's something ugly going on at Pittsburgh's WTAE-TV. Way back in July of 2010 the on-air staff at WTAE voted to be represented by the AFTRA union. But all this time later, they are still without a contract. In the meantime, according to the Fairness 4 WTAE Facebook page, staff have had long-scheduled, pre-approved vacations denied at the last minute; have had to work two weeks straight without a day off; have been threatened with losing company pensions and retirement benefits for supporting the union -- basically, everything out of the union-busting playbook.

What can you do to help?

1) Add your name to the petition to tell Hearst to "play fair in Pittsburgh." (Hearst already bargins fairly in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Boston, New Orleans, and Omaha -- why not Pittsburgh?)

2) Like their Facebook page here.

3) Attend the Community Labor Support Rally this Thursday:

WHEN: Thursday January 26, 11 a.m.
WHERE: St James Church (marching to WTAE), 718 Franklin Ave, Wilkinsburg, PA
WHAT: Rally to present deliver nearly 2,000 postcards and petition signatures from viewers. Delivered by a delegation including Allegheny County Labor Council President Jack Shea; State Senator Jim Ferlo; State Rep, Joe Preston; Joyce Rothermel, from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (retired): Fr. Jack O’Malley; Marty O’Malley, Mayor of Forest Hills; Fred Redmond, VP of United Steelworkers; and Rev. John Welch from PA Interfaith Impact Network.

or

4) Attend the Virtual Rally for Fairness for WTAE

WHEN: Thursday, from 11am to 1pm.
WHAT: -Call the Station: 412-242-4300. Tell the receptionist you wish to speak with General Manager Mike Hayes. If not available, ask for voice mail. Give your name and phone number and tell him you support Fairness for WTAE On-air Staff.
And/or
-Email the Station: Go to Station Website, www.wtae.com, at the bottom of the home page, under “Station”, choose “Contact Us”. Under “Contact Us”, choose “News Feedback”, then fill out your name and email and write the message: I support Fairness for WTAE On-air Staff.”

Do it for Bob! Do it for Wendy! Do it for Kelly! Do it for Jim! Do it for Demetrius!

Do it for Fairness!

"Sally Wiggin, Sally Wiggin"

Some of you may have seen WTAE News anchor Mike Clark teasing co-anchor Sally Wiggin this week that there should be a remix of Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" renamed "Sally Wiggin." Kiss 96.1's Morning Freak Show heard that as a challenge and you can hear their mix here.

It of course reminded me of a another song parody also based on Ms. Wiggin created by Ms. Mon and Anthony of the late, great tunesmith-anthony.com. In case you missed that one, here it is:


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Did this just start today?

An hour long noon news broadcast on WTAE -- did this just start today?

Scenes from Day One @ PodCamp Pittsburgh 5

PodCamp 5 continues today (schedule here -- live streaming at that link). Unfortunately prior commitments will prevent me from attending today's sessions, but here's some photos from yesterday.

The Keynote Address:

PodCamp Pittsburgh Co-organizer Norman Huelsman.


Pittsburgh City Councilor Bill Peduto.
(Links from his opening session here)

Other Sessions:

PodCamp Pittsburgh co-founder Justin Kownacki(Something to be Desired) had one of the most wellattended sessions. This is from the overflow room.


Tim Lessick of Pittsburgh Human Rights Network fromthe Echoing Activism Through Social Media session.


Brian Honigman of Sampsonia Way Magazinealso from the Echoing Activism session.

Political Blogging: A Panel Discussion:
This was the session moderated by 2 Political Junkies' very own David DeAngelo. Other panelists included: me (Maria Lupinacci); Bram Reichbaum, The Pittsburgh Comet; Sue Kerr, Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents; and Frances Monahan, Ms. Mon's Salon.

Thanks to all those who attended our presentation!

Here are some photos of our audience. Can you spot the local MSM?


KDKA's Traffic and Transportation Reporter Jim Lokayand Newsradio 1020 KDKA Anchor/Reporter Matt DelSignore.


KDKA Money & Politics Editor, KDKA Sunday BusinessPage host and prolific tweeter Jon Delano.


WTAE's Bob Mayo (live spot news, governmentcoverage and political reporting) and blogger@ The Busman's Holiday.


Ultimate "liberal's" gift basket which we awarded ina random drawing to an audience member. The MaoTse-tung statue came from the desk of PittsburghCity Paper Editor Chris Potter (complete with aletter of authenticity). It also appeared on a CityPaper cover for their War of Words story:


We'll put up a link to the podcast of our session once it's been posted.

Finally, some shout-outs:

Nice to meet you, Jason! Thanks for reading us. :-)

Here's a link to part three of Rich Lord's "Network" investigation for Carolyn.

Thanks to Ginny for her shout-out to 2pj (good to finally meet you).

Scott Baker (formerly of WTAE) is now working for Glenn Beck

Beck and Baker from some or other wingnut broadcast.

First, credit where credit is due: I heard this story today on Lynn Cullen's City Paper broadcast.

It looks like former WTAE Pittsburgh news anchor Scott Baker is descending further down the rat hole of wingnut "journalism."

First some background.

If you recall, back in 2005 while Baker was still an anchor of the 5:00 PM news at WTAE, he credited himself as being one of Jeff Gannon journalism teachers. Gannon (James Dale Guckert) became controversial for being a "reporter" with White House press credentials who asked President Bush such an excessively deferential and factually inaccurate question that he was dubbed by Jon Stewart as "Chip Rightwingenstein of the Bush Agenda Gazette." It later turned out that Gannon had scores of nude photos on the Internet on gay escort sites.

Next, in 2007 Baker signed up to help launch BreitbartTV. Yes, that would be with conservative hack and serial liar Andrew Breitbart of the manufactured ACORN and Shirley Sherrod controversies.

Apparently not satisfied that he had fully plumbed the depths of wingnut "journalism" Baker has now signed on to help Glenn Beck start up his "news and opinion" website called The Blaze (Here's Baker interviewing for a job with Beck interviewing Glenn Beck.)

According to The Huffington Post:

Beck said he was frustrated with the way the media covered his "Restoring Honor" rally this weekend.

"Too many times we see mainstream media outlets distorting facts to fit rigid agendas," he wrote on The Blaze. "Not that you've ever heard me complain about the media before. Okay, maybe once or twice. But there comes a time when you have to stop complaining and do something. And so we decided to hire some actual journalists to launch a new website."

So, Glenn Beck and Scott Baker are are setting themselves up as the saviors of journalism.

I can't stop laughing crying laughing.

NOTE to City Paper's Chris Potter: Yes, I beat you at blogging on this story -- consequences be damned (but seriously, thanks for the mention on Lynn's show).
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Big Ben: Just a small town boy, living in a lonely world.

Thanks, Ben and Sally! I won't stop believing!


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MAKE IT STOP!

For the love of all that is good and holy, local news, please please please stop airing any more interviews with Big Ben Worthlessberger/footage of his victim speaking to police!

I know that Georgia's laws say that they must make the police interviews available, but that doesn't mean that you have to run them on every newscast or link to them on your front pages (I hear WPXI even interrupted programming for this as "breaking news" yesterday).

And, the interviews with Worthlessberger? If I hear him say one more time how he's come back to God, how he's been spending time at the wholesome family farm or how he has to "find Ben Roethlisberger" I will vomit.

And, it's not like I can avoid this shit by just not watching the local news because you're playing promos 24/7.

As I know that it's in your financial interests to run anything Steelers, can you please do me a favor? Can you tweet me when it's safe to watch local TV again? Until then, I'll be viewing elsewhere.

And speaking of FAIL, here's some major fail from the Trib:

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TV Ad Depicts Cartoon Nancy Pelosi Being Tortured

Scenes from Right Change's
"The Attack of the 50-Foot Pelosi" TV Ad:

Have we become so inured to all the violent imagery and talk being directed towards Democrats that we can accept seeing a cartoon depiction of the Speaker of the House being hit multiple times with laser-like beams and writhing in pain in a TV ad and simply shrug it off?

The commercial is by a group called Right Change (Pittsburgh City Paper's Chris Potter has background on them here) and it's part of an $83,000 ad buy in the Pittsburgh and Johnstown media markets.

Titled "The Attack of the 50-Foot Pelosi," it's pro Republican Tim Burns in the special election race for the late US Rep. John Murtha's seat. According to Right Change, "The ad uses new technology for political ads with humor and cutting-edge animation."

I'm so glad that "new technology" was used to depict torturing (possibly to death) an elected official. I'm guessing that "humor" is to be found because it's an animated piece that has a (straw man) monster.

Of course there's nothing really new in describing a strong woman as a "monster." It's actually pretty old hat even by South Park standards (Barbra Streisand was made into a mechanical Godzilla-like monster on the show over a decade ago).

I'm guessing that it was deemed perfectly acceptable to depict Nancy Pelosi WRITHING AND SCREAMING IN PAIN because she is a "monster" from San Francisco.

Ha ha!

But I don't accept that.

What's next?

A cartoon Pelosi being shot with cartoon bullets spilling cartoon blood?

Would that be alright?

Is it somehow more acceptable to try to kill the Speaker of the House with magical Tim Burns buttons than with guns?

Can you imagine the uproar that would be had over an ad that had similarly depicted Sarah Palin (or even George Bush or Dick Cheney)?

Now here's where I fully admit that I have not personally seen this ad on the air and that I only heard about it because my sister, Gina, saw it aired multiple times on KDKA TV and she was floored by it and kept telling me to check it out.

I called KDKA today hoping to ask someone there what standards they had for the ads they run. (Obviously they have some standards. They wouldn't run ads that, say, contain nudity or profanity. )

Someone at the station had to view the ad and approve it. (I once knew a woman who worked for NBC whose sole job was to make sure that their ads didn't conflict with their network programming content -- no diet product ads after a story on famine, for example.)

I was eventually directed to a woman who I assume is in their advertising department who said that I could not quote her and who hung up on me. Nice! (Yes, I gave my full name and identified myself as a blogger.) She seemed to think that my beef should be solely with the ad agency and the account and not the station.

Well, I've been blogging for nearly six years now and in all that time and in all my Photoshops I have managed to somehow never depict an elected official -- or anyone else for that matter -- being lasered and screaming in pain, and yet a television station has no problems broadcasting this on the public airwaves.

If you have a problem with this -- if you haven't been numbed to the outrageousness of it -- maybe you might want to consider calling KDKA and telling them that it is not acceptable to torture any politician -- even a cartoon one -- in a television commercial.

Their switchboard number is: 412-575-2200 (It rings for a very long time).

UPDATED: Heard it (was out of the room) on WTAE TV (local ABC affiliate) this morning: Main desk at 412-242-4300, Email here

Caught part of it on WPXI TV (local NBC affiliate) last night: Phone: 412-237-1100

Finally, here's the full ad in all its gory:

UPDATE: I just saw it on air on KDKA (5/14/10, 4:44 PM).

UPDATE 2: Heard it (was out of the room) on WTAE TV (local ABC affiliate) this morning: Main desk at 412-242-4300, Email here

Caught part of it on WPXI TV (local NBC affiliate) last night: Phone: 412-237-1100

Saw it three times on KDKA TV on yesterday's afternoon news.

UPDATE 3: LINKS TO THIS POST:
Shakesville "Oh My Aching Sides" (by Melissa McEwan)
A Spork in the Drawer "Not-So-Random Question" (by Spork Incident)
Crooks and Liars "Mike's Blog Roundup" (by Bluegal)
Politics Daily "Pelosi Takes the Heat: 'If I Were Not Effective They Wouldn't Care About Me'" (by Melinda Henneberger)
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Bob Mayo & WTAE look back at Lukey's 2-year old "War On Snow"

Bob Mayo reminisces on Lil Mayor Luke's "War On Snow" at his blog and on WTAE.

And speaking of Memory Lane, who can forget Lukey's wise pronouncement on Hardball a year ago that "snow falls from the air"?

Too bad that Michael Nutter is in Philly instead of da Burgh as he seems to understand a thing or two about providing city services.
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PWSA: Erroneous water bills aren't the only problem

You may have caught the story repeated many times on the local TV news about 13,000 customers of Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority (PWSA) receiving bills with a couple of extra zeros added to the total.

The stories identified the problem resulting from a California based company using a European protocol (commas instead of decimals) which meant that a $45.00 bill would end up being a $4,500 bill.

What the TV news stories -- at least the ones I'm seeing on WTAE -- neglected to add was that the Cali company outsources PWSA's billing to Malaysia.

Huh?

Why the fuck does my water bill have to go half way round the world?

A tip of the hat to Chris Briem who tweeted the Malaysia connection which he found in the Trib's coverage.

Surely Burghers could have been found to do PWSA's billings who had never even heard of using commas instead of decimal points...

UPDATE: KDKA and WPXI broadcasts also leave out the Malaysian connection.
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RIP Yvonne Zanos

Yvonne Zanos was a consumer reporter for KDKA, WTAE and the Post-Gazette during her long career in Pittsburgh. She passed away this morning after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer.

KDKA video here and story here.

Post-Gazette story here.

WTAE story here.
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2nd Pittsburgh Mayoral Debate Tonight

WHAT: Pittsburgh Mayoral Debate
WHEN: Tonight, Wednesday, October 21, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
WHERE: On your teevee (WTAE)
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NHL Web Site Apologizes for Red Wing "Champs" Gear

An update to this post.

I saw this on WTAE this morning:

A winner-take-all Game 7 will decide this year's Stanley Cup champion on Friday night, but it seems that the NHL is ready for Detroit to win right now.

Red Wings Stanley Cup championship merchandise was already posted on Shop.NHL.com early Wednesday afternoon.

[snip]

But there was no link posted for any Pittsburgh championship merchandise.

[snip]

"We have eliminated the collection of the product item identification numbers related to the mishap," the site's online business manager said. "The products should not have been live and we should not be taking orders on any Pittsburgh or Detroit championship merchandise. The problem is being worked on and will take 6 to 14 regular hours to be completely fixed."

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Some thoughts on tonight's debate

If we were back a year ago during the Democratic primary presidential debates, my inbox would have been full already with emails from the candidates' campaigns spinning the debate. Luke, what are you spending that million+ on?

Someone: Please tell Ms. Robinson to look into the camera (she did get much better as the debate went on).

Dowd: You had my grandmother at hello (actually, she mentioned something about "children are our future," "teacher," "school board," etc.) .

Joe Arpaio?!? Really, Wendy? From Wikipedia:

- From 2004 through November 2007, Arpaio was the target of 2,150 lawsuits in U.S. District Court and hundreds more in Maricopa County courts; 50 times as many prison-conditions lawsuits as the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston jail systems combined.

- Family members of inmates who have died or been injured in jail custody have filed lawsuits against the sheriff’s office. Maricopa County has paid more than $43 million in settlement claims during Arpaio's tenure.

- In 2004, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office SWAT team led a raid on an Ahwatukee home in a gated subdivision, looking for illegal weapons. No illegal weapons were found, but during the raid, the house burned down, SWAT officers forced a dog back into the building where it subsequently died, and an armored vehicle rolled into a neighbor's parked car as a result of brake failure.

Wendy if that doesn't grab you, you might want to click on this link and read the part where Arpaio's deputies arrested Village Voice Media executives and Phoenix New Times editors and where a reporter for the Phoenix New Times, was surrounded and intimidated by Arpaio's deputies while trying to examine public records at the City of Phoenix public records counter. But then again, you seem really hopped up on the whole chain gang idea. Bob, please have a talk with Wendy.

Mayo: Nice question about the mayor making his schedule public -- too bad he never answered it.

I agree with Anthony:

7:56 Luke just mentioned O'Connor. God, give me strength.

7:57 Isn't it comforting to know what Luke now admits--that he wasn't ready to be mayor when O'Connor died. So in 3 more years, is he going to admit that he wasn't ready in 2009, either?

UPDATE: Other Burghosphere reactions to the debate:

Pittsburgh Comet
Tunesmith & Anthony
Infinonymous
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Pittsburgh Democratic Candidate Mayoral Debate Tonight!

A reminder that the first Pittsburgh Democratic Candidate Mayoral Debate will be broadcast tonight:

Monday, April 20, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on WTAE-TV Channel 4.

All three Democratic primary candidates -- Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Councilman Patrick Dowd and Carmen Robinson -- will be participating.

WTAE's Andrew Stockey is the moderator and panelists will include WTAE's Wendy Bell, Bob Mayo and Sheldon Ingram and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review police reporter Jill King Greenwood.

More info and question submission @ WTAE.
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BREAKING NEWS - SCOTT BAKER ON JEFF GANNON

I found this story by way of Attytood, but the real source material is here or here (I'm not sure how those "trackback" things work - sorry!)

Looks like Ruth Ann Dailey's ex-husband, and current anchor of the 5 O'Clock News at WTAE, Scott Baker outs himself as one of Jeff Gannon journalism teachers.

Why anyone would claim responsibility for any part of that trainwreck is completely beyond me.
Monsieur Boulanger (look it up - it's funny) is a blogger at Ariana Huffington's new Über-blog, The Huffington Post.

Here's how the Baker-man starts:

I’m the guy who taught Jeff Gannon everything he knows about journalism. Okay maybe not everything. I’m still not clear on (sorry all hyperlinks on this one freak me out) his evident self-description of “Position: Top.”

Ok Scott, here are the various overlapping definitions of "Top" that can be found at UrbanDictionary.com.

1. A man who likes giving anal intercourse to other men rather than receiving.
2. A person of any above description who "takes the lead" or is dominant in sexual situation. May or may not include S & M, fantasy role play or fetishes or servitude. May or may not want to be touched. Will initiate sex. If includes S & M, the top will be the one to do the bondage & pain play etc. to the bottom
3. A person who is in control in a BDSM relationship.

I'll leave it up up to you, Scott, as to whether you're lucky Gannon/Guckert didn't offer to fill you in on the definition. So now you know exactly what he was offering (for a hefty fee) on his website.

But hey, aren't conservatives supposed to be against that sort of thing? Or are all those "sanctity of marriage" referenda about something else?

In any event, Scott Baker uses his inaugural blog entry to mention the Jeff Gannon story in Vanity Fair.

There are some interesting tidbits that come from Attytood: Scott Baker is a graduate (scroll down to page 19) of The Leadership Institute of Broadcast Journalism. And while Scott describes his own "simple little" seminar there with:

This is what I get for trying to teach a simple little seminar on media career strategies? Jeff Gannon as my star student? I had more modest goals. Most kids trying to dive into media careers fail miserably. So maybe I can nudge them with a few helpful ideas. Hoped for result: entry level job in, say, a small market television station. Not so hoped for: center square of odd journalism scandal.

The Vanity Fair article calls it a seminar for “aspiring right-wing journalists.” My mantra to the students involves getting rid of the “right-wing” and esteeming the value of solid day-to-day journalism. Good old-fashioned storytelling.

The website for the institute describes the institute this way (indeed it's the first sentence on the first page):

The Leadership Institute, founded in 1979 by Morton C. Blackwell, is the oldest and most-respected training organization for conservative leaders at the local, state and national levels. Over the years, more than 40,000 of today's conservative "movers and shakers" have turned to the Leadership Institute for their training needs.

So I guess there's something of a dissonance between Scott's mantra and how the Institute presents itself.

So Scott Baker, gratuate of the conservative training organization.

Tell me again about the liberal media bias?