Journalism

A man who shot at a San Antonio news crew and his own family was killed by police after a standoff that lasted several hours Monday. KSAT reporter Dillon Collier and photographer Joshua Saunders were at the scene of a suspicious house fire when the man, who is believed to be a member of the family affected by the fire, came out of the house with two handguns and opened fire.

Gray Television moves him up to succeed J-P Dice at its Birmingham, Ala., Fox affiliate.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center this week include openings for a news director, a general manager, an account executive, a marketing producer and an executive producer.

As viewers tune out cable news, Rupert Murdoch is preparing the debut of Fox Weather, a potentially powerful new player in a sphere long dominated by the Weather Channel.

Preston Padden: “The Rupert Murdoch I worked for was brilliant, courageous, optimistic and a gentleman. Which makes his bile-filled network all the more confounding.”

A Florida-based real estate company has purchased the iconic CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, but its current occupants are staying put. AT&T, which owns CNN as a result of its 2018 acquisition of Time Warner, will lease the building from its new owners for a “a number of years.” The deal comes as AT&T prepares to spin off WarnerMedia, whose holdings include CNN, and combine it with Discovery and its stable of networks.

National Basketball Association broadcasting legend Marv Albert signed off for the final time on July 4, his final words a simple “good night” to his legion of fans. Albert, whose 55-year-career was punctuated by his trademark “Yes!” call when someone made a crucial jump shot, finished his career with TNT, as the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The crackdown comes amid news of secret subpoenas of reporters’ phones. The first such charge came last week, when 43-year-old Shane Jason Woods of Illinois was charged with engaging in violence on the Capitol grounds Jan. 6, as well as assaulting a law enforcement officer. Authorities say Woods was caught on video knocking down a cameraman.

As part of a settlement agreement announced Tuesday, Fox also agreed to mandate anti-harassment training for its New York-based staff and contributors and to temporarily allow people who allege misconduct under human rights law to bring claims and not be subject to binding arbitration.

Last year we were talking about physical distancing, masks in (and out) of our newsrooms and deep cleaning. We were starting to master new workflows to keep our teams safe, comply with the patchwork of public health initiatives all while serving audiences looking for trustworthy information about the pandemic, a volatile election and a discussion about racial justice. Now, as communities make vaccinations increasingly available, the topic is return-to-work.

Check the news lately, and if you come across a story pertaining to the coronavirus, it is likely to be about the Delta variant. Headline after headline, chyron after chyron, push alert after push alert — they’re all seemingly focused these days on the dangers posed by this new variant. Now, to be clear, the Delta variant does deserve to be reported on. But it is also very important for newsrooms — in both stories specifically about the Delta variant and others — to zoom out and show audiences the big picture about the state of the pandemic here in the US. Otherwise, they might walk away with a skewed impression of things.

Every year at this time, just before the July 4 holiday, the Knight-Cronkite News Lab looks back at the stories that resonated with its readership of local TV news professionals, in the first half of the year. Even with the pandemic still shaping our lives inside and outside the newsroom, stations are innovating on multiple fronts, taking on the challenges of a rapidly changing media, business and social environment. Here’s the Top 10 list.

Ex-Fox News Host Ed Henry filed two more defamation lawsuits Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York, naming NPR’s David Folkenflik and CNN’s Alysin Camerota and Brian Stelter (as well as their CNN parent, TBS) for their allegedly defamatory commentary and reporting on his firing by Fox News. The filings follow a similar lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York against Fox News and the channel’s CEO Suzanne Scott. That lawsuit also alleged defamation.

The 10 p.m. nightly broadcast at the Sinclair Fox affiliate is overseen by News Director Kelly Holland with journalist Michael Benny, chief meteorologist Scott Hetsko and sports director Mike Catalana.

Andrew Stockey, Kelly Sasso and meteorologist Jeff Verszyla will anchor the hour-long broadcast beginning July 6 on the Hearst ABC affiliate.

ABC promotes him from head of content and digital strategy at its Houston O&O to lead all journalism efforts there.