Journalism

Jack Abernethy, head of Fox Television Stations, addressed NFL rights, the presidential election’s effect on regulation, station consolidation and other topics during a NATPE keynote session Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening, NATPE presented its 17th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards at a dinner in Miami. The winners (l-r): Marcos Santana, president of NBCUniversal’s Telemundo Global Studios; Courtney A. Kemp, television creator, producer and writer; Karey Burke, ABC Entertainment president; actress Christine Baranski; and Jeff Zucker, chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports and president, CNN Worldwide. The dinner benefits the NATPE Educational Foundation, with a portion going to the Broadcasters Federation of America.

It was noticed when CBS cut off the trial around 3:15 p.m. ET Tuesday, while rivals ABC and NBC stuck with it. A CBS representative noted that the network’s news streaming service was continuing to carry the trial, and that network affiliates were given the choice to continue to show the Senate if that’s what their executives preferred.

The veteran correspondent, talk show host and moderator of The View continues her sideline into game show hosting with 25 Words or Less. She says her interviewing skills and empathy from journalism made the shift less dramatic than it sounds, and her next act may be podcasting.

The free streaming platform now exceeds 1.6 million downloads, offers 100 linear channels, including a new 2020 election live-feed channel, and rolls out local on demand viewing of hit broadcast syndication TV shows.

The usual suspects are gearing up to cover the U.S. Senate’s impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, the latest swirl in what seems to be a never-ending news cycle centered on the White House. But the impeachment proceedings, which kick off in earnest Tuesday, take place as many networks are also deep into coverage of the race among Democrats to secure the nomination for the 2020 election.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a sports director in Madison, Wis.; a news producer in Richmond, Va.; a digital content manager on Maryland’s Delmarva Peninsula; and an anchor/reporter in Wichita, Kan.

Veteran journalist Merrill Brown is trying to rescue journalism in small- and medium-size markets through a new venture, The News Project, that looks to arm them with “a business in a box.” He says smart broadcasters can also capitalize on the moment by expanding their own digital reporting efforts and widening coverage across their DMAs.

When Charter Communications executives needed someone to run their Spectrum News operation in Ohio, they found a candidate with just the right amount of TV experience. None. “I’m playing catch-up on the TV part,” says Karl Turner, who held senior editorial jobs at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and Cleveland.com. “And I’m helping to think about stories in a different way.”

CBS Television Stations is introducing nightly 10 p.m. news at owned CW affiliates in Detroit, Atlanta and Tampa. None of the stations currently feature newscasts. Each of the three stations is hiring multimedia journalists to create news content. The newscasts will be produced at another CBS-owned station, which will add national news, sports and weather, then sent back to the station where it will air.