Weekend Notes

• Was WOWT using video equipment borrowed from a Texas Goodwill Store? Highlights of Saturday's Nebraska-Texas A&M looked alternately blurry or washed-out. At first we thought it was the TV, but quick checks of three other sets revealed the same thing. The fact that all the station's shots were taken from about a mile high didn't help any.• The lobotomization of Malorie Maddox appears to be

Local Paper Runs Ads on Talking Picture Box

Omaha's daily newspaper may not cover television, but it doesn't mind advertising there.We noticed one spot over the weekend that features a young couple pushing a stroller through a kid-infested playground, only to be accosted by columnist Mike Kelly, who appears out of nowhere to offer them a paper. The ad doesn't make us want to read the paper, but it does make us wonder why Kelly is hanging

Paging John Clark...Mr. John Clark, Red Courtesy Phone Please

If ever there were an article that just about everyone at Channel 6 should read, it's Mistakes Are Bad News by newswriting coach Mervin Block. Block's article describes 16 mistakes that news directors make that diminish the strength of their product. The piece reads like a prescription for much of what ails the sluggish WOWT evening newscasts. Our favorites, which we'll call "The John Clark Five"

If Diversity Includes the Untalented, Then She's a Double Threat

KETV Newswatch 7 is truly sinking before our eyes. Ont Thursday at 10 p.m., train wreck reporter Farrah Fazal was dispatched to cover the story of the three-year-old who wandered away from home before being picked up by police, who then set about trying to figure out where he belonged. Fazal, whose voice is somewhat manly and comes with a halting delivery and yet-to-be-identified accent, kept

Bits

• Sportsguy Matt Schick, who's cutting back on his involvement at KETV, will be hosting a daily sportstalk show on 1620/The Zone, according to promos running on the ESPN radio affiliate. The show is being called "Schick and Nick," to account for co-host Nick Bahe's presence. Bahe is a former Creighton basketball player.• If you have the stomach, check out Channel 3rd's 10 p.m. newscast to get a

Riding the Short Bus with My Sister

Okay, this has nothing to do with Omaha TV, unless you count the fact that it was viewed on TVs in Omaha, but this TVgasm.com highlight reel from Rosie O'Donnell's made-for-TV movie "Riding the Bus with My Sister" made us laugh so hard we became incontinent. Enjoy. And don't send us outraged emails about our lack of sensitivity; you know we're insensitive, but you're here anyway, right?

Maltard Word of the Day

(With Tracey Madden on vacation, SuxNews viewers are being treated to a dose of serial-mispronouncer Maltard Maddox on the evening newscasts.)jawn: J-Pa's first name

News from any source

Best of Google TV Series

Television is stil the main source for the daily news in the home, according to PEW research. Until lately, print and web news content have been absent from the big screen. We’ve been working with developers to enhance your TV news experience, optimizing both traditional and innovative news sources for Google TV.

• The New York Times offers daily TimesCast video-news updates alongside video blogs and featurettes.
• USA Today has improved reading for the big screen: you can browse through the day in photos, stay up-to-date on sports news, and track the world of business.
• The CNBC News App lets you watch the latest web videos in business news. Follow the markets as they happen and track your personal, customized stock portfolio.
• The Huffington Post brings together the best of traditional news, the blogosphere and opinion reporting in their sleek News Glide web-app.
• The Onion covers “the important stories lesser outlets fail to report” through their comedic style.

Video journalism has also proliferated across YouTube. On YouTube Leanback, viewers have access to rich content from channels like the Associated Press, Al-Jazeera English, and NPR. Alongside traditional news sources, YouTube has built a thriving community of citizen reporters. The News & Politics channel, CitizenTube, aggregates video news from across the YouTube community, providing raw footage from the scene of breaking news and unique perspectives from people and places around the world.

On Google TV you can get breaking news from many sources: cable broadcast, the web, blogs, and even citizen journalists.

Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News Manager, recently watched Google TV Entry - Stop Motion Animation

CWS Live Reports Hit and Miss

This weekend's live reports from the NCAA Men's College World Series were something of a mixed bag in terms of quality. None of the stations delivered any home runs. The most ambitious of the broadcasts was Channel 6's attempt to broadcast most of its 6 p.m. program from Rosenblatt Stadium. The result was mostly awkward and not particularly well executed. Anchors John Knicely and Tracy Madden

Traffic Face

According to the latest info, this will be the new face of KETV's morning traffic reports. If she looks familiar, it's because she is Miss Nebraska USA Jena Murrell. Murrell will apparently staff an in-studio traffic monitoring station, from which she'll deliver her reports.Pageant winners have had mixed results in Omaha. Channel 7's Brandi Petersen has emerged as something of a star at the

Samsung and Google TV

Earlier this week, we shared that Vizio is working on several devices powered by Google TV. Today, Samsung also announced that they’re building a 3D Blu-ray player and companion box with Google TV. Check out their press release for more details. We look forward to working closely with all of our partners to bring Google TV powered devices to more consumers this year.

Posted by Mickey Kim, Google TV Partnerships Team

Hope?

Read this article from the NY Times. It gives us reason to wonder if Channel Sux's dim-bulb anchorman John "J-Pa" Knicely might soon join the ranks of the unemployed amid a national trend of stations dismissing longtime, high-salary anchors.According to the aforementioned article,Across the country, longtime local TV anchors are a dying breed. Facing an economic slump and a severe advertising

10

Ten Reasons to Prefer KETV news programs over those of Channels Sux and 3rd:

1.  Little to no giggling among anchors.
2. Ability to develop talent.
3. FirstNews morning program.
4. Rob McCartney
5. They don't ask viewers to buy weather forecasts from them.
6. Melissa Fry
7. Nicole Berlie
8. Sports guys can pronounce names of players.
9. They don't call their webpage a "channel."
10. John Oakey.

A Slow Week

An assortment of observation at the end of an otherwise uneventful week...• What the hell is Tracy Madden trying to do with her hair? During Friday's "Live at Five," it looked like a mullet as envisioned by KMTV's former stylist. Memo to Tracy: Ignore whoever is currently giving you hair advice.• KETV's weekday morning "First News" traffic reports were noticeably better this week in the absence

Faces, Old and Newborn

We didn't catch a lot of news this weekend (we were busy digging out from the 8-12 inches of snow Bill Randby warned us about), but a few bits and pieces did catch our attention...• Channel 6 weekend morning anchor Andrea McMaster returned from maternity leave looking rested and sharing video of her daughter, who was born in October. While we've been critical of McMaster's work, the baby really

Out of the Way, You Rubber-Necking Yokels

OK, so aside from sending Gary Johnson to cover the plane crash, WOWT did little to enhance its credibility as a newsgathering operation. According to Brian Mastre, anchoring at 5 p.m., weather "played a factor" in the crash. 'Nuf said. But the even bigger idiots of the day were those brainless morons who, upon hearing the location of the debris, went rushing to the scene with their home video

Third

Well, it appears that the poor folks over at Action 3rd News are trying to do something with their morning show.First, as we've already mentioned, former SuxNews 4 p.m. anchor Sheila Brummer is back in town, having apparently been hired to replace the lethargic Kerri Stowell, whose fate is unknown (at least to us). And, as surprised as we are to see these words crawling onto the screen as we type

All Deyo Long

Meanwhile, over at Channel 7, they've decided to hype the hell out of Suzanne Deyo's interview with prison escapee Michael Maguire. We're not sure why, but someone over there thinks viewers will be flocking to their TVs to see this guy. So they had Deyo up and in the studio to preview the piece on Wednesday's morning show. And, of course, tonight's broadcast is commercial-free.We're all for

Virnie Ismail Sexy Extravaganze Trans TV Host

Virnie Ismail is a beautiful and sexy girl from Bandung who got famous after appeared in Comedy Show Extravaganza aired on Trans TV. The show Extravaganza really got succeed because the funny and creative comedian like Mieke Amalia, VJ Cathy, Tike Priatna Kusuma, Tora Sudiro, and also Virnie Ismail.

Virnie Ismail alo starred in several Indonesia Sinetron such as Babe, Bulan Berkaca, Kabut Sutra Ungu, Si Toloy serta Jaka Gledek. In Film industry, Virnie Ismail had starred in Rembulan Di Ujung Dahan (2002) with actress Ira Wibowo, and Koper with Anjasmara, Maya Hasan, and Djenar Maesa Ayu.

Although Virnie Ismail always said to be lucky to have such a sexy body and beautiful face, but her love story didn't end sweet like her face. Virnie Ismail ever gossiped with several actor or businessman like Surya Saputra, Aldi Bragi, but the lucky man now is Ferry Indra Yudha. Ferry and Virnie relationship can be said will be going to marriage in 2010.

Virnie Ismail hot and sexy performance also can be watched on Talk Show "Bedagang" aired on Trans 7 every monday till Friday on 11.30 PM. She hosts the show together with Ilow Ismail.


Photos of Virnie Ismail, hot and sexy :























Watch VIRNIE ISMAIL NURSE STRIPTEASE sexy video here

Scratch

There was "breaking news" in the "Heartland" Thursday night at 10, when "the people we know" dispatched their crack news team to deliver live coverage of what reporter Justin Joseph called "a massive rescue effort."He was referring, of course, to the case that riveted the city—a cat trapped in a drainpipe.Tracy Madden even ended the newscast with promises of updates first thing Friday on "

Mal-Tard Word of the Day

ender: below (example: "My I.Q. is ender a hunnerd.")

Fresh Air

Now this is a step in the right direction: In light of the opening day of the College World Series, Channel 6 is set to deliver its entire 6 p.m. newscast from Rosenblatt Stadium.An anchor reporting, remote broadcasts. Is the giant finally emerging from its coma?

Brainpower

An alert reader points out this piece of crack reporting on the SuxNews website.Could the final two sentences of the story be any more contradictory?Is Maltard writing in her spare time?

Moronicity

If it's not one of 'em, it's another.An alert commenter brings to our attention the latest idiotic prattle coming out of the mouths of Channel Sux's morning crew.Said commenter reports that linguistically-challenged anchorette Maltard Maddox "mentioned on the morning news [Monday] that it's been 81 years since the death of Martin Luther King Jr." The commenter continues, asserting that "that’s

Palpable Excitement at Channel 6

Now in the throes of November sweeps, Channel 6 is hyping the hell out of what it apparently considers its big assets.On Tuesday, the Suxers keep promising, their election coverage will include a CONTINUOUS TICKER at the bottom of the screen!And on Wednesday, everything in Omaha will come to a halt so as to hear JIM'S WINTER FORECAST!How can any other station hope to compete with all that?

Tin-Eared

If the Peabody Awards committee ever bestows a prize for incompetence, Channel Sux should submit a tape of Wednesday's "Daybreak" program. 


Among the highlights of just one half-hour:
Rusty Lord warning that showers Wednesday night "could be a little more heavier";
Use of the term "Weathermaker" to describe what is essentially a forecast map;
Nadia Singh, standing at 120th and L Streets for no

Sunday Night Fight

It was a rare Sunday night face-off for local TV news, but a bizarre one. And really, it wasn't much of a face-off, since the two stations thumping their chests aired their newscasts nearly two hours apart. Pouncing on one of the local media's favorite angles--the "Omaha connection"--KETV dispatched the annoyingly earnest Tom Elser to Hollywood to cover the Oscars, due to Omaha native Alexander

KETV Lowers the Bar Some More

In an attempt to lure more stupid people to their morning newsblock, Channel 7 has replaced traffic reporter James Lawrence with what sounds like a 14-year-old girl named (we think) Laura Liggett. Whereas Lawrence's reports sounded smooth and professional, Liggett's are punctuated with lots of ums and giggly yammering.The upshot of bringing her on board, however, is that weatherbimbo Andrea

Watching the Weather and Holding Our Tongues

• The storm that caused KETV's Bill Randby to nearly soil himself on Monday's 5 p.m. newscast continues to make its way across the country. At 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Randby pegged our chance for significant snowfall at 70%, as did KXVO/KPTM's Tyson Pearsall. KMTV's Ryan McPike put the likelihood at 50%, while WOWT Ejacuweather's Jim Flowers declined to put his guess in percentage terms. Stay tuned.•

Angela Martin Looking for a Change. Why Not Omaha?

Former KM3 Anchor/Reporter Angela Martin, now in Savannah, Georgia, is listed in MediaLine among those seeking new positions. If her demo tape is to be believed, Martin, who was in Omaha from 2002 until 2004, has improved considerably during her time down south.Any Omaha station would be wise to lure her back here, especially given the scarcity of on-air diversity in the market. Channel 6, which

A New Kind of Newsroom?

Stations in Nashville and San Francisco will train their anchors and reporters to use smaller hand-held cameras and laptop editing equipment in an effort to "maximize each station's news gathering capacity to achieve a higher news story count." Are we the only ones who think this sounds like the corporatespeak run-up to another "we need to do more with less" speech?All News Staff to Film Video [

Counting

Congratulations to SuxNews's lithpy morning yeller Jimmy Siedlecki for ending the year with another factual error delivered in his trademark know-it-all voice.

While sharing his astute observations about Thursday night's Husker loss in the Holiday Bowl, Thiedlecki noted that the outcome left the Big 12 with an 0-4 bowl record so far this year.

But if Jimmy were even half the expert he imagines

Next Thing You Know, It'll Be Jack Mefaster Who's Turning One

Anyone who caught the last half hour of Thursday's "Live at Daybreak" witnessed some of the program's worst moments since the end of the Thom Knight era. For starters, the normally appealing Malorie Maddox apparently came to work dressed as England's Queen Elizabeth II. Either that or she was under the impression that it was "Dress Like Grandma" Day.Then Jim Siedlecki, looking and acting even

Weather We Need It or Not

Rather than hype stories about how giant melons are endangering the lives of the elderly, Channel 3 is trying something odd: original programming that focuses on one of the station's strengths. Crazy, isn't it?But that's what they're doing on Wednesday at 6 p.m., when they air "First with Severe Weather: 10 Ways to Survive the Storm." Featuring KMTV meteorologists Ryan McPike, Sarah Walters,

Dewey Defeats Truman

Congrats to SuxNews twits, led by fill-in amateur anchorette Ann McIntire, who proclaimed the Cornhuskers Big 12 football champions during the last 10 seconds of Saturday's 10 p.m. newscast. (The Huskers lost the championship game to Texas by a score of 13-12, on a bizarre, last-second field goal.)Several KETV staffers appeared to be trying out for jobs at Channel Sux as they attempted to air

WOWT Gets Maddox Partner

"Live at Daybreak" anchor Malorie Maddox will be looking at a familiar face first thing in the morning, now that Channel 6 has hired her former Joplin, Missouri co-anchor to rejoin her at the anchor desk in Omaha. Jimmy Siedlecki has been anchoring and serving as assistant news director at KODE since 2002 and formerly worked as a sports anchor in Evansville, Indidana. Maddox came to WOWT from

"Heartland Connection" to Jackson Trial Found!

No matter how much local TV news we watch, we always seem to miss something. Browsing the video section of the WOWT website, we noticed the story about the "former Omahan" who served as a juror in the Michael Jackson trial that ended earlier this week.The "Omaha Connection" fetish is an old standby that local media just can't seem to get enough of, no matter how remote that connection may be. In

Fever

It appears that only NPR-affiliate KIOS-FM has the one rational news crew (probably two people) in the city.On its Tuesday afternoon newscast, the KIOS newsreader noted, quite accurately, that hot weather at this time of year in Omaha is NORMAL. There was even a soundbite or two of a National Weather Service meteorologist confirming this discovery.You wouldn't know it from watching any local TV

Leaving

We've been inundated with reports that KMTV sports director Travis Justice is leaving the station (and broadcasting), effective January 10th. Depending on how his spot is filled, this could be a boost for the kids at Channel 3rd.Additionally, Channel Sux sports reporter/anchor Merlin Klaus is said to have tendered his resignation again, this time to take a job with Douglas County. We have not

Swallowing One for the Team

Monday night was Channel 3's turn to recycle a story already done by another local station. In this case, KMTV anchor/reporter Mary Williams (Weeyums, to hear her say it) delved into a subject that WOWT anchor Tracy Madden tackled several weeks ago. The story involved Creighton Medical Center doctors' ability to have patients swallow a pill-sized camera which then transmits images of said

The Newspeople You Don't Trust

We've seen very little local TV the last few days, but on Tuesday morning, we did catch Channel 6's pathetic claim of having the first images of the scene on the West Dodge Expressway, where a construction worker fell 35 feet and suffered critical injuries. Was it their "first response" team that pulled off this coup for the 8:55 Today Show cut-in? Nope. It was a shaky "CityCam" image—a shot in

Mal-Tard Word of the Day

GEV-er-mint: organized authority (example: "Kawngriss is part of the gevermint.")

Oh Great, Now We've Gone and Made Travis Cry

So a suit at Channel 3 sends us a "cease and desist" email, apparently because we were using one of KM3's graphics featuring Travis Justice, although it didn't specify any one item. Travis was cc'd on the email, so we're guessing we hurt the little guy's feelings and he complained to the teacher that some meanies were picking on him. But we're taking it down. We don't think we're legally

As If Channel 6 Didn't Look Stupid Enough

WOWT has resumed inflicting its series of "The More You Know" spots on viewers. They started seeping into view a month or two ago but have been in heavy rotation for the past several days. The offending pieces—a combination of public service announcements, feel-good circle jerks, and look-how-much-we-care promotional messages—feature most of the station's anchors yammering platitudes about

KMTV Hires Weekend Anchor

An informed source tells us that Kerri Stowell from KCAU in Sioux City has been hired as weekend anchor and weekday reporter at Action3 News. Stowell is originally from the Kansas City area and has been handling weekend anchor duties at KCAU since joining the station in May 2004. We'd tell more if we knew it, but KCAU has already removed her bio and pic from their website.We can only hope that

Najwa Shihab Todays Dialouge Metro TV

Najwa Shihab or usually called Nana is a Metro TV news anchor. Najwa Shihab born in Makassar, Sulawasi Selatan on 16 September 1977. Her father is Quraisy Shihab, a former Menteri Agama, while her uncle is a former Menko Kesra, Alwi Shihab.

Najwa Shihab usually anchors Metro TV's new program "Metro Hari ini", and talk show "Today's dialouge", "Padamu Negeri", "Save Our Nation".

In 2005, Shihab was named "Best TV Anchor/Reporter" by an Indonesia journalists association for her work in the 2004 tsunami that hit Aceh and Nias.

Najwa Shihab is one of not many Indonesia news anchor who got so many awards such as Panasonic Awards, Asian Television Awards.

Her best reminded performances may be while Najwa Shibab reported in Aceh Pasca Tsunami 2005, Jakarta Governor Election, and the first news anchor who succesfully interviewed Indonesia presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after his taking office, and an exclusive conversation with Malaysia's former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim shortly after his release from prison.

Najwa Shihab has married with Ibrahim Assegaf (baim), and has one boy named Izzat. Najelaa Shihab, sister of Najwa, is married to Ahmad Fikri Assegaf. Father of Baim, Husein Ibrahim, is a brother of Ali Ibrahim.

Don't be confused if Najwa family usually comes from "Keturunan Arab" because they seems to hold the nasab family especially in Habib family.

Najwa Shihab is famous for her big beautiful eyes. As a junior journalist like Desi Anwar and Fifi Aleyda Yahya, her professional skill and smart appearances make her is idolized by her fans, together with TV One Rahma Sarita, Frida Lidwina, Eva Julianti.

Najwa Shihab new talk show in Metro TV is Mata Najwa.

Photos of Najwa Shihab, Metro TV presenter :





















Watch Najwa Shihab at Talk Show Mata Najwa on Metro TV Video here

Local Telethon Effort Pulls in a Bundle for Jerry's Kids

Despite high gas prices and the outpouring of support for victims of Hurricane Katrina, the 40th installment of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon brought in nearly $55 million, a figure that Lewis said was higher than he was expecting. The program was carried locally on KMTV for the 35th consecutive year.Looking better than he has in nearly five years, a noticeably thinner, more vigorous Lewis

Frida Lidwina Metro TV News Anchor

Frida Lidwina is the anchor of Metro TV's late-night news program "Metro Malam", and handles overnight news headlines. She previously hosted "Sport Corner".

Frida Lidwina can be watched from program Indonesia Now, News Flash, Suara Anda, Metro World News.

With a height 174 cm and weight 52 kg. Frida is one of the most favourite news anchor in Indonesia. Her beautiful face and smart appearances especially in english dialogue make people like to watch her. She has a rival from TV One beautiful presenter Grace Natalie and Tina Talisa.

Lidwina joined Metro TV in 2004, after working as a news reporter for Trans TV in Jakarta. Born in Jakarta, she graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in journalism.

She also holds a master's degree in finance from University of Western Australia in Perth.


Frida Lidwina in Metro TV program Photos and pictures collections :


















Watch Frida Lidwina at Bisnis Hari Ini Metro TV Video here

Sweeps Alert: BURGLARIES!

Wife: "Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod! Burglars are everywhere! What are we going to do?"Husband: "Okay. Hang on. Let's try to stay calm. Let me think."Wife: "I think we should build a moat around our neighborhood."Husband: "That's not a bad idea. But what can we do NOW?"Wife: "Let's pull the kids out of school and we'll all hide in the basement. We'll need to stock up on—"Husband: "Wait a second.

Always on His Mind

The media column in this week's Reader, written by Sean Weide, devotes some space to local personalities' responses to the question, "What are you thankful for?" Now, we've long heard that this little blog gets under the skin of KMTV's serial opinionator, Travis Justice, but we had no idea that we were so engrained in his consciousness until we read his response to Weide's question: "I'm thankful

Glazed

On Thursday's 5 p.m. train wreck, WOWT featured one of its usual canned Consumer Reports features, voiced over by nasally know-nothing Maltard Maddox. This installment compared caloric content in breakfast items offered by several fast-food chains.The chains featured were McDonald's, Starbucks, and Dunkin' Donuts.

Aside from the usual annoyances created by Maltard's grating voice, bizarre

Naming Names

Another alert reader informs us that KETV has actually had the on-air team for its weekend morning program lined up for a while now, despite GM Joel Vilmenay's claim to Sean Weide that such details were not yet finalized.Anchoring the new show will be Brandi Petersen and Todd Andrews, with struggling reporter Laura Liggett handling live-from-the-field chores and current weekend mumblerologist

You Don't Have to Be Drunk to Work at Channel 6, But It Helps

More than a few people—some of them on air at Channel 6—were wondering if sports anchor Dave Webber was drunk during his 10 p.m. live report from Kansas City on Friday.Standing in KC's Country Club Plaza on the eve of the Big 12 footbal championship game, Webber at times sang, giggled, shouted at those back in the studio, rambled incoherently, and generally gave the impression of having had about

Dream Team

A comment asked what we'd consider a "Dream Team" in local news. It's a question that we hadn't considered much, but if we could assemble a team using only talent currently in the market, here's what we'd come up with. Cast your own votes and reactions via the Comments section.MorningsMale Anchor: John Oakey (KETV)Female Anchor: Amanda Mueller (KPTM)5/6 p.mMale Anchor: Rob McCartney (KETV)Female

Whiff

Channel Sux's hysterical Ejacucast Authority Jim Flowers has done it again, predicting 3-4 inches of snow for Tuesday and ending up with snowfall  "near two inches," according to the station's webpage. In SuxNews talk, "near" means "less than."By our unofficial tally, of the eight inches of snow Jim and his lackeys have predicted for Omaha this season, over six inches have failed to materialize. 

Listen

Highlights from Wednesday's 10 p.m. SuxNews televised rehearsal:• Bad audio was the theme of this broadcast. There was a persistent scratchy sound, particularly when J-Pa Knice-rug and Merlyn Klaus were speaking. And for some reason, when they switched from Klaus's b-roll back to a shot of him standing next to the anchor desk, Klaus's mike dropped out and his voice was reduced to a faint echo.•

Purge?

More good news from WOWT. High-voiced Ejacucaster Jeff Jensen is gone!Don't care how. Don't care why. Brummer, gone. Pierce, gone. Jensen, gone. Keep on sweepin'! (Don't forget J-Pa!)

Unintentional

We had to rewind the DVR to make sure, but SuxNews is, indeed, running a promo that begins, "Do your kids smell like tossed salad?"Someone at that joke of a news operation might want to run future copy by urbandictionary.com so that the Suxers don't end up running a spot featuring the phrase, "Cleveland Steamer."

Hello, I must be going...

We left on vacation in mid-March, thinking that by the time we returned, we would have regained some enthusiasm for writing this little blog. But when we rolled back into town in early April, it took only about five minutes of checking out the local news to prove that we lacked the stomach for this. So we didn't write. And then didn't write some more.There are only so many times you can sit

Hope

An alert reader sends us this link to an article regarding companies that Moody's rating service has listed on its "bottom rung." The article says companies on this list have a high risk of default. One company on the list is the owner of Channel Sux: Gray Television Inc. In this small nugget of information resides our only hope that WOWTard will finally unload J-Pa Knicely's bloated salary from

The Reporter's Side of the Story

Yesterday, we criticized KMTV and KETV for running interviews with the mom and brother of a Council Bluffs boy run over and killed by a school bus. Channel 3's Michelle Bandur posted the following comment in response:There is nothing I loathe more about my job, than to interview a grieving family or cover a funeral. It's difficult enough when horrible things happen to your OWN family. I'm sure

Jim Rose: Hideous Freak?

Here's a question we've been pondering for over a year now: Why, during the weekly "Coach Callahan Show," do we never see host Jim Rose up close?We see plenty of tight shots of Callahan, but whenever Rose is on camera, it's nothing but wideshot, wideshot, wideshot. Is Rose grotesquely disfigured, or are the producers of the show too cheap or lazy to employ more than two camera angles?

Panic

This pitiful apology from SuxNews was brought to our attention by an alert reader.Who implements a whole new system of any kind without testing it first?Besides SuxNews, we mean.

Invention

Friday's news that Barack Obama won an electoral vote from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district might come as a surprise to the dozens of people who caught Channel Sux's 11:30 a.m. newscast on Wednesday.It was on that broadcast that anchor Jimmy Thiedlecki decided to declare McCain the winner of that vote.Not only did Jimmy make the wrong call, he did it based on totals that he seems to have

Snowbotch

This morning we found ourselves torn: should we watch local stations soil themselves over the prospect of 1-3 inches of snow or bask in the otherworldliness of the infomercial on KPTM that used phrases like "caked-on fecal matter"? Turns out there wasn't much difference.Our favorite moments from Channel 7's exaggerated coverage:• Elictia Hammond standing on Douglas Street, just feet from the

Discovery

By Sunday evening at 5 p.m., WOWT detected that a tornado had hit Omaha early Sunday morning.Empty-headed anchor John Knicely was on the scene within 15 hours of the storm, telling stories that KETV had covered on its 7 a.m. newscast.At 10 p.m., Chief Ejacucaster Jim Flowers—with nary a giggle—apologized for the station's coverage, but then began backpedaling almost immediately. He and Mike

Answered

Our inquisitive reader's request for info on a 1960s Omaha anchor prompted a cascade of responses, many noting that the local paper's Mike Kelly did a story on the subject several years ago, and others pointing toward numerous newspaper articles on the Google Books website.


Here is that inquisitive reader's follow-up letter, in full:

Ted,I want to thank you and your alert readers for the

Patton's Deals with Not-So-Fresh Feeling

KMTV's Devon "Lockjaw" Patton, who co-anchors the weekend news and practices his ventriloquism act simultaneously, gave the "Andrea McMaster treatment" to the name of Omaha's most prestigious all-girl school. In describing a car wash organized by one of its students, Patton pronounced "Duschenne" so that it sounded like douchin.'There is speculation in this office that later this week, Patton

GraphicTracker 6000

Channel 6 unveiled a new set of weather graphics Monday. The main changes appear to be a more muted shade of blue and a new font. At first glance, they appear to be a hybrid of those already in use at Channel 3 and on the Weather Channel®. No matter how pretty the pictures, however, Jeff Jensen is still Jeff Jensen, and Michael Born is still Michael Born.

Retirement Watch: 76 Lethargic Days Left

As nice as it is to know that there's an end in sight, we can't help but wish Pat Persaud could speed this whole "retirement" process up a bit. Watching her stumble her way through the 10 o'clock news feels even more excruciating than usual. Why? Consider these examples from Wednesday night's ordeal:• When blandmaster Brian Mastre noted that paramedics had assisted a pregnant woman caught in a

#@&$! Where You Live

SuxNews seldom fails to delight with its coverage of storms. While KETV gives us live video of trees being tossed about, Channel Sux airs Jimmy Thiedlecki's photos of a privacy fence that fell over or Maltard Maddox's breathless account of her patio furniture blowing around.

But Tuesday's highlight was anchor Tracy Madden blurting out an expletive while waiting for J-Tard Knicely, a climatically

Our Long Local Nightmare Is Over

For those of you who missed it, Channel 6's Wednesday night sendoff for "retiring" anchor Pat Persaud—the final installment, that is—was about as forced as one might expect, given that hardly anyone seemed to genuinely care that she was departing.The last stanza began five or ten minutes into the newscast, as had episodes one and two on Monday and Tuesday. Surprisingly, there were no tears, save

Imitation

One of the most irritating things about television news is the tendency to copy stories done elsewhere and pass them off as original. One example would be 90 percent of what gets aired at Channel Sux.Another would be Kristi Andersen's story on KETV about "staycations"—vacations spent at home rather than traveling. Andersen introduced the term as if she'd just invented it. "Call it a 'staycation!'

That Minge Thingy

We appreciate Jim Minge's recent mention of OMAnews in his City Weekly column, but we have to wonder what he and/or his editors were thinking when they decided to headline this week's story on Retro 106.9's transformation (the station is now known as "The Bob"). Was "Bob on the Knob" really the best of the options they had? Honestly, whose radio actually has knobs these days? Or did they want

Maltard Word of the Day

KAH-mer: more sedate (Example: "Theens are metch kahmer today, aren't they, Restee?")

On the Positive Side, There's Tracy

Footage near the end of Channel 6's 10 p.m. news on Monday featured the station's "all-star" softball team playing at a benefit for Children's Hospital. Among those playing were the heir to Queen Pat's throne, Tracy Madden, who played the good sport and took at least one turn at bat. While the evidence suggests that she's not much of a softball player, it seems pretty clear that she intends to

Looking

We're adding what we hope will be a regular feature: a periodic scan of who's looking to get out of Omaha, based on postings at Medialine.com.This week, KPTM's Julie Hong continues to look. She's far too talented for DuctTape 42 and neither Action 3rd nor Channel Sux seems smart enough to pick her up. Maybe KETV will have an opening (Fubar, are you listening?).Also on the lookout for a better gig

Great Caesar's Ghost! W-H Mentions Local TV

The World-Herald takes note of Pat Persaud's "tearful" announcement, within 24 hours, no less. Read all 80+ words here.

Were These People Drunk?

Choose your favorite WOWT blunder from Saturday's broadcasts. Vote by posting in Comments section.(A) Reporter Maniko Barthalemy calls horticulture expert John Fech "Jim."(B) Title super'd over Barthalemy's 10 p.m. story reads "Mission Need Donations."(C) Graphic quoting from Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning's press release says a defendant "prayed on the patriotism and emotions of Nebraska

Channel 7: WTF?!

Can someone please explain why KETV has suddenly imploded? Monday night's 10 o'clock news was stunning in its awfulness. • During a story about folks in Papillion chasing a bobcat, viewers saw this title super'd: "Bob Cat Sighted." Did someone put FUBAR Fazal in charge of this? If Bob Cat is on the loose, can Frank Leopard be far behind?• An I-Team "investigation" delivered by Carol Kloss and her

WOWT Brings in New Face for "Live at 4"

The Reader hitting stands Wendesday evening contains Sean Weide's report that WOWT has hired Sheila Brummer to fill Tracy Madden's spot as "Live at 4" anchor when Madden ascends to the top female anchor spot later this month. Brummer's bio says she's been working in TV for a decade or so, most recently as a reporter and morning anchor for KCCI in Des Moines.Brummer may be turn out to be the

Wager

Anyone willing to bet that SuxNews second-team anchor Jimmy Thiedlecki is smarter than a chicken might want to rethink things.Honest to God, this morning, his co-anchor, Maladroit Maddox reads a story saying that a shooting victim was found at 15th and Dorcas and died en route to the hospital. Jimmy then says, "Updates on the man's condition were not provided; we'll provide more information when

Excuse Us, But We Had to Step Out for a Moment

• An unexpected trip to Chicago kept us away from local TV for a few days. The pinheads running Channel 6 should really get to a major market sometime and see how to do things right. For example, how is it that WLS, which has ruled Chicago for years, can put together newscasts that don't rely on repetitive gimmickry and meaningless, overhyped phrases? How is it that their morning show can get by

John Knicely's Ron Burgundy Pronunciation of the Day

Introducing Maltard Maddox's canned "consumer" story on frozen pizza brands, J-Pa called DiGiorno "DEE-ghee-ORN-yoh."

Geez. Even Maltard got the pronumciation right on this one (although she did manage to twist Kashi into "KAW-shee").

Maybe J-Pa should sign up next time former anchor-hag Pat Persaud advertises a trip to Italy.

Maltard Word of the Day

KAWM-pin-SAY-shun: payment for employment (example: "Investors are angry about excessive kawmpinsayshun for top executives.")

Another Positive Comment (Two in One Day?!)

Has anyone seen KMTV's new reporter Molli Graham? She seems quite capable and doesn't make us want to throw a hammer at the TV, which is unusual these days. Ditto regarding KETV's Owen Lei, whose work seems miles ahead of the crap turned in by the likes of fellow recent hires Laura Liggett and Farrah "FUBAR" Fazal. Note to every station in town: Graham and Lei are the kind of talent you should be

A Lunatic Vents

From the Annals of Stupidity, we offer this little morsel, submitted by a seemingly not-so-bright reader: I stumbled onto this blog and I think this type of bashing is outrageous. Because of you (mr. or ms. blogger) I think congress ought to pass laws to get you prosecuted. These people that you write about, their rights need to be protected. Theres no law against lying, but you lie to defame

"Online @ Five": Time to Reboot

Watching someone surf the web (or talk about it) isn't exactly the most riveting television. It ranks somewhere between Andrea McMaster's "Heartland Focus" and televised fishing. Channel 7's "Online @ Five" feature is worse. The segment seems to be the product of several station aims, most notably to give the impression that the folks at 7 are "with it," as the kids say, when it comes to "

Brace

As bad as SuxNews programs have been all week, we may look back on them fondly after the newscasts this evening. If, as has been the case the past two weeks, the embarrassingly under-qualified Nadia Singh is anchoring, we could be in for a real treat.Even before the big switch, Singh's Friday 'casts were riddled with miscues and dead air. Add all the new "software problems" that have plagued the

Shaniqua and the Pronouns

When WOWT's bumbling management, in their zeal to double the number of non-caucasian reporters at the Big Six, hired under-qualified reporter Maniko Barthalemy, they must have known this kind of sentence was coming. Teasing one of her several inconsequential live reports on Saturday morning, Shaniqua said, "If a student can't see in class, it can make it harder for he or she to focus."Maybe

When It Blows, It Blows

Having expectorated diminutive "anchor" Pat Persaud from its system, WOWT would do well to turn its attention to overhauling its bloated and seemingly clueless weather department.OK, Jim Flowers looks like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons. He has that porn mustache. And he seems to simultaneously hyperventilate, soil himself, and suffer premature ejaculation every time there's even the slightest

New WB "News"cast to Debut on January 16th

An alert reader informs us that KXVO's new 10 p.m. program anchored by Calvert "Larry 'Bud'" Collins will begin rehearsals on January 2nd and begin airing to an only slightly larger audience on January 16th. Anyone wanting a bellyfull of Collins' self-congratulatory, delusional description of the new show should get a copy of the Reader and check out Sean Weide's interview with her. Here's one

Gotta Love This

Read Sean Weide's column on how KETV is owning WOWT. Life is good.

We'd Link to It If We Could

In this week's "Media Notes" column in The Reader, Sean Weide reports that KETV has hired an "executive producer" for its newscasts. The story quotes news director Roseann Shannon as indicating that the position is newly created. There is no mention of what specific duties this person will have, but we're praying that it involves stuffing a sock in Shiloh Woolman's mouth and breaking the news to

A Big Loss for the Big Six

In an enormous blow to a station already short on male talent, "Live at Daybreak" co-anchor Trey Jones has informed the station that he will be leaving WOWT after his May 6th broadcast. According to sources, Jones has said that the demands of the early morning schedule just aren't compatible with raising young children. His departure breaks up one of the best anchor teams in Omaha, which had only

Journal Broadcasting Buys KM3

Emmis Communications is selling its TV operations in bits and pieces. Among the deals reported earlier today is the Journal Broadcast Group's purchase of Omaha's KMTV, along with stations in Fort Myers, FL and Tucson, AZ, for a total of $235 million. This seems like especially bad news for those of us who despise the sight (and sound) of Travis Justice on our TVs: Journal radio stations Z-92 and

Maltard Word of the Day

*dess: multiple losses of life (example: "The attack resulted in twinny-five dess.")

Channel 6 Breaks 1998 Technology Story

During a report on rumors that ran through Papio-LaVista South High School, OPS-toady-to-be Doug Walker revealed on Tuesday's 10 p.m. that it's possible to have several different Instant Messenger windows open at the same time. Why doesn't this guy have his own technology show?In a rare episode of stupid banter, Tracy Madden then stunned Omaha by informing Walker that IM is "the way kids

Awards

Channel Sux is running promos about awards it has won, including Best Newscast.Who were they competing against? Cox Channel 23? Or is this some contest that only Channel Sux enters?Isn't this the same station that puts together a promo featuring its anchors ad-libbing and can't find J-Pa saying even one full sentence that makes sense?

WE'RE BEGGING...

We are by no means blaming local media for this one, although we are imploring local reporters, anchors, and producers to please please please please please please refrain from any further use of the phrase "Dr. King's dream" in news stories about today's federal holiday. We must've heard it two dozen times before 7:30 this morning, and there's no sign that it's going to let up without a

Patwatch: 27 Possible Workdays Left

We were going to lay off the criticism of WOWT "anchor" Pat Persaud, but if the station's going to make us suffer for nearly another month, we're going to keep bitching about her incompetence.• Pat's "Family Health" report on Friday's 6 p.m. cast focused on "Blackberry Thumb," a condition caused by too much text messaging. Clever little elf that she is, Pat noted that for text messagers hoping to

Why Won't They Make Him Stop?

We've just voted Travis "The Tool" Justice's "For What It's Worth" commentary the worst concept in Omaha TV news since Channel 3 had radio disc jockey "Hot Scott" reviewing movies for them back in the '80s. It's worse, even, than that embarrassingly bad locally produced game show aired by WOWT on Saturday evenings somewhere during the 1987-89 timeframe.It's more clear than ever that this guy has

Oakey Spotted in New Circle of Hell

Question of the Day: What did John Oakey do to piss off KETV management to the point that they're hell-bent on ruining his morning show? First, they made him morning anchor—a good move, especially following the disatrous tenure of Suzanne Deyo. But they paired him with meteorologist Andrea Bredow, who may be a lovely human being in person, but whose schedule will never be cluttered with meetings

Cool

We can't remember the last time the management of SuxNews got a decison so right.

But we couldn't have been more surprised this morning when we awoke to the sight of meteorologist Caitlin Roth substituting for Maltard Maddox on the Daybreak program. (Maddox is on maternity leave, having delivered a baby last Friday.)

As mentioned in this space before, Roth has been stellar as anchor of the

Crap

Channel Sux is promoting tonight's newscast with word of "a familiar face" returning to "the Channel Six family" and the phrase "in Touch" scrawled across the screen.Brace yourselves.This can only mean that turkey-necked crone, former anchor Pat Persaud, is resurfacing with some sort of human interest feature—an idea ripped directly off of KETV's repurposing of Julie Cornell after she stepped

Behold the Weathergasm 5800

Introducing Weathergasm 5800. Weathergasm 5800 represents the latest advance in television weathercasting. With Weathergasm 5800, your local television station stands ready to interrupt regular programming at even the slightest hint of severe weather. Tornado? Turn to your station for Weathergasm 5800. Severe thunderstorm? Weathergasm. Garden-variety thunderstorm? Oh, what the hell—Weathergasm!

Lifted

Dear KPTM/KXVO:

We really like that you're airing a spot noting that giggling Channel Sux Ejacucaster Jim Flowers looks like Simpsons character Ned Flanders. The "Separated at Birth?" tag at the end is an especially nice touch.

However, a trip down Amnesia Lane to March 11, 2005 might make someone think you'd gotten the idea somewhere else.

By the way, did you catch Channel Sux's discussion of

Saturday Morning Nightmare

Talk about scary. We awoke Saturday morning, flipped on the tube, and were plunged into an unexpected nightmare. First, Channel 6 was running its usual weekend shitfest, only with an uglier-than-usual twist. Speech-impaired, fashion-challenged anchor Rachel Pierce showed up for work sporting perhaps the gaudiest, most-inappropriate, busy, deep-purple outfit we've ever seen on a TV newsperson.

Weekend Musings

• Brandi Petersen anchored the Friday night's 10 o'clock news on Channel 7, while Rob McCartney and Julie Cornell were off hosting an Easter Seals benefit. Can anyone explain why Suzanne Deyo has an anchor assignment and Petersen doesn't? Using Deyo instead of Petersen is like casting Pauly Shore for the lead in a film over Tom Hanks; it should be a no-brainer.• Speaking of Julie Cornell, we

Investigative Sweeps

'Tis the season to "investigate." At least that's how May sweeps seem to be shaping up for Channels 6 & 7. On Sunday night, WOWT's Brian Mastre dug into teen driving dangers, and Tuesday night, we're promised a Tracy Madden investigation into victims of meth.Over at KETV, Sunday night's focus was real estate inspectors referred by agents, with Carol Kloss, who appears to have misplaced her trusty

Spread

Suxism, our new term for the worst habits of local TV news stations both here and across the country, is slithering into print journalism more and more often. 


Cartoonist/blogger Neal Obermeyer of Lincoln points out an AP story about Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning's claims that the health care reform measure passed on Sunday is unconstitutional.


In a post entitled, "Your Liberal Media

Morning Mystery Crew

Tuning in to Channel 3's morning newscast, we're never quite sure who we're going to see. Perhaps we're imagining it, but it seems that at least once a week, anchor Mary Williams (or, as she pronounces it, "Wee-yums") is MIA. Likewise, KMTV seems to play roulette when it comes to filling the morning weather chair. Friday, for example, we were (pleasantly) surprised to find our favorite pair o'

Back

Summer's over. Time to get back to work. Where to start?

There've been quite a few departures and arrivals in the past several weeks. We see the exits of weekend anchor Devon Patton and Kerri Stowell as positives for the Channel 3rd. Then again, lord knows what they'll hire. So far Dave Roberts doing weekends has worked. Maybe they should stick with that.

At Channel 7, longtime morning field

Sean McMahon Leaving Television?

We are told by what we believe to be a reliable source that KETV weekend sports anchor Sean McMahon has decided to leave the station. Channel 7 has not yet released the information, so not a lot more is known at the moment.If true, the departure would represent a significant loss for the station, given McMahon's strong on-air work and widespread reputation as an all-around good guy. McMahon's

Vote

It's been a quiet primary election season, at least when it comes to TV ads from candidates, and for that we can all be glad.

But driving around this morning, we encountered the inexpensive ugly cousin of the slick TV spot: a gaggle of otherwise normal-looking folks standing at a busy intersection, clutching signs for their candidate, sporting vacant smiles, and waving.

Is this effective? Have

Bordering

Former KETVNewswatchSeven reporter Farah "FUBAR" Fazal has landed just north of the Rio Grande with a job at KRGV—the ABC affiliate in Weslaco, Texas.

The Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville-McAllen market is #87, with just over 350,000 households. Omaha is #76, with about 410,000.

While she was in Omaha, Fazal's station bio boasted that she was fluent in Spanish. Perhaps her new job gives her the

Three for 3: Suggestions for Getting KM3 Out of the Hole (Part 2 of 2)

With Channel 3's ratings stuck in the basement, the station faces a challenge, to say the least. Back in the summer of 2003, General Manager Jim McKernan told Omaha B2B magazine that he "would be disappointed if we weren’t at least number two in overall news viewership" within two years. Well, the two years is almost up and things for the station are the same, if not worse.The question is, what

Amazon Prime members now get free instant streaming

Best of Google TV Series

I’ve been an Amazon Prime member for a while now and love the free two day shipping, especially when I’m keen to get my hands on the latest Google TV device as soon as possible.

Now there’s even more reason for Google TV users to love this service. Amazon currently has over 90,000 movies and TV shows that you can stream instantly on your Google TV device for a few dollars. Well, they have just announced that Amazon Prime members will also get unlimited, commercial-free access to more than 5,000 of those movies and TV shows, for no additional cost. Titles include “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Syriana,” “March of the Penguins,” and—my personal favorite—”Doctor Who.”

This will work immediately on all Google TV devices, so give it a whirl if you’re an Amazon Prime member. If you don’t already own a Google TV device, then here’s another reason to make the most of that Amazon Prime membership.

Posted by Peter Sherman, Google TV Marketing

Meanwhile, On Channel 7...

KETV must be trying to win over WOWT viewers by getting into the business of half-assed reporting and stupid stories:• Last Thursday, the station screwed up royally in its coverage of a car accident involving three teenagers. We were swamped with emails griping about the coverage. One emailer summarizes the screwups better than we can: KM3 at 5pm had 3 teens critically injured in 2 car crash.

Weide Has the Answer

As usual, Sean Weide has dug up the story behind one of our questions—in this case, WOWT's ad for a new sportscaster. Merlyn Klaus is leaving. Read about it in The Reader's Media Notes blog.

WOWT Taking Its Cues from Channel 3, Again

Once again, apparently prodded by KMTV's Action 3 News format, lethargic WOWT is making changes to its otherwise stale product. This time, it's the opening sequences, graphics, and theme music.We could give a long description of each, but it's just as informative to say that the graphics look like Channel 3's, only blue, and the music sounds like Channel 3's, only with the three-note NBC

Maybe they should spray it on the "Senior Drug Mules"

We haven't had time to check out Rob McCartney's "Old People Who Smuggle Drugs" story, so we can't offer any comment on it yet.Never a station to rest on it's laurels, KETV is whetting our appetites for next week's big Wednesday night "investigation": Mike Sigmond will report on perfumes purported to make those wearing it smell younger. The clever title of the report is "Smelling Younger."

Radar, Radar Everywhere and "Winter Forecasts" Stink

Dear god. Where do we start? Jim Flowers' "big announcement on Friday was "Radar to the Power of 6." As if he needs another stupid gimmick to squeeze into the Channel 6 forecasts. If you didn't see it, the geniuses at 6 will now be able to show us three different radar scans at once, which will, according to Flowers, allow him and his lackeys to give us 3-D images of storms and whatnot. Um,

Patsturbation

WOWT's "retiring" "anchor" Pat Persaud paid loving tribute to herself Monday evening, narrating a retrospective that was every bit as free of substance as most of her "career" has been.It's really amazing that someone could be at the anchor desk since 1992 and have so little to show for it. Based on the footage included, the highlight of her career appears to be one of the following: •

How to Cover TV w/o Really Trying

From what we can tell, the OWH has three types of television stories:• Rainbow Rowell grieving over Simon Cowell (accurately, if not politely) calling Omaha’s Maynard triplets “overweight” on “American Idol”;• Harold W. Andersen taking a break from his usual kvetching about form letters that misspell his name to complain about some writer’s reference to reality TV; and• Sunday’s “TV Q&A,” column,

Wee Wee, MAD-dam

Are we the only ones who watched Maladroit Maddox's "Sux on Your Side" spot in which she pronounced the name of the restaurant, Le Voltaire, as "Lay Voltaire"?It was a nice match of her partner Jimmy "Gomer" Thiedlecki's "Serk DAY So-lay" promo of 2006. Omaha viewers really owe Joplin, Missouri, a punch square in the face for sending us these two rubes.

Rethinking Scott Akin

Alert reader tóózy writes,Hey Ted:You got to give Scott Akin some props. Last week when he was filling in for the Pornstache, there was a forecast for a few inches of snow. Instead of on air Armageddon as is the usual, he was very relaxed with it, no hyperbole, no doom. He just went about his business, seemingly giving the audience credit for knowing about winter. He stopped just short of calling

Fake

Why were the SuxNews anchors delivering their drivel from in front of a green screen on Tuesday?Is their barely-a-year-old set being revamped already? Or did the bank repo it?It's bad enough watching their mostly pretend anchors deliver a pretend newscast. Seeing them do it in front of a pretend set is more than we can handle.

KETV to Lose "MNF," WOWT Will Get NFL Back

In a surprise development, NBC has landed rights to broadcast NFL Sunday night games beginning in 2006. As expected, ESPN picked up "Monday Night Football," which has been carried on ABC since its inception in 1970. Speculation had been that ESPN and ABC would end up swapping the two nights. The upshot of the new deal is that KETV will lose primetime NFL games after this season, while WOWT will

Al Jazeera on Google TV

Best of Google TV Series

Over the past two weeks, Al Jazeera has carried 24/7 breaking news coverage of the protests in Egypt. Live video of the protests from Tahrir Square, streaming from AlJazeera.net and English.AlJazeera.net, have driven a 2500% traffic increase to their website. The majority of this traffic has come from the United States, as U.S. viewers can’t access Al Jazeera’s broadcast on television.

This week, Al Jazeera released their Al Jazeera spotlight site where you can watch breaking news clips, scan headline news and dive into the breadth of their web content -- all on the big screen.

For the latest coverage on the protests in Egypt you can also visit Al Jazeera’s YouTube channels in both Arabic and English for premium coverage and CitizenTube for on-the-ground citizen reports.

- Posted by Daniels Lee, Developer Relations

Spooky

We normally can't tolerate the Channel 3rd morning program for more than about ten seconds, but today we were able to endure two minutes or so. What we saw reminded us why watching smarmy dimwit Sheila Brummer and tiny weatherman C.T. Thongklin is even worse than tuning in to watch the hayseed duo that squeezes out Channel Sux's morning dump.


Granted, we should've changed the channel when

Cause

An alert reader has asked us to spread the word that there's now a Facebook group dedicated to getting Channel 3rd to rid itself of Travis Justice.OK. Good luck.

WOWT Offers Live-Stream of Callahan

In a new twist on "Signing Day" hype, WOWT offered a live-streaming broadcast of Husker coach Bill Callahan's 3 p.m. news conference today. Check out the whole 47-minute event. As Pat Persaud would robotically say, "we've built a link" below...
Reloading NU

Another Thousand Words

We are without speech. Socially acceptable speech, anyway. All we can think of is an Onion headline: "Local Community Transformed By Television Station's Caring." We're pretty sure we'll go straight to Hell if we offer any further comment.