Leftovers BEFORE the Memorial Day weekend holiday:
My response to critics who tell me, “you’re too negative,” writing about local TV news departments is admittedly negative: “No, I’m not,” I reply.
I offer some proof today by starting the holiday weekend – after a tragic two weeks of local and national news coverage – on a positive note.
We’ll start by recognizing some quality work in 2021 that earned the attention of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards.
WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) has earned six regional Murrow Awards, which are named after the legendary newsman and honor outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism.
The regional winners move on to the national competition, with national winners announced later this year.
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The NBC affiliate’s honorees are in the small market category that includes stations in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey outside of the biggest cities in those states.
Channel 2, which annually gets plenty of hardware from the Murrow Awards, was honored in the categories of investigative reporting, news documentary, news series, podcast, best newscast and overall excellence.
Investigative Reporting: “Defunding the Mayor”: Maryalice Demler, Dooley O’Rourke, Ben Read and Nate Benson were honored for an investigation of issues inside North Tonawanda government.
News Documentary: “Tragic Legacy: Unknown Stories”: Pete Gallivan and Terry Belke were honored for an in-depth story on a residential school program for Native Americans that started in the early 20th century in the United States. Gallivan reported early in the program that “the vast majority of survivors and their descendants" said they "were places of abuse, trauma and attempted ethnic cleansing.”
News Series: “Recycling Revealed”: Michael Wooten, Justin Wahowski, Jamie Conley and Jim Caskie were honored for a four-part series on the “do’s and don’ts” of recycling and other things related to the issue.
Podcast: "Unsolved: True Crime in WNY": Leanne Stuck, who no longer works for Channel 2, Amanda Berg and Benson were honored for a podcast series related to unsolved crimes in WNY.
Best Newscast: “Governor Cuomo Resigns”: Team coverage of a breaking news report that co-anchor Scott Levin started by calling the resignation “a monumental shift in New York State politics” as Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul was poised to replace Cuomo. It is the second-straight year the station won in the category.
Overall Excellence: For the fifth time in six years, WGRZ earned the prestigious honor. It was for a compilation of news stories over the years, starting with Cuomo’s resignation and including the other award-winning stories honored by the Murrow Awards.
WIVB-TV (Channel 4) received three Murrow Awards, two for the documentary, “The Buffalo Story: History Happens Here,” by retired reporter Rich Newberg. A story that was part of the documentary, “In Pursuit of Racial Justice,” was honored in the category of “Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” Newberg was the writer/producer/editor, Tom Vetter was the producer/editor, Jacquie Walker was co-producer and Kurt Murphy was art director/producer.
The overall documentary was honored for “excellence in innovation.” Newberg was the executive producer/writer/host, Vetter producer/editor and Walker co-producer.
The station’s third Murrow Award was for its continuing coverage of a botched bounty hunter raid reported by Luke Moretti. Dan Tevlock was investigative producer, Rich Ersing photojournalist, Murphy art director/producer and Dan Holland contributing photographer.
The New York State Broadcasters also honored the Newberg documentary in its 56th Annual Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting. “The Pursuit of Racial Justice” was honored for outstanding use of local news video and the full documentary was honored for outstanding specialty programming.
Andy Young of Spectrum News was honored by the Murrow Awards in the sports reporting category for a moving story, “Family Turns to Bills’ Win to Cope with Loss.” It was about a Hamburg family of Bills fans paying tribute to a deceased relative and passionate fan by putting a cutout picture of him in an empty seat at a playoff game.
In the radio category, WBEN-AM was honored for its breaking news coverage of the attempted rescue of a person whose vehicle went into Niagara Falls. The story, “At the Brink of the Falls,” was reported by Tim Wenger, with Tom Bauerle anchoring.
Inquiring minds want to know: Why didn’t I add former WIVB-TV (Channel 4) reporter Jericka Duncan in my story about former TV reporters coming back to cover the racist mass shooting story at Tops on Jefferson Avenue? The story was about former reporters working for local stations. Duncan’s reports here were for CBS network and not for a local station.
We should know shortly if ESPN’s new Monday Night Football team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call the Buffalo Bills-Tennessee game at 7:15 p.m. on Sept. 19 for ESPN or if they will work the ABC doubleheader game at 8:30 p.m. that night between Minnesota and Philadelphia.
I wouldn’t be disappointed if the new “B” team of newcomer Dan Orlovsky working alongside Steve Levy and Louis Riddick Jr. called the game. Orlovsky, who essentially is replacing Brian Griese on what was last season’s main MNF team, is much more outspoken and interesting than Aikman. Most pundits expect Buck and Aikman will call the Bills-Titans game in Orchard Park, but it wouldn’t be shocking if they worked the ABC game that night between the two NFC opponents. That game potentially will go to a slightly bigger audience by virtue of its bigger markets and being on a broadcast network.
University at Buffalo graduate Howard Kurtz, the former host of CNN’s media show “Reliable Sources,” has changed since moving to Fox News in 2013 to host its media show version, “Media Buzz.” Last Sunday, Kurtz defended Fox News and host Tucker Carlson against those people he said were “partially” blaming the network and its most popular prime-time host for the racist Tops shooting in Buffalo.
“Blaming him for the shooting is absurd,” said Kurtz. “The latest case of a blood-on-your-hands approach to finger-pointing."
He added “people who don't like this network or compete with this network unleashed this constant barrage: it's partially Fox's fault."
Kurtz noted that Carlson, who has been widely condemned for advocating the white replacement theory that the shooter embraced, wasn’t mentioned in the shooter’s writings and there is no evidence that the shooter ever watched Fox News.
All true. But that isn’t the point being made by many condemning Carlson. He isn’t being directly blamed. Many of Carlson’s critics believe his repeated advocacy of white replacement theory has indirectly led to inspiring racist writings on the internet that influence people like the shooter.
To borrow a phrase, Kurtz’s defense of his employer was “absurd.”
