MEDIA / KEVIN BRASS : Judging News Judgment of San Diego TV Stations

KFMB-TV(Channel 8) led last Tuesday’s 5 p.m. newscast with a story about a pit bull attacking a woman, which says something about the station’s news judgment. It was a slow news day, with no major breaking story. Each of the three major stations picked a different lead story, providing a glimpse into their respective news philosophies.

KGTV-TV (Channel 10) led with a story about the high school graduations taking place around the county.

“More than 1,000 students were affected,” said Channel 10 news director Paul Sands. “And it was a little more positive than the usual shoot ‘em up, crash and burn stories.”

KCST-TV (Channel 39) chose to lead with the story of a North County man convicted of vehicular manslaughter for killing a bicyclist, Rancho Santa Fe physician Anthony Armino. It was not a big story by some standards, but it was a story Channel 39 had been following for the past few months.

In addition, Channel 39 had two exclusive interviews with Armino, taped for Dr. Harvey Shapiro’s health segments just a few weeks before Armino was killed. The interviews included some spooky discussions about the dangers of bicycling.

“From a personal interest standpoint and from a people standpoint it was the most interesting story we had,” said Channel 39 acting news director Nancy Bauer. “It wasn’t a story we had just touched on for one day; we had been following it for viewers.”

The most bizarre choice was Channel 8 leading with the pit bull story.

“We had good pictures and it was a real emotional thing,” said Channel 8 news director Jim Holtzman. “It was a scary situation. The dog still hadn’t been captured.”

The San Diego Padres and KUSI-TV (Channel 51) have agreed to a three-year contract extension, which is probably just fine with Padres fans. What they want to know, though, is whether the new deal means more televised games.

The answer is . . . no.

The Padres organization, which controls the telecasts and sells the commercial time, expects to continue to air about 51 games, the number scheduled to air this season, according to the Pads’ executive vice president Dick Freeman. The number represents the majority of the Padres away games, far more telecasts than a few seasons ago.

Freeman said the team likes to have the flexibility to add--and sell ads--on more games, should the Padres get hot. In addition, between Cubs games (played during the day), games preempted by network telecasts and various other factors, there are not that many more games they can reasonably air, Freeman said.

Also on the sports scene: The San Diego Chargers are cranking up a new program, “The Al Saunders Show.” The Chargers already produce the amazingly dull “Chargers Report,” which airs after “Monday Night Football” telecasts on Channel 10.

The Saunders show will air weekly next season, following Saturday afternoon sports on Channel 39.

The Chargers first offered the new show to the folks at Channel 10, who also air the Chargers’ preseason games. Channel 10 politely declined.

“We looked at the total deal, what the show would cost to pick up and what we could make, and just decided it was something we really didn’t need,” said Channel 10 programming director Don Lundy.

Notes and quotes: Tonight’s Tyson-Spinks heavyweight championship fight is shaping up to be the biggest pay-per-view event in San Diego history. “It should be the first million-dollar gate for San Diego,” said Cox Cable pay-per-view manager Marty Youngman.

Youngman said he expects 30,000 paid hook-ups countywide, which would easily surpass the 22,000 for last year’s Leonard-Hagler fight. Cox, United Cable, Jerry Buss and Bill Daniels formed a partnership, Cable Promotion Partners, which spent $2.7 million to purchase the exclusive Southern California rights for the fight. . . .

Last week, Airwatch traffic reporter Jim Kern received one of those phone calls that make life worth living. He was asked to help produce the Brazilian TV telecast of the seventh game of the NBA championship series. . . .

All three local TV news outfits sent teams to Russia with Madame Mayor’s Magical Mystery Tour. None of the three are going through the expense and logistical hassles of sending live pictures back to San Diego. But channels 10 and 39 will be sending same-day footage back via their respective networks. Channel 8, though, will wait for its team to return. “It’s a big story, but it’s not Reagan-Gorbachev,” said Channel 8’s Holtzman. “We’ll cover it in depth when she gets back.” . . . Channel 10 will take advantage of the trip to produce a “Signature Series” special on Russia.

Eyewitness views: Channel 8 received a big break when the verdict in the Craig Peyer murder trial was handed down during its noon broadcast. Channel 10 was left to tease the possibility of an impending decision during the 11 a.m. to noon “InSide San Diego.” Then it cut in and out of “All My Children” incredibly quickly to hear the jury’s decision. Channel 39 was able to stay with the courthouse scene a little longer, for about 10 minutes, before switching back to “Days of Our Lives.”

“Ten minutes is quite a while (to preempt) daytime programming,” said Channel 39’s Bauer . . .

Channel 10’s new hour-long daytime chatfest, “InSide San Diego,” is definitely more news-oriented than cooking-show oriented. In fact, the show often seems to be a way to kill time between Jack White’s repetitive news segments.

The show is at its best when it provides in-depth interviews from current news happenings, such as last Thursday’s interviews with principals from the Peyer trial and school superintendent Tom Payzant. It’s at its worst when it slides into overly long segments on health issues, or blatant promotions of other Channel 10 shows. A week old and it already seems to be running out of subject matter.