MEDIA : Role of Media, Minorities to Be Focus of USD Forum

Periodically, Irma Castro monitors the daily media coverage of San Diego minority groups. After a week watching as many newscasts as she can stomach and reading every available newspaper, the executive director of the Chicano Federation often sees a picture being drawn of her community.

“We don’t get married and we don’t die,” judging from the coverage, Castro said. “You look at the financial page, and we aren’t involved in business. If you draw a conclusion about the community, it’s that they’re all criminals, that there must be something wrong with the whole community.”

Castro will participate in “Media and the Minorities: On a Collison Course?”--a free public forum at the University of San Diego’s Hahn University Center at 7 p.m. Thursday. Moderated by KNSD-TV (Channel 39) anchorman Marty Levin, the forum will examine the often tense relationship between minorities and the media.

For all the advances made by society, many still feel the media, either consciously or subconsciously, relegate minorities to second-class status.

“When issues come up about the environment, housing, transportation, they rarely ask people of color how they view the issue, even though they’re impacted by them,” Castro said. “My sense is that there is a perception that we’re not impacted by those kind of issues.”

The media tend to go to minorities for comment only when the story involves a so-called “minority issue,” such as racism or migrant workers, Castro said. The quality and tone of coverage often depend on the individual reporters, she noted, but some generalizations can’t be ignored.

Considering the vital role the media play in shaping public perceptions, there will plenty to discuss at the forum.

In addition to Castro, the panel will include Channel 39 managing editor Irv Kass; San Diego Union assistant managing editor Rick Levinson; the Rev. George Walker Smith, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church, and Beverly Yip, executive director of the Union of Pan Asian Communities.

Former Channel 8 anchorwoman Allison Ross was proudly displaying her 1-day-old daughter for KGTV’s (Channel 10) “Inside San Diego” show last Thursday, just a few weeks after she complained about the pressures of public life in an extensive interview with Channel 10.

Considering that Ross is an unemployed news reader who made a name for herself at another station, there can be only one explanation for Channel 10’s enthusiasm to portray Ross as a top San Diego celebrity--they’ve decided to hire her, and they want to get in as much shameless promoting as possible before officially announcing it. Or at least that’s the common speculation.

Channel 10 officials acknowledge that they have talked to Ross about a job, but say no decision has been made.

Ross did take the opportunity on “Inside San Diego” to clarify something that was surely troubling all San Diegans--the correct spelling of her new media star daughter’s name is Brittlyn.

Turmoil continues at XHRM-FM (92.5). General manager Lee Mirabal has resigned after five weeks, the third short-stint general manager the station has had in the last six months. Mirabal says she left because she “didn’t share the same vision” with the station’s Mexican owners.

Mirabal wanted to “control the whole station or she wouldn’t work at all,” station owner Luis Rivas Kaloyan said.

A San Diego veteran and former interim operator of KIFM (98.1), Mirabal confirms that she wanted to lease the station and resigned after a deal couldn’t be arranged.

Morning disc jockey Nick Fontaine and account executive Tiffany Stafford have also left XHRM recently, amid reports of paychecks bouncing and general financial problems at the station.

“I’m not going to deny that happened,” Kaloyan said, blaming the rubber checks on problems in arranging a line of credit.

Kaloyan said his father, Luis Kaloyan Sr., has brought operating capital to the station, which has been hindered by plummeting ratings and anger in the black community over the change a change in format and alleged racist remarks by Kaloyan.

The A. C. Nielsen Media Research firm is continuing its efforts to add San Diego to its list of metered overnight markets, despite resistance from most local stations.

In the current system, families report their viewing habits by filling in a diary. The meters are hooked directly to television sets, giving stations accurate and instantaneous information about people’s viewing habits.

Currently, Nielsen has 23 of the top markets metered, with two more, San Antonio and Portland, to be added this year.

XETV (Channel 6) has been the primary supporter of the metered system in San Diego. Channel 6 airs Fox programming, which is often geared toward younger audiences.

“Diaries are primarily filled out by older people,” Channel 6 general manager Martin Colby said. “Meters don’t discriminate.”

Most of the other stations like the current system, which reflects well on their shows, and feel no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the new system.

Colby and others thought a deal had been made final last year to bring the meters to San Diego. Roy Anderson, executive vice president of Nielsen, said changes made “internally” at Nielsen, specifically changes in the “criteria” needed to add a market, killed the San Diego deal. Not enough stations are willing to put up the money for the meter, he said, but “that may be changing.”

Carl Hirsch of Legacy Broadcasting, which has agreed to spend $20 million to purchase KJQY-FM (103.7), says he is “endorsing the current direction” of the station, which has been attempting to woo younger listeners by adding more vocals and pop tunes to its traditional “lite and easy” format.

Many industry analysts feel $20 million is an unusually high price for the station. Last year, the KCBQ AM and FM combo sold for $23.5 million.

“If we don’t do a good job we will have overpaid,” Hirsch said. “But if we do a good job, and the market continues to grow, we’ll be getting a bargain.”

Larry Himmel’s role in a Fox Television pilot has grown from a bit part into a co-host job. After several incarnations, the show, featuring video looks at real people doing real things, is now called “The Video Adventures of George and Larry.” The pilot is scheduled to air 7:30 p.m. May 19 on KTTV (Channel 11). . . .

A small, informal, extremely unscientific poll was conducted a few years ago in the North County seeking to determine the Most Obnoxious Person on Television. The overwhelming winner, despite strong support for Michael Tuck, was Sally Jessy Raphael. For those who disagree, she will be in San Diego on May 6-8 to tape her annoying talk show at Sea World (it airs daily on Channel 39). . . .

Channel 10’s series on the differences between men and women, “The Gender Gap,” was like watching a high school genetics course--the class everyone fell asleep in. Apparently the point was to demonstrate how X and Y chromosomes cause women to hang panty hose on shower rods, or something like that. Dr. Michael Resnick has the grating on-screen personality of a condescending biology teacher who is constantly the unwitting butt of students’ jokes. . . .

Cinema Society guru Andy Friedenberg has signed to do weekly entertainment reports for the Friday edition of Channel 8’s new morning news show.