Style or Substance: Redoing KCOP News
I was a news reporter and producer at KCOP-TV from 1985 to 1992 and found the latest self-serving comments by the current news director, Jeff Wald, to be pretty amusing (“Channel 13 Struggles to Redo the News,” Sept. 7).
Wald is correct when he says the station was an also-ran in local news before his arrival, just as it is today. But to say KCOP’s news was “invisible” and a “rip and read operation” is disingenuous.
The truth, which Wald conveniently forgets, is that a small staff with meager resources produced better ratings and a more credible newscast than what KCOP offers today. It was the first and only time the news department was profitable for the station.
The mistake that Wald and General Manager Rick Feldman have made is in putting their faith and money in the cosmetics of television; a multimillion-dollar newsroom, quirky format, bizarre camera angles, and anchors who walk around aimlessly. They have lost sight of the simple truth that viewers want a straightforward approach to news, delivered to them by credible people in a credible manner.
Anything less than that will turn viewers off, just as they have turned off “Real News.”
PAT ANSON
Glendale
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