This Entertainment Reporter Says He Isn’t Just Clowning Around

Ouch. Gee. Come on.

Brian Lowry displays such vitriol and rancor in his recent diatribe against me and the expansion of broadcast entertainment journalism (“The News Schmooze: Show-Biz Reporting,” Feb. 2) that perhaps he just needs a little lesson in how those of us who are successful in this line of work actually do our jobs. I have never attended “Clown College,” but since Mr. Lowry insists I am the P.T. Barnum of my generation, here are a few tips.

First and foremost, have a genuine appreciation of your audience and their interests. “The KTLA Morning News” remains among the most profitable and most frequently emulated local newscasts in the entire country. That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens because my colleagues--Carlos Amezcua, Barbara Beck, Mark Kriski--and I actually do something on the air every day that most newscasters don’t: We act like human beings; we respond to the news and to one another.

In my specialty of entertainment reporting, that means finding the very best and most interesting stories available to me. There are hundreds of outlets attempting to “cover” entertainment news; I distinguish myself, I think, by providing our viewers the most interesting stories, presented in the most interesting way I can. I write every single word that I read from the TelePrompTer myself.

Maybe the most important lesson to impart here to Mr. Lowry is the importance of tone. Mr.Lowry’s colleague Howard Rosenberg is widely read and respected because his columns in and ofthemselves are very entertaining to read. Dare I say even more people see and hear my reports on television and radio on a daily basis than read the fine words of Mr. Rosenberg, for the very same reason? I talk about entertainment in an entertaining way. I know that kind of upsets Mr. Lowry, but he is going to have to get over it. While I appreciate being part of a “new breed” of entertainment reporters, I have been doing this locally for more than a decade.

Since Mr. Lowry’s column explored at length the lowlights of my career, I was hoping--in keeping with my proud tradition of self-promotion--to include some of the highlights. My nationally syndicated talk show “Scoop” is no longer on the air, but the memory and the monetary rewards linger. I am approached regularly by producers and syndicators about other programs and, as Regis Philbin often reminds me, he hosted more than a dozen shows before finding his home run. I think I’ll find mine.

My “Live at the Academy Awards” program is the single most widely seen pre-Oscar show anywhere in the world, and the main reason ABC is requiring pre-Oscar coverage to be limited this year is specifically due to the success of that show.

Oh, and my “World Exclusive” story about Oprah Winfrey ending her talk show turning out to be incorrect: If Mr. Lowry ever watched our show, he would have seen an interview I conducted with Oprah this fall where she admitted that “yes,” she had decided to stop doing her talk show, and that then she changed her mind.

I have to run now and put on my clown suit; there’s another kid’s birthday party I will be entertaining at. My clown costume, of course, is hanging in my closet, right below the shelf containing my three local Emmy Awards.