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Since there are many who have questions about this subject, I thought I would publish an actual e-mail from one of our viewers who wrote to us from Vista. To protect his identity, I have removed his e-mail address, phone number, and last name: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:03 PM To: Viewer Feedback Subject: Viewer Feedback: Network switch name: David xxxxxxxxx email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx city/neighborhood: Vista phone: 760-9xx-xxxx message: Because I am the curious type, I would like to know why the network switch? I watch Fox mostly, so when Fox moves I just use my remote to move to where ever it is. I know stations have played the switch o roo in other cities, but to Joe viewer, it's just a click on the dial. What is the purpose for station swapping? Curious minds want to know. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear David, you asked some good questions and I think you deserve a complete answer. Evidently you missed it, but during our newscasts we have actually done stories and announcements about the affiliation switch. This change was not our decision or choice, but it will be happening on August 1st. In regards to the “why”... I am afraid I cannot actually answer that part of the question. To be honest, we still don’t know why FOX decided to make the move to another station. A little historical fact is XETV was the very first and original FOX affiliate. 22 years ago, when Rupert Murdoch started the new FOX Network, XETV was the very first station, along with the six owned and operated FOX stations, to sign up. Since that time XETV has been one of their top affiliates in the country, a constant member of the #1 Club, and even honored as Station of the Year. XETV has not only been the #1 station in prime-time, but we are also San Diego's #1 AM news and Late news, as well as the #1 access and #1 late fringe programming. Ironically, in the months preceding FOX's denial to our affiliation renewal we were told XETV was their "model affiliate", and FOX even sent their interns to XETV in order to understand our station operation. In other words, there was no reason for us to imagine that FOX would ever contemplate making an affiliation switch in San Diego. Unfortunately, in these troubled times, it seems as though there is no honor or loyalty any more. With no warning or discussion of any kind, FOX informed us they were not renewing our affiliation agreement and our only explanation from FOX was "these things happen". All we can surmise was this change was initiated because the Tribune Company, who is the owner of the TV station receiving the FOX affiliation, preemptively offered FOX Network some type of additional compensation to make the affiliation change. However this is speculation since despite our 22 years of being their San Diego partner, FOX never provided us an opportunity to know or compete with Tribune’s affiliation offer. Making this decision all the more confusing is the fact that the station FOX is moving the affiliation had no local news and will be required to building one “from the ground up”. David, the good news is the change of FOX only affects our M-SUN 8-10pm programming, and sports. All the other programming on XETV/San Diego 6 will remain the same. This is an important concept to understand since unlike ABC, CBS or NBC, our Morning Show, Daytime programming (including San Diego Living), Early Fringe (including That 70’s Show, Simpsons, and Seinfeld) and Late Night programming are all locally owned and not controlled by FOX Network. Effective August 1st, we will join with the CW Network as a CW affiliate station, which means they will provide our prime programming M-F 8-10pm and Saturday 5-10pm. We will also have CW Kids programming Saturday 5-7am, and Saturday 9am-12Noon…we will still have our San Diego 6 Weekend News Saturday/Sunday 7-9am. CW stands for CBS/Warner Bros, the two owners of the CW Network and two of the most successful producers of television programs, which includes America’s Next Top Model, the New 90210, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, Stylista, Privileged, etc. (you can go to www.cwtv.com for all the details). Just as important to our viewers, XETV/San Diego 6 produces almost 40 hours of Local News and other local programming each week:
*M-F 5-9AM San Diego 6 in the Morning
*M-F 9-10AM San Diego Living
*M-SUN 10-11pm San Diego 6 News (Sunday news is 10-1030pm and That Sunday Sports Show is 1030-11pm)
*M-F 11@11pm News (in case you miss the 10pm we have all of today’s news and tomorrows weather in 11 non-stop minutes-no commercials)
*SAT/SUN 7-9AM San Diego6 in the Morning Weekend Edition
As you know by watching San Diego 6 News, we have great news teams. At 10pm, Jim Patton, Heather Myers, Aloha Taylor, CS Keys deliver news, weather, and sports along with our terrific reporters and support staff.
From 5-9am, we have the best morning news team in San Diego with Marc Bailey, Lynda Martin, and Ruben Galvan. Our morning show has many other great features, including Dr. Kanner with “Your Family Matters”, Donald Buffamanti with “Auto Spies”, Sherri Palmeri with “Day Trippin’”, Dusty Skellett with “Scratching the SURFace”, Kelli Gillespie with weekly Hollywood movie reviews and celebrity interviews, and many others.
On Monday, August 4th we will add a brand new viewer benefit feature to our newscasts at 11pm with “11@11”. “11@11” is going to be 11 straight minutes of "today's news and tomorrows weather" with no commercial interruption, which is exactly the type of late news our viewers need for their hectic and rushed lifestyle.
This means if for some reason you missed our full and in depth #1 10-11pm San Diego Newscast, “11@11” will provide you will all the important news of the day as well as tomorrow's weather forecast. After a short commercial break we will follow “11@11” with a five minute sportscast and then have a lifestyle segment about San Diego, followed by a minute feature from comedy.com before we start Seinfeld at 11:30pm.
Finally, if you would like to watch one of the best written comedy/satires on TV, on Monday August 4th we will also be moving South Park from 12Midnight to air at 5-6pm (this is a specially sanitized version for broadcast TV, edited by a wonderful and very talented Mom from Poway). This change will give us an even stronger comedy line-up from 4-8pm: King of the Hill (4-5pm), South Park (5-6pm), That 70's Show (6-7pm), and Simpsons (7-8pm).
In closing, I wanted to make sure you saw one of the press releases that announced our change to the CW Network on August 1st:
On August 1st, 2008 XETV Channel 6 becomes “San Diego 6 The CW” and the proud new home of The CW Television Network. “We believe that The CW’s new fall line-up, with the new 90210 joining the critically acclaimed Gossip Girl, will be a very exciting and promotable schedule that will fit perfectly with the #1 local station in San Diego. We are looking forward to a great new partnership,” said VP/General Manager, Richard Doutre Jones.
The station logo and primetime programming will change, but the rest of the program schedule will remain the same. “We will continue our popular 5a-9a morning newscast, and 9-10am San Diego Living, as well as our full hour of news at 10PM. We also have our top-rated syndicated programs including The Simpsons, That 70’s Show, South Park and Seinfeld. Viewers will wake up with San Diego 6 in the Morning anchors Marc Bailey, Lynda Martin and man about town Ruben Galvan weekdays 5-9a. San Diego 6 News @ 10PM will continue to bring balanced news coverage to San Diego, with anchors Jim Patton, Heather Myers, meteorologist Aloha Taylor and C.S. Keys on sports. According to the May ’08 Nielsen Media Research rating survey, our 10pm and morning newscasts were rated number 1 among adults 18-54,” said Jones “XETV has been serving San Diego for over 55 years. We will continue to bring viewers the balanced news they trust and the great entertainment programming they love”.
The CW fall 2008 prime time schedule lineup includes returning hits America’s Next Top Model, Smallville, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, and this year’s wildly-anticipated new show, 90210.
“We are thrilled to be affiliated with XETV, the number one station in San Diego,” said John Maatta, Chief Operating Officer, The CW. “This station has a huge local identity, which perfectly complements The CW Network. The combination of XETV and The CW will be an explosive one which will rock the San Diego market. This vibrant and happening West Coast market now has a vibrant and happening combination with the hook-up of The CW and XETV. This will be a great thing for the station, the network and most importantly, the viewers in San Diego.”
XETV signed on the air in January 1953 as San Diego’s second television station. From 1956 to 1972 XETV operated as an ABC affiliate. The station became independent in 1972 and was the first station to affiliate with the fledgling FOX network in 1986.
Richard Doutre Jones VP/GM Bay City Television, Inc. XETV/San Diego6 8253 Ronson Road San Diego, CA 92111
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As many of San Diegan's know, Friday April 20th brought a ruling in the trial of Sam Suleiman and his wife. Unfortunately, instead of a trial, and a conviction, a deal was made between the District Attorney's office and the Suleiman's: Sam Suleiman pleaded guilty to felony assault and his wife, Rosa pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. In return for the guilty pleas, the district attorney's office has dropped several other charges against the couple, and instead of facing prison time, Sam Suleiman will likely receive probation.
I am shocked at the response of the court to the actions of the Suleiman's...to have them be able to get a plea bargain and pleading guilty to a felony, and misdemeanor assault and then have "probation" be their only consequences is a shockingly lenient judgment considering the heinousness of their crimes.
Crimes not just to John Mattes, who, without the intervention of BK, the brave witness to whom we at FOX6 are eternally grateful for his willingness to put himself in harms-way to protect John, could have experienced even more physical harm than his bloodied lacerations and broken ribs. Crimes which were also committed to many other people who have been victimized, cheated, and threatened with violence and death!
Amazingly, before this “plea-bargain” deal was even completed, the Suleiman’s were sued again by an elderly woman who owned a San Diego bail bonds business, who also asked the court for a temporary restraining order on the Suleiman’s..
In her pleading this woman charged Suleiman refused to pay his bond premium and then entered into a real estate transaction, selling her the Suleiman's home at a reduced price. The suit explains that the Suleiman's then moved into the woman's old home but failed to pay the agreed upon rent. The suit alleges that Suleiman became increasingly aggressive and threatening and at one point, in the presence of Rosa Barraza, threatened to kill the woman if she did not give him her property in exchange for Suleiman's old house.
She alleges that Suleiman claimed to be connected to the Mexican Mafia and "knew how to make people disappear." In a later phone threat, Suleiman is alleged to have threatened to slit her throat. Read the Court Document
The story of this ederly woman is the same story we at FOX6 have heard many times since John’s video was made public, as scores of people have come forward (many of whom are ederly or retired) with the same story about the Suleiman’s…even a postal carrier was physically threatened with physical violence by Sam Suleiman.
We as citizens are shocked at the horrific events at Virginia Tech, and we are concerned at the increasing violence in our society, and yet our court system continues to allow people like the Suleiman's to continue to be free to threaten and physically assault others. How can we expect to be protected from violence and physical harm when our system of laws allows the perpetrators to continue to go free?
Sadly, the majority of people who the Suleiman’s go after with extortion and threats of physical violence are people who have the least ability to protect themselves, and are most in need of our system of laws and courts to protect them.
At the end of court procedure on Friday, Sam Suleiman, exultant with the probation deal he had made in return for his guilty plea, continued to threaten John Mattes and FOX6 management (you can see the report on fox6.com under “hot topics”) which is in direct opposition to the intent of the probation offered by the court!
In regards to Sam Suleiman, it seems obvious he has many more court proceedings ahead of him, including civil trials for assault and threats of murder, and at this point we can only hope the legal system will finally be able to protect law abiding citizens and properly execute justice by incarcerating the Suleiman’s for their many violent and serious crimes.
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As many of you have already heard, FOX ROX, will make its last appearance on Thursday, March 29th (12M-1230A with an encore Saturday March 31st 1230-1A) and will feature the band, Unwritten Law. The March 29th episode will be the 233rd episode, and to put that in perspective, this is an amazing number of episodes, with only a very few national programs (such as Simpsons) ever producing more original programs. Fox Rox was the only local music show in California, and one of the very few local music shows existing anywhere in the U.S. Fox Rox premiered on May 2, 2002 and has been hosted by Troy Johnson, writer and editor at San Diego CityBeat Magazine. Fox Rox featured music news and live performances from local (and National) bands. In the past five years the program won 2 local Emmy Awards and was one of the first media outlets to showcase bands such as Maroon 5, Switchfoot, and Ozomatli, which have since skyrocketed to sell millions of albums and win several Grammy Awards. It is important to state that we at FOX6 love Fox Rox. As the General Manager of FOX6 I have always believed in this program and have been proud of our ability to air it each week. However, the sad truth this, Fox Rox fell victim to the economic business realities of television. Earlier this year, we lost our Fox Rox sponsors, and with that loss we could no longer afford to keep Fox Rox in production. In addition, we also made the decision to produce future local programming through free-lance production units in order to mitigate our expenses. However, as I said previously, FOX ROX did have a very long and very strong "run"...much more than most of the shows that have ever made it broadcast on network or cable. At FOX6 we hope that at some date in the future we can bring this program back..perhaps in an entirely different format which would make the program more accessible to our viewers, but at the same time would keep our costs lower, which would enable this local music program to be reborn.
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The following was an email we received thru Viewer Feedback. Without a return email address I cannot respond, but wanted to post the response here as an open response to all of our viewers concerns about one of our news stories: Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:46 PM
name: Michelle R. subject: Shocked by your station's insensitivitymessage: My two teenaged children, along with my husband and I saw a short news update about the 14 year old San Dieguito Academy student that was killed today while walking back to school from lunch, when
he was crushed by a truck being driven by a fellow SDA student. My son, also a freshman at SDA, is devistated by this tragic accident that happened in front of the eyes of many fellow students. If you could
have seen the look on my sons face and the tears that filled his eyes when
he saw the pillar and blood that you so graphically diplayed on
television. What is the purpose of showing such a gruesome scene? Does shock
value and sensationalism over-ride basic decency and respect for this boys family who are grieving and his fellow classmates that are both
grieving and suffering from the trauma of witnessing this horrible accident. Shame on you FOX 6! You owe Ryan Huong's family and this community an apology!
Michelle, I have checked the specific spot in question and I think
that there is a misperception of what was in the actual video. The fact
is, there is a shot of a concrete pillar, with what looks like some dirt
and fluorescent paint on the ground. I understand how this could have
been confused for blood; especially since the video was filmed under a freeway overpass. However, this is not blood spatter and that is
also the opinion of our news staff.
Michelle, I am the father of four children and two grandsons...one of
my children is 15 years old and he is a sophomore at Poway High School where in the past two weeks, students have been tragically killed in traffic accidents. I understand how upsetting this type of tragedy
can
be and while I am happy to apologize to you and your family for any trauma you experienced, the truth is, in this particular case, perception was not reality.
I hope you have a nice evening and thank you for watching FOX 6.
Sincerely,
Richard Doutre' Jones
VP/GM Bay City Television, Inc.
FOX6 & MYTV13
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To all of our FOX6 viewers, I am grateful the Fox Network (and Mr. Murdoch) made
the correct choice to cancel the offensive OJ Simpson interviews. As
you can all imagine, as the GM of the San Diego FOX affiliate, this decision
was a huge relief to me. I am sure someone thought this program was a
good idea, but it was not thought through all the way, or as Mr. Murdoch said
so perfectly, “the project was ill considered”. Obviously
no one at FOX fully realized what a pariah OJ Simpson has become, nor did they
correctly estimate the depth of negative emotions OJ Simpson engenders.
As many of you know, I had been waiting to make my final decision on whether
we would air the interviews until later this week. What very few viewers
knew was since the time of the announcement, I was working behind the scenes
with other members of the FOX Board to put pressure on the FOX NETWORK since
all of the affiliates wanted the Fox Network to make the correct decision and
cancel the interviews. I am very pleased and grateful the Network has
made the decision to pull the interviews, and in so doing, corrected a horrible
lapse in judgment and ethics.
Here is an article from Broadcasting and Cable that explains the decision
in more detail:
News Corp. Kills O.J. TV Special, Book-By Jim Benson
and Caroline Palmer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/20/2006 7:31:00 PM
With the growing controversy over O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It
Happened, News Corp. has cancelled publisher Judith Regan’s Fox interview
of Simpson in a two-part sweeps special, as well as the publication of the
book.
In a statement issued Monday, News Corp. leader Rupert Murdoch called the
project "ill-considered"—though declined to elaborate on how it originated—and
apologized for any pain it caused the families of the murdered victims.
The decision follows several affiliates' decision to not air it. Over the
weekend, Pappas Broadcasting and Lin Broadcasting announced they would preempt
the show in a total of nine Fox affiliate markets and more were anticipated.
Speaking Monday on Fox News Channel, Pappas said the program was "un-airable
because it was a farce" and "the reaction of the American people wasn't visceral,
it was intelligent."
Of the viewer comments, he said, "You should have heard first their disbelief,
then their outrage, that anyone would consider aiding and abetting a criminal."
He praised the decision to ax both the TV special and book, saying "principle
was finally established over profit" at News Corp.
Pappas had planned to preempt the special on its stations in Omaha and Lincoln,
Neb.; Fresno, Calif.; and Dakota Dunes, S.D. Lin was looking to do the same
on Fox affiliates in Mobile, Ala.; Toledo, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Providence,
R.I.
According to an AP report, the Pappas stations said they did not want to help
Simpson profit from the project.
On Friday, after worldwide condemnation of Fox’s two-part sweeps special
O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened, North Dakota’s
Prime Cities Broadcasting was the first to announce it would refuse to air
the interview.
Historically, affiliates topple like dominoes after the first bows out and
Pappas and Lin quickly followed. The special, dubbed by one critic as "the
most despicable sweeps-month stunt in history," was scheduled to air next week
on Nov 27 and Nov. 29, the final day of sweeps.
Problems with the project had mounted dramatically after Fox announced last
week that it would air the two-part interview with Simpson just prior to the
book’s Nov. 30 release from Regan’s imprint at Harper Collins,
which is also owned by News Corp.
Attacked from a variety of quarters, including such Fox News notables as Bill
O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera, the TV project had faced poor advertising
prospects.
Sponsors appeared unlikely to want to be associated with the special, which
could have subjected them to boycotts by angry viewers. Also, if it had aired
commercial-free, Nielsen would not have counted it toward Fox’s November
average, erasing any ratings spike it would have otherwise received for the
sweeps period.
Beyond Monday’s statement, Fox has remained silent on the subject. In
its initial announcement last week, Mike Darnell, executive VP of alternative
programming, said, "This is an interview that no one thought would ever happen.
It’s the definitive last chapter in the Trial of the Century."
But John Tupper, chairman-emeritus of the Fox affiliate board and head of
Prime Cities, which operates KNDX Bismarck and KXND Minot, the 160th-ranked
market, and low-power stations in Dickinson and Williston, N.D., described
the special as "unsuitable" for broadcasting.
"We have recorded our concerns with the network, and we are waiting for a
response at this point," he says. "My stations will not be running the shows."
Tupper had previously refused to air Fox movies with violence and sexual issues
but this marked the first time he had not run a special, mainly because the
network had unveiled them too late for advanced station screenings.
This time, however, Fox gave plenty of advanced notice that it would run an
interview turned down by other networks.
If News Corp. had pulled the plug on TV special but kept the book alive, it
could have faced even more grief. On Monday, B&C had speculated that its
intention may have been to announce the TV interview, then pull it after gaining
attention for the book that hypothetically describes how Simpson would have
killed ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and bystander Ron Goldman in 1994. The
former football great was acquitted of the crimes the following year but held
liable at a 1997 civil trial.
Having lived through previous controversies originating from Darnell’s
reality domain, most notably the 2000 special Who Wants To Marry a Multimillionaire?,
Fox and News Corp. were undoubtedly aware of the outcry a Simpson special would
cause.
News of the Fox special, which the network described as an unrestricted two-hour
interview, had dominated TV and radio talk shows for nearly a week since it
was announced. The victims’ families were prominently featured discussing
the pain that the show and book had dredged up for them.
On Wednesday, Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, told CNN’s Larry
King, "Don’t watch the show. Don’t buy the book. Send a message
loud and clear." Meanwhile, ABC’s Barbara Walters said on The View that
she had turned down a Simpson interview.
But analysts had nonetheless expected curiosity to drive viewers to the special
in huge numbers.
There had been some support for the special among major Fox affiliates. One
station executive, who asked not to be identified, said the special represented
the logical conclusion to the "freak show" that characterized the criminal
trial more than a decade ago. He had no intention to preempt what would be
an astronomically rated special.
Even without commercials, the interview would have boosted ratings for local
newscasts following it, which is where stations make most of their ad revenue.
While many stations had reported getting scores of angry viewer emails and
phone calls, some said that received few protests, and noted the ones they
did appeared to be part of an organized campaign.
Fox had sent speaking points to affiliates to address the concerns of advertisers
and viewers, according to affiliates.
Richard Jones, VP-general manager of Fox affiliate XETV San Diego for the
past five years, had said if the special aired, he would have run it commercial-free
with PSAs for victims’ rights and abused women, while dedicating his
newscasts to those subjects.
Jones had detailed the station’s plans in email responses to 150 outraged
viewers, one of whom called XETV’s strategy a “public service.”
Personally, Jones said he found the Fox special “obscene” and “immoral,” calling
it a “wink-wink” confession on Simpson’s part. He believes
Simpson’s motivation was to get back into the spotlight after previously
enjoying “30 years of public adulation.”
But Jones admitted to having a difficult time deciding whether the program
would be considered obscene by broadcast standards.
He had labeled Fox’s silence on the subject “odd” and, prior
to Monday’s announcement withdrawing the TV special and book, said, “This
is the first time that I’ve been embarrassed to say that I’m a
Fox affiliate.”
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UPDATE 11/20/06: Over the last few days I forwarded many of your messages and feedback emails on to FOX and am now thrilled to be able to report that News Corp/FOX made the wise decision to cancel the two hours of the Simpson Interview. For ongoing information be sure to watch Fox 6 News.
On Wednesday, November 15, Fox Broadcasting announced that on Monday, November 27th and Wednesday November 29th at 9pm (PST) both nights the FOX Network will be airing an interview with OJ Simpson. This interview, conducted by ReganBooks Publisher Judith Regan will be in advance of the November 30th release of a new book by OJ Simpson called: If I Did It.
We understand that FOX broadcasting did not pay OJ Simpson to do this interview, but in the interest of full disclosure, ReganBooks is a subsidiary of HarperCollins, which is part of the News Corporation who also owns Fox Broadcasting and it has been alleged that Regan Books has paid Simpson $3.5M to write “If I did it”.
This book or this accompanying interview should not be a surprise to anyone who is vaguely familiar with Ms. Regan, who first became famous writing books such as, Little Girl Lost (Drew Barrymore) and I Can't Believe I Said That! (Kathy Lee Gifford).
Ms. Regan is arguably the most influential (in regards to number of books sold) publisher in the world and is responsible for many books on controversial figures such as Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern and of course, Jenna Jameson's best selling title, How To Make Love Like a Porn Star.
Although we have not seen this book, nor have we seen any footage of this program, sources have told us that both the book and the Fox interview will contain explicit descriptions from Simpson of how the murders of Ron Goldman and OJ Simpson’s former wife, Nicole Brown were carried out and how the murderer left the scene of the crime without being caught. This is the worst possible nightmare scenario for the “double-jeopardy” protection provided by our legal system.
As soon as the announcement about the OJ interview was announced, the phone lines and e-mails at FOX6 lit up…here are a few actual examples of the type of e-mails we have received (no names or e-mail addresses to protect privacy):
“You have got to be the lowest, sickest group of newscasters in the entire world. How dare you insult the families of his victims and air such disgusting trash! As a reporting station, you should be ashamed of the tactics used to get more viewers. OJ is a hard core, cold-hearted piece of you-know-what and you are telling the whole world you approve”!
“I think to even acknowledge that O.J. is still out there, and flaunting the fact that he got away with murder is unforgivable. Shame on you for giving him another moment in the spotlight”.
“I have been a Fox fan for years. I have trusted the honesty & standards of your reporting, so I have to ask - Have you lost your freakin heads??? Giving OJ television air time on "How I would Have done it (killing wife" What are you thinking?? I cannot find the words to express my outrage in your decision to do this. You have just gone lower than any other news station. I am bitterly disappointed in your decision”.
“You are the biggest bunch of idiotic, hypocritical, fools I have ever seen. You are being punked and played…to air an interview with a liar and murderer and then allow him to tell everyone how he killed his wife and an innocent bystander, but then hide behind saying, “if I did it” , only allows a human scum to have publicity that no one should ever hear again.”
"I am disgusted by your decision to air the OJ Simpson "If I did It" story. You are proving to the community that your only God is money! Seriously, disgusting and everyone who works there should feel shame for working for such a scum bag company".
I have answered these e-mails privately, but I thought it was appropriate to take a moment and write this response to all of our viewers who are concerned about the decision by FOX to air this interview.
First, we at FOX6 do share your concerns about this type of program. In fact, I have no doubt that we reacted much like everyone else did when we heard the news about the OJ interview on Tuesday (11/14) afternoon…we were shocked.
Like most of our viewers, I was very concerned that this "alleged" murderer (In February 1997 OJ Simpson was convicted of the murders of his wife and Goldman in a civil trial) would have any type of public forum and I strongly expressed our opposition to the program directly to the executives at the Fox Network multiple times since the announcement. It is hard to believe that OJ can have a public voice, or worse, the court system would allow him to continue to escape justice.
Unfortunately, the OJ program is just another sad chapter and damning commentary on the period of time in which we currently reside. We live in a world where the "personal lives of famous people" seem to be at the forefront of the public’s interest. This is why Magazines such as People, US, The Star, National Enquirer, and other “gossip” trades sell so many copies each week, while Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report and even Sport Illustrated continue to lose circulation.
The degrading of our society to the lowest common denominator is also why movies with offensive themes such as Borat, JackAss and SawIII have been #1 at the Movie Box-Office and why anti-establishment, anti-social video games such as Grand Theft Auto, which show police killed and women raped can sell many millions of videos games. This is also why we are besieged with negative political ads. Despite protestations to the contrary, they work, which is why they continue to proliferate and amazingly, get worse.
Remember, this OJ interview is NOT a FOX6 originated program. As the FOX affiliate in San Diego, we are obligated to carry this program because we have a FOX Affiliate contract. Frankly, it seems very likely based on the massive amount of publicity and attending emotion on this subject that a large number of viewers, despite their disgust and protestations, will watch this interview.
However, it is certainly each viewer’s right to “vote” on this program by not watching, just as our viewers have voted YES by watching our FOX6 in the Morning and our 10pm news…as well as many of our other great FOX shows and sports.
Currently, we are still investigating all of our options but if we do air these interviews, they will air without any local commercials and they will contain PSA’s to support Victims Rights and Abused Women’s Organizations. IMPORTANT: FOX 6 IS NOT MAKING ANY MONEY FROM THIS PROGRAM, IN FACT, WE ARE LOSING MONEY WITH NO COMMERCIALS OR ADVERTISEMENTS.
We would suggest that you make your feelings known by contacting FOX NETWORK directly at: (310) 369-3066, or askfox@fox.com
Let’s speak frankly, no matter what “spin” is put on this interview, the mere fact that OJ is able to have this type of national forum is both deplorable and disgusting. At the very best, it is very disconcerting. I can only hope that through OJ’s apparently overwhelming personal conceit and arrogance and his seemingly unquenchable desire to stay in the spotlight, he will slip up during the interview and say something that will lead to some type of justice for his crimes.
However, no matter what happens or to put it in his words, does not happen to OJ in this mortal life, one fact is very clear. Just like every person who has lived on earth, someday OJ Simpson will stand at the pleasing bar of God, and at that time no amount of lies or clever, high-paid lawyers will be able to prevent him from being judged correctly and fairly for his actions.
UPDATE 11/20/06: Over the last few days I forwarded many of your messages and feedback emails on to FOX and am now thrilled to be able to report that News Corp/FOX made the wise decision to cancel the two hours of the Simpson Interview. For ongoing information be sure to watch Fox 6 News.
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This week, during a meeting with Catholic Church leaders in Germany, the Pope gave a talk that contained strong language against any religious motivation for endorsing or promoting violence. As part of this communication the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."
The pontiff did not endorse that description, but he did not question it, and his words set off a firestorm of protests across the Muslim world. In the past two days since this quote was made public we have seen Muslims actually torch and burn two Christian churches in the east bank. We have seen crowds of Muslims screaming epithets of hatred and violence against the Pope and the Catholic church and we have seen others burn the Pope in effigy. In addition, all over the mid-east and parts of Europe, Muslim men and women have called for a holy jihad against Rome.
In Iraq an insurgent group threatened the Vatican with a suicide attack over the pope's remarks on Islam. According to a statement posted today (Saturday) on the Web: "We swear to God to send you people who adore death as much as you adore life." This message was posted in the name of the Mujahedeen Army on a Web site frequently used by militant groups. This message's authenticity could not be independently verified but the statement was addressed to "you dog of Rome" and threatens to "shake your thrones and break your crosses in your home."
The Saudi Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh said: "This is all a lie ... Islam is far from terrorism and was spread only through the conviction of peoples who saw the good and justice of Islam". In the past 48 hours, virtually all the leaders from every Muslim country have issued statements condemning the Pope and have demanded a retraction.
I am not a Catholic, and I have no religious reason to follow the Pope, but I do believe that using violence in the name of God, or killing people in the name of any religion would seem to be the exact opposite of what God would want from His children. However, the strong reactions from much of Muslim world to the Pope's comments would seem to be in direct contradiction to this viewpoint.
In the world today it now seems acceptable for Muslim leaders to make outrageous statements about anyone they feel does not support Islam, including statements of hatred and death directed towards the U.S. In the last couple of months, the leader of Iran actually said the holocaust did not happen and Israel should cease to exist, but that does not seem to create more than a ripple of a reaction or more than a flicker of outrage in the remainder of the civilized word.
Let me share an e-mail I received today from a man who was born in the middle-east and is an Arab by nationality. I have eliminated his name and e-mail address to protect his anonymity, but his comments seem to be a perfect summary for what has been happening in the past two days:
Dear Fox6, when a Muslim Sheikh in his weekly Friday sermon on Palestinian TV calls Christians and Jews devils, and when other sheikhs echo this hate daily on Arab TV and call for "jihad" in the sense of Martyrdom, I do not see mass demonstrations, and I never see any apologies.
I only see extremist-Muslims being further allowed to express their racist, extreme views in Hide Park in London and in NYC 4 years after the attacks, under the Umbrella of Freedom of Expression. They call for death to those who will not follow Islam and the think nothing of killing innocent women and children in their bombing attacks.
Well, the Pope´s words, whatever they meant, are protected and allowed under this same Umbrella of Freedom of expression and Muslims should learn that the same way they are freely allowed to express their views, so are others allowed too. If you want to deny this right to others, it shall be denied to you too. They should learn to live with it.
Signed: An Arab Christian.
“Terror is a pronounced state of fear, an overwhelming sense of imminent danger”. In the world we live in today it seems we are now dealing with people who are determined to make terror a constant condition for anyone who does not to agree with their outlook on life or in the way they choose to worship God.
More and more, it seems that the world is upside down, that too many people are trying to portray what is wrong, as right. We can only hope that people will continue to have the courage to speak up for what is right, and when they do, this freedom of communication will be able to be enjoyed without the resultant threat violence or imminent danger.
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I am the Vice President & General Manager of FOX6 & MYTV13. John Mattes is one of our terrific reporters who specializes in helping our viewers investigate situations where fraud, theft and injustice has taken place. At FOX6 John has been an ardent and passionate crusader for the San Diego community protecting our viewers from consumer abuse.
This past week, John Mattes was violently and viciously attacked by a husband and wife “team”(Sam & Rosa Suleiman). In the past three months, the Suleiman’s illegal and violent activities had been exposed through John’s excellent reporting and broadcast to San Diego viewers during our newscasts.
On the day of the attack, I went to the hospital to meet with John, and saw the immediate after-effects of this attack. John was covered with his own blood, not just on his face, but his clothes looked like they had been soaked in red paint. John was severely lacerated around his face and eyes when Sam Suleiman attempted to gouge out his eyes. In addition, John had to receive a tetanus shot since Sam Suleiman had bitten John on both his hand and ear and had bitten him so viciously that blood and teeth marks were evident in both locations. Finally, along with bumps and bruises, John had several cracked ribs and damage to his nose.
Sam Suleiman outweighed John by 30-40 pounds, and as bad as John’s injuries were, the damage could have been much worse, possibly even fatal, if was not for the intervention of B.K. Philips. B.K. Philips is a true hero, since he literally picked up Sam Suleiman (BK is 6’6” 260 pounds) and John and put them on the ground…pinning Sam Suleiman and then pinning him as our photographer helped John Mattes extricate himself by pinning Suleiman’s legs.
Rosa Suleiman had also slapped John in the face with an empty water bottle after emptying it on John and our photographer, and told them she was going to her car to get a gun to shoot them. Fortunately, despite searching under her seat, she could not find a gun.
What many people watching the video of the attack did not realize was during the fracas, when Sam Suleiman was pinned to the ground and John was trying to get away, Rosa Suleiman did come back from the car with a very heavy glass perfume bottle and attempted to hit John Mattes and BK in the head. Fortunately, another brave bystander stopped her and took it from her hands.
In addition, Rosa Suleiman, speaking in Spanish, told John that she intended to kidnap him across the border and "finish him"...we had many of our Spanish speaking viewers so concerned about this that they called and wrote us warning us about what she had said. Adding to the “hate crime” nature of the attack and showing Sam Suleiman’s true lack of character, as BK Philips restrained Sam Suleiman, BK was repeatedly called the "N" word, and Suleiman told BK that he would “get him”.
(Unknown to FOX6) the Suleimans had evidently been secretly stalking/shadowing our reporter. This was why, when Mr. Mattes was on the private property of BK Philips, doing his interview, Sam & Rosa Suleiman were able to locate him. They drove up in separate cars and trespassed onto Mr. Philip’s property where the interview was being conducted, and as I have described, attacked John Mattes.
This story was so shocking and the injuries John Mattes received so severe, that it has received national attention, being replayed on virtually every TV station and media outlet all over the world. John has been interviewed on FOX News Channel during every one of their shows, as well as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Geraldo, and even David Letterman has wanted to have John appear on his program because he was so shocked at what had transpired. In addition to TV programs, John has been interviewed via the phone on local and national radio programs and we have requests for him to appear on many more programs.
In response to our video and follow up stories, we have been deluged with phone calls and e-mails (over 1600 e-mails as of today, Saturday September 9th) from all over the world, most of which have expressed their support for John and outrage that these people could be out on bail within a couple of hours of their arrest. The Suleiman’s will be arraigned again on Monday and hopefully they will not be able to stay out of jail after that arraignment. Without a doubt, civil charges will also be coming against them on top of their criminal prosecution.
However, what has been very disheartening is from many parts of the United States, even here in San Diego, we have received many e-mails (10-15%) from people who have said they believe John Mattes DESERVED to be attacked.
To give an idea of some of these emails, here is a small sample. These are NOT the worst of the negative e-mails, but they have not been edited in any way other than the F-word was eliminated in places it was used:
• It truly warmed my heart to see your sissy, smart mouth, sanctimonious newsman get his ass kicked proper. He truly deserves it getting in that lady's face. Loved his "have a nice day comment" and then getting decked. You guys are all a bunch of drama queens with your "reign of terror" hype. jeez. Get real, man up, and quit crying like babies.
• Mattes got what he deserved. He follow someone around with a camera which is just crappy journalism and then proceeds to get beaten up like a little girl on live TV. I'm guessing he won't be seeing any *** for awhile.
• Hardly a surprise attack. You fools apparently think you have some God-given right to get in any scoundrel's face and push his buttons with impunity. Then you cry foul to the Heavens when the very foreseeable lands on your nose. Get more professional, and less Jerry Springer.
• You're sorry attempt to grab ratings worked. It looks like everything worked out in everyone's favor. We should just call it even. Your news guy gets his ass kicked and the station gets more ratings. Sounds fair to me. I wish I could see more reporters get their ass beat down. Especially the pushy ones who don't listen when you try to be polite. F*** you all.
• I wish I could see more reporters get their ass beat down. Especially the pushy ones who don't listen when you try to be polite. F*** you all. I must have missed your reference to the bubbly effervescence af Mrs. Psycho and the verbal skills of the pugnacious Mr.Loon. And to you, likewise.
• I am glad the reporter got his ass kicked, the woman deserves privacy and should not have been videotaped after she asked that they stopped. Who the f--- do these reporters think they are?
• You guys are pathetic. If it weren't for the ratings?...why wasn't the camera man doing anything? Roll tape and bring on the ratings...Pathetic news program
• Are you an investigative reporter or an invasive reporter. I just saw this report on CNN and it seems that you are on private property, invading the woman's privacy, and you basically got what you deserved. Journalists today have an aura of being above the law, as if it's your right to invade and instigate a subject for the sake of a story. I'm pretty sure if you saw your wife fending off reporters, continously telling you to stop, that you'd react in much the same way her husband did. Now you're the joke of the evening news, and you're impressive resume no longer matters. Stick with being an investigator, not an instigator.
• Conrats to the Puncher. He got in a couple of good shots. It serves him Right. These College Dropouts. We had a reporter stick a microphone in a truck drivers face. His response was the Right one. "Get that the F*** out of my face"
Frankly, these types of responses are shocking to me. At first, I thought some of these people were simply misinformed, but in most instances, even when presented the facts, they refused to change their positions, firmly believing that John Mattes deserved to be beaten.
This event reminds me that once again, regardless of the facts of any situation, people will come up with their own conclusions, regardless of how wrong or completely opposite from the facts they are. We euphemistically talk about how important it is to have peace and cooperation in our society. We also speak of our hopes for a compromise in the Middle East, and how we want our political system to not be so increasingly polarized and divisive.
And yet, after a shocking event such as this one, when we had a reporter physically attacked on the private property of the man he is interviewing in a manner that is literally bestial in nature, and ANYONE believes they should identify with the beastality that performed the attack, then it is obvious we have reached a new low point in the downward evolution of our society.
In the days of Columbus the reality was the world was flat and he would sail off the edge of the earth, but despite the fact the majority of the world believed this falsehood, it didn’t make it true. Is perception a reality? Individual perception is also why murderers are allowed to go free by juries, despite proof that is irrefutable. It is also the reason there are so many people today who actually believe 9/11 was "staged" by our government and not the work of terrorists. It is also why other people believe that our space program has never happened but is shot on a "Hollywood lot".
John Mattes began investigating the Suleiman’s for one reason, because the victims of the Suleiman’s asked John to help them. The truth is the Suleimans hate John Mattes because he has exposed the truth of their illegal and terrorist-type activities. It is simply beyond rational belief that anyone could identify and empathize with these people since they represent the basest elements of everything that is wrong with our society.
The Suleiman’s have literally stolen millions of dollars in real estate by stealing the identities of their victims. We have received emails from many more victims who are now coming forward…including people from surrounding cities and states…all of whom were victimized and defrauded by Sam & Rosa Suleiman. In many cases the victims of this fraud were either physically attacked (last week Sam Suleiman physically attacked another man and literally bit a piece of flesh from his chest, and then got out on bail) or were threatened with physical harm and in many cases, death!
The victims of these people include the most vulnerable members of our society, the elderly, whose security was destroyed by the Suleimans. On the day of the attack, John Mattes had just interviewed an architect who had worked for Sam & Rosa Suleiman, who told John that recently he had gotten into a disagreement with Sam Suleiman, who then threatened this architect by telling him if he didn't do what he wanted him to do, he would "break his legs and rape his wife". This man was so frightened he until his interview with John Mattes, he had not told ANYONE, including his wife about this threat. Think about that for a minute, "I will rape your wife"...this is the man you say you would defend for "putting a camera in his wife's face". Forget human decency, what animal would ever say that to anyone?
The Suleiman’s are liars and thieves, they are terrorists and thugs. It is too easy to call them “delusional” or “crazy”…they are evil people, who intentionally hurt and cheat other people. Sam Suleiman is guilty of perpetrating hate crimes and physical assault and he has done so on camera in a way that is irrefutable and beyond dispute. What must happen now is Sam and Rosa Suleiman need to face justice by losing the freedom they have so ruthlessly taken from their victims.
However, even when justice is served on the Suleimans what about those who still believe their actions and violence is justified? How is this possible? Unfortunately, as part of my long experience in dealing with the public I have learned that regardless of a person's intellectual capacity there is no guarantee that someone will ever have good judgment.
Our hope for a better future for our society can only be realized when we can reach the point when we say without any hesitation, this type of behavior is wrong and will never be tolerated and there must be immediate consequences for these actions.
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The
NFL games are assigned to every market by Fox Network Sports department in LA.
Since this is the beginning of the NFL regular season and no real pattern has
been established yet, we did not go through the rather laborious process that
is required to challenge the teams picked for San Diego and then take the steps
necessary TRY to overturn the assigned games.
I am sure the Fox LA "braintrust" reasoning for this game had
everything to do with Drew Breeze at QB and Reggie Bush at running back...both
of whom have local interest for San Diego. Was that a good
decision? I have no idea since it is too early to tell. Let's
get the season going, see some trends and then we will see how we handle the
games Fox Sports scheduling gives us for San Diego (which is often different
than the games they assign LA).
This happens each year during NFL Season when viewers would like to see different
games due to favorite teams or personal preferences and I appreciate the
emotion attached to the NFL games by our viewers. Frankly, it is more
difficult for us to pick games in San Diego since the home team Chargers are an
AFC team and as such, by NFL contracts, the majority of their games are on CBS,
while we at Fox6 have to find the games that might have the most viewing interest
to San Diegans, and that is not always an easy task.
This is made more difficult by the NFL rules regarding DH games when the home
team plays at home, and a myriad of other rules the NFL has that no one at Fox,
CBS and now ESPN and NBC can break. The NFL is a true dictatorship when
it comes to the procedures we all must follow because they are a very jealous
guardian of the #1 spectator sport in the U.S.: NFL Football.
We don't always agree with all the NFL rules, but we must follow them and I as
I mentioned earlier, the process is even more complicated by the scheduling
department at Fox Network Sports department, which, on top of the NFL RULES
that we must follow, have their own opinions about what games would be best for
each market!
While I am sure that is not the answer you were looking for, it is a complete
one since I wanted to give you a little more perspective on this issue...it
isn't as simple as it seems.
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As many of your know who were watching both FOX6 and UPN13 today, we had several interruptions today in our programming in order to give updates on the results of the Mexican elections. Unfortunately, a couple of these announcements came at inopportune times for our viewers, the worst of which was at approximately 9:02pm, at a climatic moment in the FOX movie Men of Honor, and just as we were starting Stargate Atlantis on XUPN.
I thought the best way to explain this would be to re-print one of our angry e-mails from a viewer with the name removed to protect them. This is one of those e-mails and my response:
-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 9:29 PM
To: Richard Doutre Jones
Subject: Blog Feedback: Appalled
name: XXXXXXX
email: XXXXXXX
subject: Appalled
message: Dear sir, I am truly stunned and appalled at the fact that your station interupted an American war movie, "Men of Honor" (on the brink of "our" country's birthday), or any other program, to convert my television to "Mexican" television for about 10 minutes. If you wanted to get out the election results, you could have just waited a few minutes to give a "newsbreak" at the top of the hour. I am a multi-lingual American that understands and speaks Spanish, but if I wanted to hear Spanish and the election results in Spanish, I would change the channel. How does this result affect most of your viewers? The results in Mexico do not affect most of your viewers. Your station just "alienated" the majority of your viewers to try to pander to the few. I used to watch your station frequently, but now I will not. Concerned about our future. XXXXXXX
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Dear XXXXX, first I want to thank you for taking the time to e-mail us. I apologize for this five minute loss of programming...in addition to Men of Honor on XETV/FOX6, we also lost this same amount of time on Stargate Atlantis on XUPN/UPN13.
I agree with you, we would have preferred not to preempt our programming at this time (especially at the climatic moment on FOX6 when Cuba Gooding Jr's character "Cookie" had been brought up from the bottom of the river after accomplishing his "pass off" to be a navy deep water diver. Even though this was a difficult interruption, Men of Honor actually had almost an hour left after we came back from our announcement and we aired 100% of that last hour. At least on UPN13's Stargate Atlantis, it happened close to the start of the program.
To be honest, if we had the choice on what we would have preferred to do, we would have much rather aired this update later as part of a pre-produced news piece at 10pm. However, we were required to carry this message live, and we had no control over this message or the time it was to run. Making matter worse on FOX6, this normally would have been a re-run sitcom, not a World Broadcast Premiere movie.
As I said, we actually were required to take this message live on both XETV/FOX6 and XUPN/UPN13 from the Mexican Government voting office. Interestingly, while Mexican presidential elections take place only once every six years, this is the first time in many Presidential elections we have been required to air these type of announcements.
The reason for this has been delineated on our 10pm news for the last few days, and if you had watched you would see that we have been reporting on the Mexican elections and the fact we would be airing live announcements today. In the last couple of nights, this story was also on the ABC, CBS and NBC national news services, since these elections (to replace the current President, Vicente Fox) are the most important in over 50 years in Mexico.
People are very concerned about the disposition of the elections since it will not just have a huge effect on Mexico, but will also have a direct effect on the U.S., depending on who is elected as the Mexican President. The election is being portrayed as a fight between left and right; a choice between more state interventions or a continuation of free market policies.
As you might have seen tonight, the intention of the government at 11pm Mexico City time (9pm San Diego time) the intention was to announce the winner, but this is too close to call...they won't be able to announce the winner until Wednesday, and this is of great interest, not just to Mexicans, but also to Americans.
To give you just a little more information on the two main candidates (there are three primary candidates) who were in a “dead-heat” going into today’s elections:
The leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is a former mayor of Mexico City, and he has been linked to the anti-American dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. Mr. Obrador has promised major public building programs, but he has also committed to a break with cross-border cooperation with the United States. The conservative candidate is Felipe Calderon of the current ruling Pan party. Mr. Calderon is a former government minister who wants more foreign investment and greater links to the global economy and greater cooperation with the U.S. In other words, it is likely that the results of this election will be a partial referendum of how the U.S. and Mexico will exist over the next six years.
I would like to give you some additional information that should help you further in regards to our two stations (XETV/XUPN) and TV broadcasters in San Diego:
What makes our San Diego market unique is the fact we live, quite literally, just across the border between the U.S. and Mexico, which means many of the allocations for San Diego TV and Radio stations are carried by Mexican licensed signals. When TV and Radio channel allocations are given out, there are a restricted amount of signals that can be assigned in order to alleviate interference to radio and television signals and these were split between the FCC and SCT (this is the Mexican Government's Communication Regulating Commission that is equivalent to the FCC)
The FCC has established the rules which determine the distance necessary to prevent signal interference to protect any TV or radio station in the U.S., including those stations which are located along the border. The FCC and the SCT use this rule to protect border stations from interference both in Mexico and the U.S. (in addition, Channel 6 has another code of regulations, Title 47: 73.525 to protect us from radio station interference).
In San Diego we have 3 TV stations and 14(+) radio stations, including our local San Diego Padre station, Mighty 1090, all of whom have their transmitting facilities in Mexico.
The majority of these stations broadcast English speaking/U.S. programming, but they all have X in their call letters since their transmitters are in Mexico. This is why you hear the same type of PSA's on so many of our San Diego radio stations...and also on many radio stations in Los Angeles. This is true in many of the other cities who are within proximity of the U.S./Mexican border because the FCC and SCT had to agree on signal allocations to protect each signal.
XXXXXX, I can assure you that our interruptions today are very unique because of the historic implications of this election, as well as the concerns of the Mexican government.
At this point, it does not seem likely that we will have any more interruptions, but it is possible that we will have one more requirement on Wednesday when the final election results are announced.
This will complete our legal obligations but it is also the end of these types of interruptions for many years, at least until we are required to carry announcement from our own President of the United States, which seems to occur every few months. We will have more information tonight in our 10pm newscast and this will include some inside stories on what is happening in the Mexican political process and I would encourage you to watch.
One more important bit of information, we are very excited to tell you that in September on our sister station, XUPN13, on September 5th we are switching to XDTV13, and we will become an affiliate of MYNETWORKTV.
We will be changing all our promotion to www.mytv13.com and this will only give us some stronger programming to offer to our viewers in San Diego. What this means is our 8-10pm Prime Programming will be fresh and original programming, 5 out of 7 nights per week. Monday through Friday we will air on going dramas which will have 13 week story arcs. The first two are: Desire-Table of Five (8-9pm), and Secret Obsessions (9-10pm). On Saturday 8-10pm we will be recapping the stories that aired each week and we will be cross promoting this programming each day in our FOX6 in the Morning 5-9AM news cast. I have also included a link to give you more information on this programming: http://www.mynetworktv.com
I hope this answers your questions and restores your confidence in us. I hope you can see that since I respect you as a viewer, I have tried to give you as much information as possible on this matter so you can have a better understanding on what happened today. Finally, I want to wish you all the best for the remainder of your Sunday and hope you have a wonderful 4th of July with your family.
Warmest regards,
Richard Doutre Jones
VP/GM Bay City Television, Inc.
FOX6 & MYTV13
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If I was teaching a journalism ethics class at my former University, this is the question and text I would use for this basic question: when does right supersede rights?
Last week the New York Times published a story on the U.S. Government’s secret financial-monitoring program used to trace terrorists. This story went on to explain in detail that the Treasury Department was working with the CIA to examine messages within a massive international database of money-transfer records. This story was also picked up by the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times and many other newspapers.
This weekend Congressman Peter T. King (R-NY) called for a Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to "begin an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times, the reporters, the editors and the publisher." "We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous," King told The Associated Press.
In the days that have followed since the story came out in the NY Times (this is the same newspaper that in December revealed that the government also has secret domestic wiretapping program to monitor the phone calls of suspected terrorists or supporters) there have been many politicians and political pundits from both sides of the aisle either attacking the NY Times or supporting their right to print the story.
What is most interesting is when questioned on whether the NY TIMES should have actually printed the story, most people have stated that regardless which side they are taking regarding the right the NY Times might have to publish the story, they don't believe the NY Times was "RIGHT" to actually print the story.
In case you don’t understand what this is all about, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. Treasury officials obtained access to a vast database called Swift: the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. The Belgium-based database handles financial message traffic from thousands of financial institutions in more than 200 countries.
This service routes more than 11 million messages each day, mostly captures information on wire transfers and other methods of moving money in and out of the United States, but it does not execute those transfers and for the most part, this does not detect private, individual transactions in the United States, such as withdrawals from an ATM or bank deposits. It is aimed mostly at international transfers.
Evidently, before this story was published by the NY Times, the administration did everything possible to prevent this story from being printed. They requested over and over that this was a matter a national security and should not be revealed. In fact, they even enlisted democratic members of congress to also petition the NY Times to not print the story in the interest of national security.
However, according to Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York times, his editors listened closely to the government's arguments for withholding the information, but said the NY Times editors "remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."
In direct contrast to this stated opinion are the recent remarks of Attorney General Gonzales, who said that he believes "journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information which is contrary to national security" and said that the First Amendment right of free press/free speech should not be considered absolute when it comes to national security…"especially when we are at war".
All of this brings me back to the title of this blog, RIGHT VERSUS RIGHT. I keep hearing from many in my profession that the NY Times has a right…even an obligation to let the public know any information that is available on any subject. However, what is also unique about this situation is that no one seems to think that this was information that anyone in the public needed to know to protect any public interest.
In fact, it seems obvious that this tracking of funds had been very successful in repeatedly finding terrorists and cutting off their supply of funding, which is why this process was set up. Even the NY Times indicated that this data base tracking had proven very successful in combating and defeating terrorists.
So, why did the NY Times feel it was RIGHT to reveal this information? Is having the RIGHT to do something a justification for actually doing it? Now we have revealed to the terrorists, who have sworn to inflict great pain and suffering and death on us as Americans, one of the methods we have been using to defeat them.
Contrast our current situation to what we experienced as a country during WWII when everyone was united in a patriotic effort to defeat our enemies. When we finally entered they war we agreed that this terrible scourge which created the holocaust and the fanatical governments who were behind them must be defeated.
During WWII we faced our enemies who massed highly trained troops who were supported by all sorts of equipment of war. Today, we are fighting a battle that is not as easy as sending planes and ships to fight against the enemy.
Today we are fighting an enemy who is dedicated to destroying us simply for the fact we have a free and open society and they are doing it through hiding and staying in the shadows until they come out and strike us. I am not sure we as Americans really understand how brainwashed our enemy is and how deep their hatred for us goes, for no other reason than we stand for freedom.
Let’s not forget what one of their leaders said on December 17, 2005: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a news conference in Saudi Arabia, denied that the Holocaust we fought to defeat, never really happened. "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces," Mr. Ahmadinejad said. "We don't accept this claim," the Iranian president said, adding that "if Europeans want to believe in the Holocaust, then they should make room for the state of Israel to move to Europe".
To make matters worse, sixty years ago, patriotism and loyalty to the United States took precedent on every level and we were committed to do whatever was necessary to defeat the great evil that threatened the world.
Today it seems obvious that politics and the pursuit of political leverage is more important than any bi-partisan patriotism. This weekend in Miami, Jack Murtha, the Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania said this: "American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran".
Murtha when on to reiterate his views "that the war cannot be won militarily" and needs political solutions. He said the more than 100,000 troops in Iraq should be pulled out immediately, and deployed to peripheral countries like Kuwait. Hard to believe that any member of congress would have ever said something like this when we were fighting the Nazi's.
Unfortunately, we now live in a world that is more dangerous than at any time in recorded history, and yet at citizens and politicians we are now more divided than ever before by the pursuit of political gain.
Shamefully, it is also our "free media" that seems obsessed with deepening the polarization of our citizens than giving us factual information. This is dangerous to each of us who are either American or committed to the pursuit of democracy since the enemy we are fighting studies these trends and forms their propoganda accordingly.
This is an enemy who purposely kills women and children simply because these acts of murder, especially if they accomplished in an outrageous or despicable manner create even more terror and loathing.
We need to remember that the enemy we are fighting is one who wants us dead simply because we allow our women to have their heads uncovered. They want to kill us because we have churches, synagogues, mosques and every other type of religious freedom available to our populace, including religion available through TV, radio and the Internet.
This is an enemy that takes advantage of our free and open society by living among us. This enemy goes to our schools, works in our office buildings, and even though they have all the opportunities provided by this open society, they want that all to be taken away because they view that lifestyle as heresy. Remember, many of these people came here, lived among us, married our citizens, and then they boarded airplanes and flew them into our buildings to kill as many people as possible.
We seem to have forgotten that it was only one year ago when 37 people were killed and 700 were injured in London by bombers who were all born in England, but became terrorists after their conversion to fundamentalist Islam.
This is an enemy that is still recruiting people every single day, as is evidenced last week in Florida where we were able to intercept a cell of seven who was going to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago, along with other building and public works.
This enemy works in secret, and in secret combinations. If we cannot work effectively in secret to counter these secret plans by tracking them and monitoring these terrorists, will we contain them? If we cannot do this, it will be impossible to defeat them!
So, what is RIGHT? If the NY Times found out that we had infiltrated one of these terrorist cells, would they come out and publish the names of those who had infiltrated the organization and give details on how we accomplished it because they had the RIGHT the information to give the information to the public?
Here is a fact that most of us have figured out, but don’t want to admit it because to do so is too awful to accept: we are in a war that likely has no end. No, I am not talking about the war in Iraq, I am talking about the war on terror. It seems obvious that as long as there are any of these terrorists alive, they will want to work in both in public and in secret to destroy America and kill Americans and anyone else who supports democracy.
The truth is, we can never relent or let down or we will not just be at risk, we will be killed. Here is the ironic truth of the matter, if these terrorists accomplished their goals and took over the U.S., there will be no democracy and without a democracy, there will be no NY Times, or for that matter, no FOX 6, which gives me the opportunity to write this blog.
So the question again is RIGHTS vs RIGHT and finding the answer to what is RIGHT is critically important for all of us. If we are going to keep on top of terrorist and not be subject to more and more terrorism, the decision of how we balance our rights versus what is right will be a question we are going to have to get better at answering, because if we don’t the terrorists will continue to use our very freedoms against us.
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In one of the worst cases of price gouging (legalized extortion) ever seen in America, in less than 30 days our gas prices have gone up by 45 cents which is an increase of 1.5 cents per day!
Where is our indignation? Where are the protests? Why aren't we seeing people marching in the streets about the injustice and inequity to the poor and oppressed members of our society? Why isn't the ACLU speaking out about those who are being pushed farther into poverty because of these unfair pricing practices?
Where are the passionate speeches about economic damages and the wiping out all of our incomes? Why aren't students making banners and having campus rallies about the fact they can now barely afford to live off campus or take a road trip, or go on a date?
Finally, where is the outrage and congressional action on our gasoline prices? In one month, with no possible justification other than pure and unadulterated greed on the part of the oil companies, we have seen the price of gasoline increase by nearly +30%!!!
Don't we understand the simply preposterous figure that a +30% increase in less than 30 days represents? Without a doubt, as has happened in the past we will continue to hear the same poor excuses from the oil companies but we all know the truth. This has nothing to do with weather, it has nothing to do with the price of crude oil. It is all about $$.
+30% in 30 days. Could a grocery store get away with this type of inflation? What about car dealers, furniture stores, any type of business that wants to stay in business? Only a monopoly could get away with this type of price gouging!
It is hard to understand why our elected officials are not screaming about the negative expense burden that that gasoline prices are putting on every man, woman and child in San Diego and everyone living in the U.S.
To make matters worse, we are hearing "reports" that we are going to experience even higher gas prices over the next 30 days and $5.00 is rumored as the top price we can endure!
Do we need more fuel-efficient vehicles? YES! Should we currently have 50 hybrid vehicles available for purchase instead of 5? YES! Should every truck and SUV be required to average 28 MPG instead on 12 MPG? YES! But none of these facts excuse the current gas pricing practices of the oil companies which are not attached to any supply & demand model...and why does diesel now cost more than gas?
In the Academy Award winning movie: NETWORK, Peter Finch played the "mad prophet of the airwaves", asking people to "get up right now" and go to their windows and doors and yell: "I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore."
We need to take this same approach about our gasoline prices. This is an issue that negatively effects every single person (excluding oil company executives) and what better issue to unite every individual living in America today, regardless of race, gender, income, social status or sexual preference?
We must mobilize and speak out. We must demand answers from our elected officials on why it is acceptable for the gas companies to use their monopolistic control of gasoline distribution and oil refining to garner obscene profit margins from the pocketbooks of anyone who owns a car or truck.
So, get mad as hell, and do something about it. You need to give our U.S. Senators Ms. Feinstein and Ms. Boxer, the opportunity to do something positive for their California constituents which is truly bi-partisan.
You need to call and write to your congressperson and demand action (by the way, I didn't hear any of the candidates seeking Duke Cunningham's congressional position say one word about this important issue). Contact the Governor and your State Senator.
In other words, as they say at every type of sporting event: MAKE SOME NOISE!! To do otherwise only perpetuates the problem.
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For the past couple of days we have seen protests in towns all around San Diego as well as cities coast to coast by Latino students protesting the potential congressional action which would change the law and make illegal immigrants felons.
There have been outcries on both sides of this issue. Many American citizens have wondered how an illegal immigrant can be legally enrolled in our public school systems and why an illegal immigrant should expect to have the same rights or medical treatment as a legal resident or American citizen.
On the other side of the "fence", supporters of these protesters say we need these illegal immigrants to take jobs Americans won't fill and to help us keep our costs under control. Today we saw the protestors’ furor and tumult include flagrant civil disobedience and impeding traffic by massing in streets and freeways.
In addition, there is another group of people, legal residents from other countries who have entered the U.S. legally and are working here with proper forms and permits but still are required to go through all sorts of extra steps and legal entanglements to obey the laws of the land. These people want to know why illegal immigrants seem to have an easier time and more rights than those immigrants who are following the law.
Nationwide the latest polls (75%) say we are not doing enough to protect our borders and we should not (65%) give illegal immigrants citizenship. In the meantime, emotions are running very high and the volume of the debate and arguments continues to escalate on both sides.
One fact is very clear: if these protesters want the support of more than the smallest percentage of Americans a bit of public relations advise might be helpful. As illegal immigrants proclaiming that you should have the right to stay in America, you might want to change the color of the flag you are waving and the name of country you are chanting.
To scream "Viva Mexico" while waving or wrapping yourself in a Mexican flag is not a way to engender support to stay in America.
As I watched the events of today and then received e-mail after e-mail, I was amazed that not one person expressed empathy or support for the protestors. Most people viewed the Mexican Flags and chanting of Viva Mexico the same as a bull views a red cape in a Mexican Bull fighting ring...it made them very angry. In fact, this type of anti-American flag waving and chanting made people say, "if that is how you feel, go back to Mexico".
So, here is some advise on how the protesters can gain support for their cause: keep your pride in your heritage and ancestry since most people will support and honor that concept but switch your slogan to Viva USA and make sure the flag you are waving is the flag of the country you want to live in, the Stars and stripes of the United States of America.
In addition, from a promotional point of view, big crowds waving American flags and all saying they want to stay in the United States is a very sympathetic and photogenic media moment and as any good politician knows, that is the way to build support for your cause.
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You can tell it is football season and the emotions that accompany this time of year are, as usual, running very high.
We are at the mid-way point of the NFL Season, and as the teams start to "shake out" and despite the warm weather and "laid back" reputation of the San Diego populace, when it comes to scheduling NFL games each week, everyone has an opinion, and those opinions are very passionate.
Frankly, during this time of year, I am besieged by football fans who are convinced that due to the NFL games we run each week, I am either the biggest idiot on the face of the earth, a plant for one of the other NFL teams, or I have “666” planted on my forehead and must be eradicated.
It is an exciting time of year to receive viewer feedback since the words and descriptive adjectives (and sometimes adverbs as well) being used to describe me for the football games we air each Sunday are not ones any father would like his children to ever see.
Sometimes, due to the FOX Network promotional spots that we are required to air, it looks like we are purposely deceiving our viewers and when that happens, the violent reactions from our patient and long-suffering fans escalate in quantum-physic-like proportions.
To help illustrate this, I will print a couple of actual e-mails from this weekend that require the least amount of editing for family viewing and I also show my response since this might be the best of helping our viewers understand why and how the games are scheduled each week:
To: GM Blog
subject: your choice of football games message: what are you, a complete idiot? How can you schedule a football game that has teams such a long distance from San Diego. You are an a—hole with s__t for brains. Why wouldnt you schedule the Denver vs Philadelphia game at 1pm instead of driving people away from your stupid TV station by running some lame Brad Pitt movie! Obviously, you don’t have any idea what you are doing and should be fired from your job.
To: Viewer Feedback Subject:
Viewer Feedback: your choice of football games subject: NFL Double Header message: Hey this message is for the program director that chose to play a Brad Pitt Movie rather the the Philadelphia vs Denver game. Dude you are an a--hole. So glad we have morons at fox that think they will make more money off of a 8 year old brad pitt movie then an nfl game. When does your contract with the nfl end?
So dear Blog reader, are you feeling the love? Can you sense the compassion and understanding? Here is how I responded to each of these two different e-mails with the names left out to protect the ardently outraged:
GM/RDJ: Dear XXXXXX, this was not our decision, it is the NFL's rules, you might want to direct your anal epithets at them.
First, Fox can only air the NFC designated games, and even when an NFC team is playing a AFC Team this does not mean it is available for FOX Network to broadcast. For example, last week the Chargers lost a heartbreaker to Philadelphia Eagles but it was an AFC designated game not an NFC game. The Chargers are AFC, not NFC.
As you noted, this week we were originally scheduled to have Double Header game, but by NFL rules governing home market teams, since the Chargers were playing at home at 1pm on Sunday, we only have the 10am game: Redskins vs Giants game. By NFL RULES we are forbidden to air the 2nd half DH against a home team game which will be at 1pm. If the Chargers had not been playing at home at 1pm, we would have been carrying the 2nd half of the DH, which was Denver vs Philly game. (the other DH 1pm game was Tampa Bay vs SF)
We are restricted by NFL Rules. We don't always agree with them but they are very strict and that is what governs many decisions on what games are even available to broadcast. These are rules Fox Network cannot break, much less a San Diego based Fox Affiliate.
The only other game available to us at 10am with “local interest” or AFC consequences would have been Green Bay vs Cincinnati, and while the Bengals has the former USC Heisman winner, Carson Palmer, at QB and while Green Bay has Brett Favre, the Packers have only won one game and has 1/2 their team on the injured list.
We compared this game to the Redskins and Giants who are fighting for first in the NFC east with Philly and Dallas. It is likely that 2 or 3 of the total number of NFC playoff teams will come from the NFC East this year. In addition we do have relocated snowbirds from the East coast who are fans. The Giants also had their owner (Wellington Mara) pass away this week and he was one of the greatest gentlemen in the history of the NFL…so more emotion and (possible) interest for the game.
XXXXXX, I hope that answers your question. I know it can be frustrating and especially when it comes to the NFL which so many are passionate about but it is never as easy as it appears. As you can see we would much rather run the NFL than Brad Pitt at 1pm, but that is (unfortunately) not our decision.
By the way, since I am a rabid Chargers fan (which is part of why we have the Charger Power Report on Saturday's @6pm) I personally hate having to see them on CBS when Fox does such a better job of covering football games! Believe me, I would love to see the Chargers be switched into the NFC West so Fox6 could broadcast the majority of their games…they would also win the division!
Have a good rest of the weekend.
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In the past week, we have been beseiged by loyal FOX6 viewers wondering where their prime time shows: Prison Break, Bones, House, OC, Reunion, etc, have gone. We have even had people wonder if we are "part of a conspiracy" to cancel Kitchen Confidential and Arrested Development."
As most baseball fans know, FOX is the home of major league baseball, and when it comes to the playoffs and World Series, if you want to see baseball, you need to turn to FOX6 for the vast majority of the games.
In fact, at FOX6 we have so many baseball games in the month of October, that with the exception of our 10pm News, most of our programming 5-10pm is in a state of constant interruption and movement. In October, FOX prime actually goes on a "Baseball Haitus" for the entire month of October, with prime having to "kick-start" itself when when the World Series ends and we can once again return to our regularly scheduled programming on FOX6.
This year, because the Padres finally made it back to the playoffs, we at FOX6 (and UPN13) decided we needed to make sure that the viewers of San Diego also were able to see every Padre playoff game regardless of it's network source, FOX or ESPN. To make this goal a reality we bid for and won the rights to broadcast the ESPN games that carried the Padres.
All of us at FOX6 were very excited to have all the Padre playoff games and we even sent one of our terrific reporters and weekend Anchor, Jim Patton to St. Louis to report each day on these important viewer interest games for our 10pm and FOX in the Morning News shows.
Our thought was, "hey, with a little luck, the Padres can get back to the World Series...and if they do, every single game along the way will air on San Diego's Baseball playoff station, FOX6".
So, just imagine our own frustration and disappointment when today at approximately 1:50pm we lost our feed from ESPN, and as you loyal Padre viewers know, we didn't get it back for 10 excrutiatingly long minutes.
Within 30 seconds of losing the signal from ESPN, our switchboard and newsroom lit up with phone calls to complain. In addition, I am sure it would not come as a surprise to most of you that the phone calls contained language which sounded like it belonged in an R-rated movie that was rated R for "colorful language".
In fact, the most understanding comments we heard were; "what the hell are you idiots doing over there". Frankly, for our passionate Padre fans, that was a fair question. To be honest, as the GM of the station I had the same question; "what did we do and what happened to the game"?
Not being a psychic or an engineer, I immediately called our Chief Engineer, who is not only a brill | |