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The CME Book Club
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Now that Oprah has decided to discontinue her book club because her army of sheep should read less and watch more of the Oxygen channel, it's amusing to see other media outlets trying to capitalize on a "book club". First the Today Show, then USA Today, now comes the earth-shattering announcement of the Chicago Media Examiner book club.
Each month, I will try to recommend a new book that I feel deserves special recognition. Though readers of this column tend not to be sheep, I hope some of you will consider my recommendations...unless this is just a whim and the last time I recommend anything.
Ahem.
This month's book club selection is "Career Misconduct: The Story of Bill Wirtz's Greed, Corruption and Betrayal of the fans." As a lifelong Chicago Blackhawks-hater (and loyal Buffalo Sabres fan), I found this book to be quite thorough and informative in painting Bill Wirtz as the jerk we all suspect him to be. Though I'm sure Wirtz has some redeeming qualities, author Mark Weinberg has assembled a fun read with an interesting look into the (alleged) blackened heart of Bill Wirtz.
For more information, check out: www.careermisconduct.com
Go Wolves!
You Snooze, You Lose
By CHRISTOPHER CIACCIO
Right on about the double standards with racist jokes, right on. I feel the same way. Also, you mentioned in your Feb. 1 issue that there was no way Tracy Townsend would be demoted while on maternity leave because she's radioactive. Well now that it happened, and I couldn't be happier, do you still think Channel 2 is risking a massive lawsuit? That would be a laugh. She's the dummy who lands probably her dream job then gets pregnant probably celebrating getting the job. Then she extends her leave by three weeks! She took more than 2 months off!! Sure I'm all for her rights to have a family and blah, blah, blah, but that was a LONG maternity leave (the longest I've ever heard of) and she was in no place, if she wanted to keep her spot, to take such a long time. Tracy was foolish. If she was smarter, as soon as she saw Antonio Mora and Linda MacLennan's chemistry together she would have called her bosses and said, "I'm ready!" As you may recall, when Kelly Ripa got the gig next to Regis Philbin on "Live!" she was pregnant. So early on she had to take maternity leave. But she used her head and only took a month, maybe a little less. She was no dummy! She knew the possibility existed that Regis might click with one of her substitutes. You have to be smart and play the game right. Look at Linda MacLennan, she waited until she was well established at Channel 2 five years on the 10 o'clock news, to have a kid. And she had her third kid in her early 40s. She was no dummy! Tracy Townsend definitely has no grounds to sue and still has a good job at Channel 2. That's the business she chose, that's the way it is. Katherine Bliss didn't sue.
Insensitive Video on Channel 32
By BOB PAULSEN
Tuesday's 9:00 news on Fox WFLD channel 32 had a sick yellow journalistic report by a Ms. Pender. It showed a distraught mother running to the scene of a child shooting. The report said that it appeared that the woman might be the mother of the murdered child. This was the so sick that it could not even begin to be classified as news. The media's fixation with sensationalism has gotten so far off the beam of honest reporting of the news. Real news is disturbing enough, but this is so far out of line that one has to ask if there are still editors in the newsroom.
This is just my opinion, but to be this hardened as this reporter must be is just a sign of how low we have sunk as animals that have made a poor attempt at socialization.
I am not bitter, but only saddened by this kind of response to a human tragedy
CONfounding Assignments
By VINCE Z.
I find it very interesting that Fox hired the ex-con (note: see the April 8th issue of CME - Ed.). His insights though are very good and he seems to work well with the anchor team. Professionally, I do not think viewers would like to watch him after his "incident". If the governor's plan goes through with the prisons, more ex-cons will be on the street. Submit resumes now!
I find NBC5's logic "different" in casting subs for Warner Saunders. Wouldn't it have been easier to have Marion Brooks cover 6:00 and left Art Norman to mornings and Derrick Blakley to the weekends instead of the whole shuffle?...These are just my opinions.
Sun-Times Gets Goofier
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
According to the Sun-Times from page on Friday, the weather was going to be "dicey."
What the hell does that mean (other than "check the weather page you lazy bastard!")?
John Dodge, the Sun-Times' front page guru has done a spectacular job tabloiding-up the front page of the paper without turning it into the New York Post. Yet I don't particularly care for the wacky one-word weather recaps anymore. It started out cute with words such as "blustery", "bleak" and "Yuck" but I'm starting to get annoyed at words that do nothing in describing the weather and everything in describing Dodge's reaction to the weather. "Aaahh!"? "Confusing"? "Nutty"? Come on, man!
Check out an interesting interview with Dodge on this subject at: www.fictionfunhouse.com/wayiam/forecastart.htm
SF Examiner Fading, SME Editor Sad
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
All signs point to the inevitable demise of this journal's San Francisco namesake, The San Francisco Examiner. That makes me sad.
As an unapologetic supporter of the little guy, recent reports tarnish the image of two papers I'm pulling for. First, The Sun-Times endorses questionable candidates for office and now we have reports that the new owners of the San Francisco Examiner have mismanaged the daily so badly that they have cut back to a Monday thru Friday schedule only and are planning to convert from broadsheet to tabloid. Bummer.
The Tribune printed an oddly critical article about the San Francisco Examiner in March that was penned by a writer who was commissioned to do the anti-Fang article by the failed Talk Magazine -- which was owned 50 percent by the Hearst Corp (owners of the San Francisco Chronicle). Check out: www.examiner.com/warren_hinckle/default.jsp?story=n.hinckle.0326w for the Examiner's rebuttal of that article.
The Examiner printed what I think was the most powerful September 12th front page and they are still selling reprints at: http://www.examiner.com/achangedamerica/
Chicago Media Examiner e-mail delivery
Send an e-mail message to chicagomuse@hotmail.com from the e-mail address you want the Chicago Media Examiner delivered to with "subscribe" in the subject line. Whenever a new issue of the Chicago Media Examiner comes out, it will be e-mailed to you automatically.
Take a look at the previous issue: Monday, April 8
Take a look at the issue before that: Friday, March 22
* Pseudonym
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