TV News Folk Seek Answers
What's wrong with Seattle's local TV news? Apparently nothing that bigger news budgets and recruiting more reporters and editors can't correct. That's the word from a panel of veterans at Thursday's CityClub forum.
John Arthur Wilson, chief of staff for the King County executive, moderated. Panelists were KING-TV News Director Dave Lougee, KCPQ-TV News Director Todd Mokhtari, KOMO-TV reporter Emily Langlie and former King Broadcasting President Ancil Payne. Some conclusions:
Lougee: "The growth of 24-hour cable news has brought us an expanded staff, but the staff has not expanded at the same rate as the product. That's got to change."
Langlie: "It used to be on Monday mornings we would sit down and discuss coverage of city and county governments. Now we have different ways of news gathering. . . . I ask myself, gee, is this something a mom my age would care about? That's one reason why it's important to have a diverse newsroom."
Payne: "Something very fundamental is missing. A license to run a TV station is worth a fortune. That license is given (to station owners) to serve the community. They take an oath to serve their community, and they're not doing it."
Mokhtari: "The reason why TV covers (so much crime) is because it's quick, it's easy and it's cheap. But less crime coverage is starting. . . . If the MacNeil-Lehrer show suddenly got better ratings, we'd all lead with Bosnia."
Seattle farewell: If you haven't recycled Thursday's paper, check
out the "Deaths and Funerals" on Page B6 (Page B8 in the Eastside edition). The notice for Margaret Anne Lotter is one of the most captivating obits ever.
The notice was written by daughter Jane Lotter, with editing by daughter Barbara Lotter Azzato. After reading it, I felt I knew their mom and the neighborhoods where she lived.
One excerpt: "Margaret (Robertson) and Mike Lotter were encouraged in romance by the New Latona Hotel's residents who, on the occasion of the couple's 1940 wedding, presented them with an iron and ironing board. Thus began Margaret's lifelong commitment to pressing everything made of cloth."
On Saturday the family stood at Mrs. Lotter's grave site and joined in singing one of her favorites: "Don't Go in the Lion's Cage Tonight, Mother Darling."
War weary: Has the shine dulled on the mega-hyped "Star Wars," now playing at Paul Allen's fabulously remodeled Cinerama? A movie fan who saw it only days ago reports the audience chuckled only twice at the many intended laugh lines.
Says the fan: "People weren't psyched up the way they were in May, and the movie doesn't have enough clever writing to entertain without the hype. (My wife and I) were looking at our watches for the final hour."
Real wheels: Well-to-do East Lake Sammamish homeowners are livid over King County's plan to run a pedestrian trail past their houses, using Burlington Northern Santa Fe right of way.
If nothing else, the flap provides a revisionist look at the power structure. Sammamish Mayor Phil Dyer was quoted in Friday's Eastside Journal, accusing King County Executive Ron Sims of bowing to "the raw political power of the bicycle clubs."
Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Her phone message number is 206-464-8300. Her e-mail address is jgodden@seattletimes.com