TV executives work hard to present the news and not become the news.
To their chagrin, the job of a media blogger/columnist is to report the news about those who work in news. That's the nature of this industry within an industry.
To make a long story short, Carol Fowler is out as VP and News Director at WFLD-TV (Fox Chicago) and will be replaced by Phyllis Schwartz.
Fox Chicago News had been suffering in the ratings for over a year and things were continuing to get worse.
The anchor teams have had as much chemistry as oil and water.
The idea of MORE news in the morning (5 1/2 hours) led to LESS viewers.
And some folks started to lament that Chicago had too many options for morning news with Fox being among 5 major stations to offer it. (Sure, WCIU has Jeanne and Melissa but their show could be considered more of a hybrid.)
Personally, I think that Ms. Fowler did the best that she could.
Wait before you start throwing the tomatoes at your computer screen.
She wasn't a perfect news director. In fact, her track record was spotty at previous stations including WBBM-TV. But she was at the mercy of the big wigs in New York City.
[She was very friendly to me via e-mail and telephone and it was genuine each time.]
A TV exec can only do so much. In fact, WBBM-TV President Bruno Cohen told Robert Feder last year that "New York has always called the shots."
It's almost as if a news director or general manager can be fired by the same person who made the mistake to begin with.
So, before folks go to pointing fingers and saying "Ha! Ha! Carol's gone", they should really take a moment to think about who really pulls the strings of TV news puppetry.
It ain't the guy in the Elmo suit, I can tell you that.
Filed under: TV News
Tags: bruno cohen, carol fowler, cbs, fox, phyllis schwartz, wbbm-tv, WCIU, wfld-tv
