Last Thursday at dawn, near Bucksnort, Tenn., hundreds of federal and local law enforcement officials were closing in on six prison escapees whose breakout from an Alabama prison grabbed national headlines. On the scene were WKRN-Channel 2 and WTVF-Channel 5, both of which arrived just in time for their morning news shows.
WSMV-Channel 4, however, was nowhere to be found and didn’t arrive in Bucksnort until well after 6:30 a.m.
It was a serious lapse, but not a ratings killer on its own. The problem is that Channel 4 has suffered from similar cumulative fumbles, and those may have had something to do with the decision by J.T. Thompson, the station’s embattled news director, to resign his post effective next week. His station’s often laggard reporting hasn’t exactly won him a gold watch.
Channel 2 had the fugitive story first, with anchor Neil Orne airing an initial report at 4:50 a.m., 10 minutes before the start of his station’s morning news show. Channel 2 then began its newscast with reporter Lilla Marigza offering a detailed account of the developing story from the Bucksnort Deli and BP gas station where the escapees were caught on tape. Channel 5 was a tad behind, but not much. Reporter Holly Harris offered up an equally vivid live report at 5:01 a.m.
In the meantime, Channel 4 led its News 4 Today program, which has earned its status as the lowest-rated local morning show, with a report of a nighttime fire on Antioch Pike. Its news crew didn’t arrive in Bucksnort until more than 90 minutes after its competitors—an eternity in TV time. At 6:30 a.m., reporter Brent Frazier gave a shaky phone account—presumably while driving down Interstate 40.
One source says Channel 4 learned about the incident watching Channel 2.
The once-proud Channel 4, the Notre Dame of the local TV market, was, once again, slow to report a developing story. (The station was also late on the scene of last Monday’s attempted murder-suicide in Wilson County.) And Thompson, the station’s own Gerry Faust, doesn’t want to talk about it.
“I have nothing to say to you, because I don’t respect you,” he said repeatedly.
Once again, Thompson is shooting the messenger. In any case, the prickly news director won’t be a tough act to follow.
Hiding the competition
The Nashville City Paper finds all kinds of stories that the morning daily smugly dismisses—from turmoil at the local NAACP to any kind of business development east of the Cumberland River. The Tennessean could react by digging in and working harder. Instead, it seems the daily behemoth is doing what it can to make The City Paper harder to find.
At the end of November, The City Paper Publisher Brian Brown asked the Nashville Publisher’s Co-op, a loosely organized confederacy of local publishers, if his paper could be distributed at the modular news racks scattered throughout downtown and Hillsboro Village. They put him in touch with Gannett employees who assured him they’d add his paper to the co-op as soon as possible. A month passed, however, and still The City Paper was absent from the racks.
The contact person for the distribution side of the co-op is not exactly a neutral figure—he’s a rack manager for The Tennessean. When asked last month about why his employer’s competitor had not been added to the co-op, he said, “We just don’t have any openings.” He assured the Scene that as soon as the weather cleared, he would add to the racks if necessary to make room for The City Paper.
A month of mild weather passed—and wouldn’t you know it—still no City Paper. Finally, after a second call from the Scene, the rack manager notified The City Paper and made arrangements to include it in the co-op racks. In the meantime, the start-up daily was absent from the most prominent distribution spots in the city.
Brown wouldn’t speculate whether The Tennessean actively tried to sabotage The City Paper’s visibility during its launch phase. But he does point out that the Publisher’s Co-op, which seems more like a cartel for Gannett, is a work in progress. “If the co-op is going to work,” Brown says, “it needs to have better organization and management. It needs to be more responsive.”
Brown also notes that he had made initial arrangements to purchase 70 old Tennessean racks and a few discarded Banner ones. Perhaps that seemed like a good deal to The Tennessean until The City Paper started scooping it on various stories. Brown says that once his proposal “got up the chain of command, that offer was rescinded.” The man on top of that chain of command, Tennessean publisher Craig Moon, did not return repeated calls.
Gossip
Tennessean deputy managing editor Catherine Straight, one of Gannett’s most prized minority journalists, is being wooed by a major metropolitan daily. Tennessean editor Frank Sutherland is fighting hard to keep Straight, going so far as to send her a bouquet of flowers. Speculation is that it will take more than a few roses to keep her name on the masthead.
Reach Matt at 244-7989, ext. 445, or e-mail mpulle@nashvillescene.com.
