The problem is not coverage of breaking news.. it's endless coverage of breaking news when there is no new information and it falls apart into wild Anchor speculation and fill chatter.

Oddly for all the renewed interest in local breaking news when Universal was burning I had to go to CNN to find every coverage at first.

Your Pal Kenny

Frank,
My 14 yr old son and I watch the morning show every monring as we get ready for our day. I had to agree with him when he asked, "Isn't there any thing else going on?". I liked the coverage there was just too much of it. Maybe I am being really callous saying this, but I got it, a building in the garment district was fully ablaze and probably a complete loss. I feel for the people who loss their livelihoods....but there had to be other news happening too.

Frank,

Yet another great blog. I have to agree with Kenny. On Sunday I had to go to CNN to get information on the fire at Universal Studios Hollywood. That was something very important and breaking in Los Angeles that deserved some sort of coverage. It makes me think that next time there is an earthquake in Southern California will I be able to depend on KTLA. Yes if its during the week, but if its the weekend forget it. KTLA will not break into the "paid" programing that they have on their station had on for some reason. Had the Universal Fire been on a weekday morning you guys at KTLA would cover that story to the point were it becomes old news and KTLA is still covering it. KTLA has done a great job of covering the breaking news that Southern Califonia has experience over that last few months. The fire at the night club down the street from the Pantages, and the fire yesterday. I think that the problem was is that you guys got to the point yesterday where it was just that you were repeating yourselfs. It got old and I found myself changing the channel over to the Today Show. You could have moved on and just checked in for "new" developments. Also the coverage that you gave the spiderman in New York was uncalled for. Yes its breaking news that he was climbing The New York Times building but you guys didnt have to do that much coverage. Once again you guys as you put it "killed" stories that you were going to do in the nine o'clock hour.

Frank,

Yet another great blog. I have to agree with Kenny. On Sunday I had to go to CNN to get information on the fire at Universal Studios Hollywood. That was something very important and breaking in Los Angeles that deserved some sort of coverage. It makes me think that next time there is an earthquake in Southern California will I be able to depend on KTLA. Yes if its during the week, but if its the weekend forget it. KTLA will not break into the "paid" programing that they have on their station had on for some reason. Had the Universal Fire been on a weekday morning you guys at KTLA would cover that story to the point were it becomes old news and KTLA is still covering it. KTLA has done a great job of covering the breaking news that Southern Califonia has experience over that last few months. The fire at the night club down the street from the Pantages, and the fire yesterday. I think that the problem was is that you guys got to the point yesterday where it was just that you were repeating yourselfs. It got old and I found myself changing the channel over to the Today Show. You could have moved on and just checked in for "new" developments. Also the coverage that you gave the spiderman in New York was uncalled for. Yes its breaking news that he was climbing The New York Times building but you guys didnt have to do that much coverage. Once again you guys as you put it "killed" stories that you were going to do in the nine o'clock hour.

Maybe you should have gone live to Valentine to see what he thought of fire... he's on often enough to be another Anchor. What's up with that?

Kenny

I don't mind the coverage as long as it is new news. But to tell the same story over and over again made me turn to Good Day L.A.

My question to you is why are the only topics on the 9:00 our always about food and fashion. I call it the 3 F's show, fluff, food and fashion hour.

FRANK, THERE IS SOME BREAKING NEWS WORTH REPORTING LONGER
AND THERE IS SOME THAT IS NOT.
LIKE ALL THE CONERAGE ON
PARIS HILTON, WAS TOO MUCH.
YOUR FIRES, FUNERALS,AND
THE LFE OF SOMEONE SPECIAL,
NOW THATS WORTH HEARING.
BOB PALMER

Go Celtics! Go Celtics! Go Celtics!

I myself like the Breaking News Coverage and anything that "kills" fluff that is to come in the 9 o'clock hour is fine by me. If it keeps us from having to listen to LZ talk about bathing suits, or shoes, or anything for that matter - great!
One thing I did find extremely uncomfortable is the way that Rachel Calderon and Elizabeth Espinoza interview victims of these tragedies. Many have mentioned about how Elizabeth interviewed those children who lost their beloved teacher in the helicopter accident - it was uncomfortable to say the least. Yesterday however with Rachel interviewing the little lady who lost everything from her Bridal Shop - OMG that went beyond uncomfortable to watch.
There's got to be a "happy medium" and I know we've complained a lot so it's somewhat our fault too, because we can't have it "both" ways.
I'm sure a compromise will come in time - I just hope that you're able to keep the majority of your viewers while you experiment through this.
I hate to beat a dead horse to death - but, in my opinion, and grant it, it's my opinion, NOTHING WAS BROKEN with your show prior to March 17th. It just seemed to have a good "balance" of breaking news, comedy, improv, and you had great celebrity guests, "HOT TOPICS", it was just WELL BALANCED! And I have to agree, why are you covering "Spider Man" in NYC? The crane collapse fine - but, the guy who keeps climbing buildings and getting arrested for it - NO!
I really think that the new bosses are headed in somewhat the right direction. What bothers me though, is a few of the minor complaints we've all seemed to have in common - have gone as what seems "UN-NOTICED". Several of the complaints you've taken care of right away, and your bosses deserve recognition for it.
I'm not ready to come back to the 5 -7 AM or the 9 AM show yet, but, I do stick glued to the 7 - 9 AM NEWS.

Exactly right.

Breaking news is one thing.

Listening to anchors make up inane comments because we've been watching the same footage for 20 minutes with no new information of something like the fire, the crane collapse that killed fewer people than die on LA freeways during a morning commute, or, for God's sake, the guy climbing the New York Times building?

Emphasis on breaking news? Perhaps, but I guess anyone who needed traffic or weather during the first 20 minutes of your show had to tune to one of your competitors last night.

Don't forget that unlike Prime News, people aren't watching the Morning News because they're passive news consumers but rather they're trying to find out what they need to know to plan their commute, and yesterday KTLA completely dropped the ball.

Friday 6/6 Breaking news coverage
on teacher walkout

So the teachers walk out, so what? If they want to protest, let them. Moreover, your interviewing students who should actually be in class. Also you interview someone who doesn't speak English, maybe she should be in class to learn English too. Its a joke when these people think the California budget pays for the war. Perhaps your reporter should have corrected them or told them your wrong now go back to class.

OMG in this same vein how much time does the coverage of an hour walkout of teachers deserve? Also how many people will Elizabeth Espinosa call "hon" and touch in one live shot?

TGIF

Kenny

Gail, with all due respect. I appreciate the coverage of the teacher walkout. Our teachers are always the ones who suffer at budget cut time. The Administrators aren't hurting financially, but tens of thousands of teachers are losing their jobs.
And how about the fiasco at the beginning of the school year where some teachers weren't even getting paid due to computer glitches? It took months for the School Board to get them their money.
And, even you have to admit that this TRILLION dollar never ending war in the long run is responsible for budget cuts to ALL STATES.
Bushy has to pay for it somehow. So with his "No Child Left Behind" success - every State suffers budget cuts due to this TRILLION DOLLAR WAR!

Frank and CO. I have been ohhh so patient with the changes (why fix what wasn't broken before March!) But even I turned away from KTLA during the fire coverage! Enough already! We live in a instant info age, got the story, feel bad, now MOVE ON... you guys are my start to my day! Give me that smile! and a joke (probably at Mark's expense!) :)

There comes a time when Breaking News is just Broken record.
THe updates on the half and on the hour with the major headlines should suffice, unless something NEW has happened in between that needs immediate attention.

Got to say; Much better without Jessica today! It was such a relief to not want to gouge my eyes out with a screwdriver at the shrill, loud, over talking of her colleagues.
I'd prefer you bring Frank in for those 20 minutes with Mark and Sam - come on producers....THAT'S WHAT WE WANT - don't you get that.
Keep Michaela and Cher if you have to, but give us FRANK back! You're getting there, as someone else said....but bring back FRANK for the opening segment. He can do the news update right there and then join in on "HOT TOPICS" - and on a side note. Could you run a poll? Could you see how many like "Water Cooler Buzz" and how many like "Hot Topics"? Make it so people can only vote once and get a true tally of the vote. Maybe have a write in choice too! You'll get me back as soon as you include Frank and drop the "Water Cooler Crap".

meant to say "talking OVER her colleagues."

I feel for the losses of the fire victims, but when does breaking news become boring news? There are DEGREES of breaking news and coverage should be based according to those degrees, don't you think?

I remember when "the news" was only 15 minutes. And they covered breaking news and all other topics within that time frame. (I'm very old)

I like your show because it covers a variety of topics and doesn't take itself too seriously. And the topics are truly local. When I lived in Oxnard, a hanger at the airport was on fire, and KTLA was the only station that covered it and let me know what all the sirens and helicopters were about. But you didn't spend the whole show on it.

I should also point out that in this face-paced society today, people lose interest in a topic quickly. We need it to be longer than a sound-bite, but shorter than War and Peace.

Frank - a great blog. I have to agree with the comments of the previous bloggers regarding 'breaking news.' And, it must be hard to find a 'happy medium.' I feel that YOU do care what we the viewers are saying. Also, on today's show (Friday) the 9:00 hour was SO much better - although you should of been MORE part of it. The water cooler buzz (still HATE that name) was actually interesting. I believe, that unfortunately, a MAJOR problem with that hour of programming is Jessica. It was SO nice to see a complete panel of professional, mature acting staff on today. There were laughs, without the stupidity. I am NOT saying that Jessica is stupid - just too immature and yes, unprofessional to be an 'anchor' on the ladies panel. I also must say that some of the interviews that are done by Elizabeth (and to some extend Rachel) are tending to be more like a tabloid report. How does Elizabeth think a person feels after losing their business or a student losing a favorite teacher. How would SHE feel if the roles were reversed?? But, I do think that KTLA management has started to accept that mistakes were made in the March changes and are trying to 'turn things around'. Again, I appreciate that YOU do care what we the viewers are saying.

Frank,

I have to agree with the others that news over fluff is always better. But one story should not be done to death. If you have no new info, move on. Then come back if there is time. There are a lot of things going on in this city that day besides the fire. Dump the food, fashion, and fluff of the 9AM show and give us substance. More human interest stories, information that will help us in these hard times. I don't need to know if wide leg pants are hot this summer or not. I don't care. It's fluff and they have other channels for that crap. News and information is what KTLA does best. But know when to stop coverage on a story and move on. KTLA seems to have lost that.

Judy didn't leave much room for me to say anything because she wrote exactly what I was feeling. Especially about Elizabeth and Rachel. Too insensitive to be field reporters.

As far as the name of the 9:00 show "Water Cooler Buzz" I think it is fitting for that show. Let's take the last word in the title "Buzz". When you think of the word Buzz you think of a bumble Bee, imagine a bumble bee flying around your ears for an hour. Would that noise drive you crazy? I'm just saying.

I may be wrong but it is quite possible that Frank is responding to an editorial I posted in the message boards under the topic “Breaking News?” on May 30, a topic to which a number of you have posted concurrences. I make this observation not blow my own horn but simply to point out that, apparently (and in spite of some bloggers comments to the contrary) our comments in the message boards are actually being read and in some cases being taken seriously enough that the staff feels compelled to post a response. Kudos to Frank Buckley for taking the time to address this important issue.

I don’t believe it was his intent, but Mr. Buckley’s article seems to imply that the choice is between “Breaking News” and “hav[ing] fun.” In his post above, it appears Dan seems to feel “Breaking News” in its current state is acceptable because “anything that ‘kills’ fluff that is to come in the 9 o'clock hour is fine by me” As I observed in “Breaking News?” a city as “exciting, diverse and rich as Los Angeles” must have other “compelling” stories that could be told in these time slots. In particular, there is a HUGE gap in the reporting of governmental affairs in this city and I mentioned the Mayor Villaraigosa’s virtually unnoticed library fee proposal from earlier this year as an example. Why must we rely on the alternative press to report stories that clearly belong on our televised local news? So choosing between “Breaking News” and “fun” is a false dilemma – there is other news that can be covered.

All that being said, I believe Bill, Adrienne and Monica sum up it up in a much more concise manner than I: “The updates on the half and on the hour with the major headlines should suffice, unless something NEW has happened in between that needs immediate attention [Adrienne]. Listening to anchors make up inane comments because we've been watching the same footage for 20 minutes with no new information of something like the fire, the crane collapse…[Bill]. We need it to be longer than a sound-bite, but shorter than War and Peace. [Monica]

As I’ve often observed, there are some very sharp viewers (and some standout anchors and reporters – Misters Buckley and Spillman in particular) amongst the “sheeple” here.

Frank, as always, I look forward to your blogs. I guess it wasn't just me who thought "enough already" with the fire. Absolutely, report it, then come back as news develops. I've not gotten into the 9 am fray because frankly, (no pun) I am at work. I have watched 7-8:30 am since 1991 and will continue. I do miss some of the old folks but Eric and Frank you rock! We all can learn from the past to move us forward. I'm with you all the way!

I am impressed with you, Frank. You are open with us and you show respect for the viewer. I really appreciate that. I do agree with the opinion that KTLA needs a better balance when it comes to "breaking news". I want to be informed, but I don't want to hear the same thing over and over. Move on and you may always come back when there's new stuff to report. I don't want to see the morning news become like the evening news. It's been different from the early days and that's why I'm still watching. It was special and those new bosses need to put it back and stop tampering with it.