Florida News Center

(from OrlandoSentinel.com) – As the beleaguered church leader was whisked away from journalists outside the Lake County Jail, WFTV-Channel 9 reporter Kenneth Moton yanked his cameraman from the rolling wheels of the getaway vehicle and WESH-Channel 2 newsman Bob Kealing shattered the pickup truck’s windshield with his fist.

Documented by shaky video and court depositions, the chaos surrounding Laura Maria Caballero’s release from jail Feb. 18 after she was accused of taking a 2-year-old girl without her parents’ permission helped prosecutors decide they couldn’t prove the nun’s driver broke the law.

“He committed no crime,” said Ron Fox, a Umatilla lawyer defending Andrew Hendrick, 33, who was scheduled for trial this week on a felony charge of leaving the scene of an injury accident. “He had no idea anyone was hurt.”

Louis Bonnell, a photojournalist with WFTV, and Angel “Ray” Cordero, a photojournalist with WOFL-Fox 35, were both struck by the pickup truck and injured. They were treated at the scene by the jail’s medical staff….Cont….

(from MediaPost.com) - The prospect of a de facto winter convention of TV research executives in a Miami courtroom is a step closer. Last week’s court-ordered mediation failed to yield a settlement in the antitrust case brought against Nielsen by Sunbeam Television, continuing the possibility of a mid-January trial.

Law professor Eric D. Green, who had success in mediating the well-known United States v. Microsoft case, assembled the two parties in his Boston office last week. But talks did not produce a resolution, a representative for Sunbeam said in an email.

Sunbeam has alleged Nielsen thwarted competitors from entering the Miami market, where it operates Fox affiliate WSVN. Furthermore, it charges that Nielsen’s local people meters have failed to properly count the number of minority and other viewers, costing it millions of dollars.

It is not clear what happens next….Cont….

NOTE: On Monday FNC reported that Lanee worked at the station for only six months. She in fact has been with the station for two years. Please excuse the error.

Sources tell Florida News Center that WCJB reporter Jamel Lanee is leaving the Gainesville station. She is headed to WAFF-TV in Huntsville, AL. She has worked at WCJB for the past two years. So far no one has been named as her replacement. She will remain at the station until the end of September.

Lanee joins a growing list of staffers who are fleeing WCJB, including another producer who insiders tell us quit without notice last week. Other sources say that the station has recently brought on two new unnamed reporters. Stay tuned for further updates.

(from MiamiHerald.com) – by former WPLG anchor, Charles Perez -  `Are you a homosexual?” she asked. “Excuse me,” I responded.

(from News-Press.com) - WINK-TV has a new reporter on staff. Lauren Pastrana is coming from WIOD-AM News Radio 610 in Miami, where she was an anchor and reporter. Football fans may be jealous to learn that Pastrana also has worked as a sideline reporter for the Miami Dolphins. At WINK, she’ll eventually take over as bureau chief in the station’s Charlotte County newsroom.

Over at WBBH NBC2, morning and noon anchorwoman Michelle Burdo is leaving to take a reporting and anchor position with WOFL-TV, the Fox station in the Orlando market. Her last day is set for Sept. 17.    —–      WBBH morning meteorologist Haley Webb made an exciting announcement on a recent 6 a.m. newscast. She and her husband, John, are expecting a baby boy in January. Congratulations to the happy family.

Former WINK-TV main anchorman Jim McLaughlin is returning to the fold in September when he takes a position with the new WINK News Radio. Starting Sept. 13, McLaughlin will anchor the 3 to 6 p.m. news on the new all-news radio station. WINK News Radio is found on 1200 AM and 1460 AM. The job came about after McLaughlin took a group of college students to the WINK studios. It was his first time back in five years and while his old friends Lois Thome and Jim Farrell were talking with the students, McLaughlin got talking with the station manager….Cont….

Sources tell Florida News Center that WTLV/WJXX morning meteorologist and traffic anchor Michelle Jacobs, has left the Jacksonville duopoly. Insiders say that Jacobs and WTLV/WJXX could not come to terms on a new contract. So far there is no word on who will replace her.

With the departure of Jacobs and the departure of Mark Collins back in July, WTLV/WJXX is only left with two meteorologists to cover all of the station’s newscasts.

Jacobs worked at WTLV/WJXX from 2003 until 2007, when she left to work for competing duopoly WTEV/WAWS. She returned to WTLV/WJXX in 2008 to work her current position. Stay tuned for further updates.

(from OrlandoSentinel.com) – Marc Middleton made a bold move in late 2005 when he quit his anchor job at WESH News Channel 2 after working there more than 15 years.

The 58-year-old Altamonte Springs resident said he realized broadcast journalism was becoming less about storytelling and more about short, event-driven sound bites.

And that drove him to create The Bolder Media Group that year, focusing on a market mostly ignored by media: people age 50 and older.

That decision now is paying off for The Bolder Media Group, whose The Growing Bolder TV Show, which has aired in Orlando for the past two years, is going national this fall. That’s thanks to a new deal inked with American Public Television, the major distributor of content for PBS affiliates nationwide. (from OrlandoSentinel.com)

(from OrlandoSentinel.com) – The Florida Department of Transportation watched television coverage  of an I-4 accident Friday morning — and didn’t like what it saw.

Steve Olson, a spokesman for the department’s District 5, issued a release cautioning the stations. He sympathized with the station’s difficulties in covering such stories — Olson used to report for WFTV-Ch. 9 — but he reminded reporters and their bosses about the dangers.

Olson wrote: “Please keep your distance from the travel lanes, especially on the Interstates. Please don’t have lights shining toward oncoming traffic. Please don’t be a distraction.”

And he had this warning: “We don’t want to resort to law enforcement, if we do not have to — since they are busy trying to clear the road and maintain traffic order/flow.”

Olson listed specific complaints – from the district construction engineer — about Friday’s coverage. They were:…Cont….

Sources tell Florida News Center that WPMI morning anchor and investigative reporter Varion Walton was fired Friday. No reason was given for her firing and her replacement has not yet been named.

Walton joined the Mobile station in 2006 from Huntsville’s WAFF-TV. Walton is a past recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award for her series on WPMI, “Getting Out Alive.” Stay tuned for further updates.

(edited from OrlandoSentinel.com) – Nielsen is out with its rankings of the top television markets for the 2010-11 TV season, which officially starts Sept. 20.

The only change in the Top 20: Miami-Fort Lauderdale has moved to No. 16, up from No. 17. Denver drops from 16 to 17.

Here are all ten FL markets and their rank:

14. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, 16. Miami-Fort Lauderdale,  19. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne,  38. West Palm Beach-Ft Piece,  47. Jacksonville-Brunswick,  60. Mobile-Pensacola,  64. Fort Myers-Naples,  106. Tallahassee-Thomasville,  151. Panama City,  160. Gainesville-Ocala

Here are the Top 20:

1. New York,  2. Los Angeles,  3. Chicago,  4. Philadelphia,  5. Dallas-Fort Worth,  6. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose,  7. Boston,  8. Atlanta,  9. Washington, D.C.,  10. Houston,  11. Detroit,  12. Phoenix,  13. Seattle-Tacoma,  14. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota,  15. Minneapolis-St. Paul,  16. Miami-Fort Lauderdale,  17. Denver,  18. Cleveland-Akron, 19. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne,  20. Sacramento