WFFT Skips A Few Steps......

Another senseless murder. 

Another media outlet reports "facts" without attribution, substantiation, or corroboration that may make it more difficult to prosecute the alleged shooter. 

Usually, when someone is accused of a crime, media goes out of their way to say "alleged" shooter or the suspect "allegedly" shot someone, as well as inserting phrases like "police say" or "according to police". Not here. 

Read the second sentence.....

"Rivera shot and killed Jacob Walerko Thursday night in an attempted robbery."

WFFT does not cite a source, instead stating for a fact that Mr. Rivera is responsible for the death of Mr Walerko. 

From all indications, that is most likely the case, but it's not something a journalist would put in print or publish without citing police, prosecutors or other law enforcement official. Usually there's a trial, a jury and a verdict......just like on Law & Order on TV.

If this case does go to trial, be assured the defense will ask for a change of venue, given that "my client has already been convicted in the media" while waving around a copy of the WFFT news story during preliminary hearing phase.

You can read the story here:
http://www.wfft.com/content/news/Suspect-arrested-in-Meijer-gas-station-shooting-victim-identified-459822083.html

Get Well Soon WFFT

This is how you do it. Technical issues happen, and WFFT Local has done the right thing to let their viewers know what's going on. 

So, why isn't the Maven jumping up and down and frothing at the mouth? Easy, WFFT is doing the right thing by letting viewers know there's a tech issue, and they're working on it.

Contrast this to Federated Media. That operation seems to evaporate into thin air during typical Indiana-style thunderstorms. Advertisers and listeners have been assured that FedMed has spent the required oodles of cash to keep their menagerie of stations on the air during severe weather. Perhaps something a little more robust than the artist illustration seen here.....

However, after the winds and rain and lightening, usually FedMed is silent, at a rate that seems to be increasing over the past few years. Since workers at FedMed have been warned about talking to anyone outside of the "FedMed family" about internal issues, only the suits in Mishawaka and maybe a few NSA analysts know the real reason that FedMed takes a dump when it rains.

Inexperience or Incompetence?

It snowed. By some accounts, it snowed a lot. This is Northern Indiana, it does that from time to time.

While the talking heads on TV call this a "weather event", for most Hoosiers, it's merely another pain in the neck that comes with living here. 

To "journalists" though, this is a "life event" which must be reported on because the TV news folks regard their audience as a bunch of rubes, completely incapable of understanding what a moderate snowfall means.

To wit: a "journalist", reportedly from WFFT, sets up a camera on a tripod in the middle of Coliseum Boulevard to file a report. Yes, in the middle of traffic on one of Fort Wayne's most busy and congested thoroughfares during a time when most Fort Wayne drivers are not expecting to see a human and camera tripod in the middle of traffic. 

The Maven is unclear on the concept of putting an employee's life in danger, simply to tell a story of rather obvious explanation. It snowed. How unique and compelling is that? Could not the shot be taken in a more safe manner?

WFFT: "Diseased At The Scene"

Their words, not the Maven's. 

Yes, diseased at the scene. They said it on WFFT News, so, it must be true. 

Welcome Back Fox Network

The Maven is tan and rested thanks to a week in the Caymans, visiting his money and drinking Red Stripe, and wanted to mention some good news. 

Congratulations to WFFT channel 55 for regaining the Fox network affiliation beginning in March. You will recall that WPTA/WISE/INC/Malara/Granite grabbed the Fox affiliation after WFFT's parent company could not come to terms with the Fox network at affiliation renewal time 18 months ago. 

Once again, the Maven will be able to see the World Series and NFL games in true High Definition and without having to surf a couple of hundred channels on the Comcast spectrum to locate the current standard definition signal, or to suffer the over the air digital signal breakup resulting from WPTA/WISE/INC/Malara/Granite shoehorning the signal onto one of WISE 33's sub channels using duct tape, chewing gum and bailing wire.

While the Maven is totally happy with this turn of events, word is that some staff changes might occur on Butler Road as a result. A woman, purporting to be the wife of a WPTA/WISE/INC/Malara/Granite staffer, populated a local message board with the tearful tale of having to rejoin the labor force since her husband was probably going to lose his job. That's sad. However, in the Maven's opinion, the only person that should be fired is the imbecile responsible for playing a "NoNo" hair removal device infomercial in place of a Sunday NFL game at the beginning of this season. From that incident, and a few more, it's clear that WPTA/WISE/INC/Malara/Granite only siezed the Fox network in order to keep it away from other competitors. Let's see if WFFT does a better job presenting and representing the Fox content.