Oregon Media Insiders

The First Lady's visit to Portland will not be a pleasant memory for KOIN reporter Lynn Huston. It seems during his Thursday morning live shot he apparently made some mention, on the air, that the President's brother Jed Bush had a daughter in treatment for a drug addiction. Meanwhile at the PCPA, Jeff Gianola was patiently waiting (at 6am) for the First Lady and his one on one interview.

Edited for fair use--L

For those of you who remember KGW's Steve Bartelstein, here is an update on his cancer:

It's bad news for WCBS/Channel 2 anchor Steve Bartelstein - he's just finished four rounds of butt-kicking chemotherapy to learn the treatment has not helped in his battle with testicular cancer.

"Unfortunately, the chemo has not worked," Bartelstein told the Daily News.

In fact, his doctors believe the cancer has spread to his brain. Bartelstein expects to find out how much and where after tests next week.

Update by L: He's cancer-free!

"I've got a new lease on life," he told the Daily News Thursday. "I know I have another purpose now."

Bartelstein was bracing for major lymph-node surgery after repeated blood tests for "cancer markers" kept coming back positive despite four rounds of intensive chemotherapy.

It turns out his rare genetic makeup made him predisposed for false positive tests. The mixup wasn't discovered until an eagle-eyed staffer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center did a check on Bartelstein's DNA and found he had a strain carried by one in a million people that prevented the actual results from emerging.

Now, after multiple blood tests to double-check the theory, he's cancer free.

"I'm thrilled beyond belief," Bartelstein said.

Hooray for some good news.

I thought it was time to entertain a few predictions for TV sweeps in November.
First off if it is true, and history does repeat itself, then KATU is my choice for greatest growth in November. Those of you old enough to remember the mid nineties, might remember when The Providence Journal brought in Mike Rausch to shake up things at KGW. He introduced SkyCams to Portland, Doppler radar, brought back the helicopter wars, introduced the KGW philosophy of dominating breaking news coverage and added dynamite promotion department. KGW was on a 5-year plan to win and dominate local news. Part way through their crusade KGW was sold to BELO, Rausch found himself out and the current ND reaped the benefits of the huge capital outlay, promotions and resources.

Emmy lesson 101:
1. The statutes are beautiful.
2. The award impresses your friends.
3. It is a business.
4. The judging is questionable.
5. The best story doesn't always win.

KPTV won an Emmy, good for them. Many stations across the country win Emmys this time of year. It's kinda like the run of the spring chinook; The strongest don't always survive. My recommendation to those of you in this blog that are judging your career on this faux gold plated stick figure holding an orb is this; find another career.
As broadcast and print journalists we love our awards. We have more awards in our industry than any other profession. I think awards are a compensation for the poor salaries most of us are garnering in this market. But they are not always a barometer of good journalism.