Just the Facts, Not Disgruntled Gripes, About ‘Action News’

Changes at Channel 2 have received a lot of attention from the Los Angeles Times lately and, although much of it has been positive, we feel readers deserve more information about the professionals who work as a team to put together outstanding, award-winning “Action News� broadcasts every night.

As the first Los Angeles station to broadcast an hourlong local news program, Channel 2 established the standards for television journalism in the Southland. We have maintained those high standards and will continue to pride ourselves in being the “serious news station.�

Just recently, “Action News at 5� received the best news broadcast award from Associated Press; unfortunately, the Los Angeles Times did not include this information.

Every day, more viewers are noticing the changes at Channel 2 and finding them pleasing. We are no longer “mired in third,� as the press so often has labeled us. In just the last several weeks since the first of Channel 2’s changes took effect, our audience has grown as much as 50% from the same time last year.

Howard Rosenberg’s column last week (“New Channel 2 News Director Sets Off a Storm,� Calendar, March 4) focused on the hearsay and gossip of some disgruntled employees. Unfortunately, the newspaper regularly chooses to ignore facts about Channel 2’s leadership in responsible and informative reporting. For example:

Our new news director, John Lippman, brings to Channel 2 more than 20 years of experience in the news business and an extremely strong sense of journalistic integrity. Before coming to Los Angeles, Lippman was news director at a leading station in another city where, on one recent occasion, he authorized an investigation of problems at a local university. When advertisers applied pressure to the station to stop the negative story from airing, Lippman took a public stand--he and the news staff prevailed and the story aired.

Now at KCBS-TV, he directs his newsroom to be dedicated to chasing spot news, never getting beat on a story and producing lively broadcasts.

Channel 2’s “Action News� broadcasts are always informative. Our goal is to provide L.A.’s most comprehensive presentation and analysis of the day’s local and national news. Lippman’s style will help our news programs to be lively and entertaining as well. We believe this is a combination which will be most appealing to the viewer; we most certainly never compromise on the news in order to provide the entertainment.

Last fall, The Times chose not to inform readers of an investigation by KCBS-TV reporter Harvey Levin in which Levin went undercover to reveal blatant fraud in California’s workers’ compensation system. The California Legislature did not ignore the investigation though. As a result of Levin’s reports, the program for administering workers’ compensation claims has been completely revised.

Levin’s reports on this issue, as well as stories on decay in public housing projects, dangerous doctors practicing medicine in the Southland, foster children at extreme risk and county spending, have been honored with many local and national awards. Rosenberg consistently avoids giving Levin and his colleagues at Channel 2 the credit they deserve.

Levin is an extremely dedicated and responsible journalist who has repeatedly been the undeserving subject of Rosenberg’s one-sided reporting. Levin, and all our reporters, are constantly concerned about exposing vital news details while protecting innocent parties.

Times readers need to know an important fact about Levin’s report involving an accused child molester. The man whom Rosenberg says was unnecessarily identified was a vice officer for the Los Angeles Police Department--he made his living arresting people who committed crimes similar to the one for which he has been charged. His identity and profession were an integral part of the story.

Furthermore, Levin is an enterprising journalist who actively pursues several stories at once--he does not resort to hiding out in Disneyland, as Rosenberg implied.

Levin is just one member of the “Action News� team, comprising more than 150 professional writers, producers, reporters and technicians as well as a variety of others in fields providing support to the news operation.

We believe we have the strongest news team in the Southland, and we are working to improve our broadcasts every day. Any news organization of this size is bound to have disgruntled employees, and Rosenberg managed to locate some at KCBS-TV.

In an effort to make Channel 2’s “Action News� truly competitive among the local stations, our employees must be ready to work especially hard and they must be willing to do what is needed to get the best possible news program on the air.

Rosenberg’s handling of changes at Channel 2 has been tasteless and irresponsible. Viewers look to the Los Angeles Times for truth--the newspaper has an obligation to its readers and Rosenberg is letting them down.