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Jan. 27, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: TV newswoman didn't get it right

NORM CLARKE
MORE COLUMNS

Entertainer Bette Midler will appear on "Oprah" on Monday.



Resort developer Steve Wynn will donate $25 million for kids.

Morning show co-anchor Monica Jackson is on the hot seat at KVVU-Channel 5 for her shaky coverage of the Monte Carlo fire.

Jackson's inaccurate reports, including claims of trapped workers and evacuations at Bellagio and City Center, came under criticism from several news outlets, including a rare on-air rebuke from a fellow anchor.

KLAS-TV veteran anchor Gary Waddell told viewers several times that the Fox station had its facts wrong.

Jackson's report of workers trapped on the roof was picked up by other networks and news outlets and later corrected.

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    • Casey Hendrickson, afternoon drive-time host at KXNT Radio, 840 AM, called Jackson's reporting "unprofessional and irresponsible. It was like she was reporting the apocalypse."

    Even after fire authorities said there was nothing to the story of trapped workers, Hendrickson said he flipped over to Fox "and they were saying those people were rescued."

    The evacuation claims could have caused panic and injury, he said.

    Jackson is Fox5's co-anchor of the celebrity-driven morning show "More."

    KVVU news director Adam Bradshaw could not be reached by deadline. A message on his cell phone said he was out of the country until Monday.

    WYNN'S $25 MILLION SURPRISE

    Resort developer Steve Wynn made a surprise announcement Thursday that left his wife, Elaine, in tears.

    Before a private dinner on the eve of the Communities in Schools national board meeting at Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn informed the board that he was committing $25 million to establish an endowment for the nation's largest dropout prevention organization.

    Elaine Wynn, the organization's new national chairwoman, said in an e-mail Saturday that she and her husband had discussed wanting to start an endowment for CIS.

    "But I had no idea the amount he was considering and when he would want to do it," she said. "I think he was so impressed by the new information he heard during our program, that he decided right then and there to make this extraordinary commitment. Even though I know how generous he is, this was a gesture that completely overwhelmed me. I did lose my composure."

    CIS is in over 3,400 schools and impacts over 1.5 million children, including the Las Vegas branch.

    BETTE ON OPRAH

    Bette Midler arrives in Las Vegas this week to continue rehearsals for the Feb. 20 debut of "The Showgirl Must Go On" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

    But first she's going on "Oprah" on Monday to beat the drums for her return to Las Vegas as a two-year resident headliner.

    Meanwhile, Tait Towers, a Pennsylvania-based lighting company, issued a recent news release announcing they have been hired by Caesars for work with the property's three-artist rotation in 2008 "that begins with Bette Midler and includes Cher and Elton John."

    SIGHTINGS

    Hockey great Wayne Gretsky and friends, dining on Kobe beef at Fix (Bellagio) Friday night. ... Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, back at the Playboy Club (Palms) for the second night in a row, sipping Le Tourment Vert, a rare absinthe that contains wormwood, long banned in the United States until recently. ... Jenna Jameson, performing a Marilyn Monroe-like "Happy Birthday" serenade to her boyfriend, UFC star Tito Ortiz, for his 33rd birthday at CatHouse (Luxor). She was rolled in on a 6-foot-high cake and performed a choregraphed number. Guests included Mike Tyson and Ortiz's UFC pals.

    THE PUNCH LINE

    "Rambo now gets an AARP discount on ammo." -- David Letterman, on Sylvester Stallone's fourth "Rambo" film, at age 60.

    Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.



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    context wrote on January 28, 2008 07:10 PM: Monday morning quarterbacking -- the favorite game of the haven't-been-there, haven't-done-that. There is no excuse for deliberately reporting inaccurate information. Many people THINK they can do a better job than the person on air. Unfortunately, in some cases, that is true. But, to be fair, it's not easy to follow a developing story. And it is very easy to get carried away in the moment of trying to get that information out quickly and accurately. When the job is to get the information out NOW, the preferred sources aren't always available to be sure the information is accurate, but it is the duty of those involved to source and attribute their information, and to make an on-air correction/apology ASAP if that info turns out to be wrong. Trust me, I am the LAST person to be an apologist for Fox 5, where their bright spots (John, Heidi, Dave, Ted) are so overshadowed by mediocre talent, and their brand of journalism too light on depth, too heavy on drama. And they've improved in the last year or so. But folks, people are watching them. Chew on that.

    And Steve Wynn is donating 25-million dollars to be used for a Comunities In Schools endowment. Do you get the feeling HE won't take his money BACK?


    vegasjpn wrote on January 28, 2008 12:34 PM: Heidi Hayes should be doing the news for Fox 5. She is a real journalist and Monica is just a 'reporter' or reader of the news. Heidi is much more professional and looks a lot better on the news!


    paul wrote on January 28, 2008 11:42 AM: People defending Monica, why? She does what every other anchor does, even the national ones, when there is a breaking news story, they just ramble on. They feel the need to talk even though they have no idea what they're saying, and it's annoying. The best coverage came from Channel 3, which had a chopper in the air shooting pictures first.


    Jay wrote on January 28, 2008 11:31 AM: Channel 8 reported that there were "reports" of workers trapped on the roof that "could not be confirmed." Monica Jackson reported that there were workers trapped on the roof. Then she said they were rescued after the it was proven to be a false report. She also said at one point that the Monte Carlo continues to burn "like you wouldn't believe" after it was under control. She clearly made a mockery out of her shot to prove she was a journalist.

    Fox 5 has very little to do with Fox News, and to blame Fox News for Fox 5 mistakes is ludicrous.

    I heard Casey's show and it was dead on. Anyone who says no one listens to KXNT is clearly delusional, and doesn't know what they are talking about.


    Stu wrote on January 28, 2008 08:17 AM: You lose all credibility along with your paper. Monica was only reporting what she was being told. You make it sound like she was intentionally misinforming when in fact it is you.


    Morris wrote on January 28, 2008 07:47 AM: I find it amusing, Norm, that you rip the newslady for screwing up ... then you spell Wayne Gretzky's name wrong!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


    Sandra McDonald wrote on January 27, 2008 09:51 PM: That anchor is dumb. We watched her long time ago and had to turn her off. What a mouth. Loud. Uneducated. Trash. You have Gary Waddell and a class staff at Channel 8 and then you have that embarrassment on channel 5. Don't they realize how horrible they all are? They must all be drinking the Kool-Aid.


    GOD wrote on January 27, 2008 09:40 PM: I saw everything... it was NORM that started the fire. It was NORM and Pam Anderson smoking weed on the roof of the Monte Carlo.

    Don't do drugs kids and don't take anything that NORM writes as the truth. He constantly gets kickbacks from the nightclubs he constantly writes about.


    Don Michaels wrote on January 27, 2008 06:35 PM: Give me a break, someone commenting on here that a radio station had the most correct information. What a joke! What TV station's live pictures were they watching at the time? When did you get this information? 6 hours later? KXNT? Even a bigger joke. Right wing communist.


    Rocky wrote on January 27, 2008 05:53 PM: Of all of the coverage of the fire I found, KXNT had the most accurate from start to finish. They had TV stations beat in providing correct info because they were on the ground immediately...


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