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BAD TIME FOR PRIMETIME PRODUCER Tuesday, March 15 2005 
After
continually
denying
reports
that
she
had
been
battling
with
producers
of
ABC's
Primetime
Live
and
that
staff
morale
had
plummeted,
Shelley
Ross
was
removed
as
executive
producer
of
the
magazine
show.
She
will
be
replaced,
at
least
temporarily,
by
20/20
executive
producer
David
Sloan.
Last
month
USA
Today
reported
that
some
staffers
had
filed
complaints
about
Ross
with
ABC's
Human
Resources
department
and
that
others
had
requested
transfers
to
other
ABC
News
programs.
Ross
(more)ON TV, NEWS IS WHAT SELLS, SAYS FORMER 20/20 PRODUCER Friday, January 7 2005 Former CBS and ABC news exec Av Westin has warned that "there is something very Orwellian and dangerous happening" in television news in which producers make decisions on which stories to cover based on ratings. "Today the bottom line trumps the editorial line every time," Westin told the Boise Weekly. Westin, who was the executive producer of ABC's 20/20 from its launch until his retirement in 2001, told the magazine that in interviewing 135 network (more) |
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A scheduled 20/20 special on Cambodian baby adoptions prevented Barbara Walters from presenting an exclusive interview with recently acquitted actor Robert Blake tonight (Friday), TV Guide reported on its website Thursday. Instead, the interview aired Tuesday on Good Morning America, where Walters was filling in for Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson. Walters said that Blake had initiated the contact "out of the blue." She said that when he agreed to appear on the morning program, "I said, 'Terrific, we'll do it by satellite.' He said, 'I don't want to do it by satellite.'" ... He flew in, got in late Monday night. ... He didn't want to meet with me until we were actually on the air. ... I said, 'Let me say hello.' He said, 'No, I'd like to see you on the air.' When he started praising me, it was very embarrassing." Walters said that she could not persuade ABC to air the interview on 20/20 on Friday but didn't argue when the network turned her down. "I've walked away from that kind of intense competition," she remarked. 20/20 has seen a steady erosion of its ratings since Walters' departure.
