Armstrong Continues Tirade Against Cabal: KEYT and Palminteri Skewered
I haven't done a post on a Travis Armstrong editorial in awhile -- mainly because I don't read the News-Press anymore and keeping up with who is in the "Cabal" and who isn't has gotten tiring over the last year or so.
Yesterday's opinion piece, however, was ridiculous in it's hatred to others. Forget that Armstrong went on about KEYT Tea Fire coverage when the News-Press coverage was less than adequate. Forget that he feels the need to judge them for laying off employees without mentioning the fact the News-Press recently laid off more than twice the amount of employees. Forget that he is fixated on the "infamous" newsroom video in rather lurid detail when the News-Press has plenty of their own problems with soap opera like drama.
This opinion took his obsessive compulsive hatred for "cabal" members too far. Armstrong included a reference to a website outlining a court case being filed against John Palminteri (http://www.johnpalminteri.com).
Unfortunately, the web site URL is Prime Time's own name....he must feel hijacked on several fronts. If Palminteri really committed fraud as this site suggests, I'm sure the courts will work out the details find justice for all parties involved. It is, however, a private matter and separate from the more public nature of his work life at KEYT -- which is contrary to what Armstrong suggests.
What concerns me most is that Armstrong so easily attacks people in our community when he lives in a glass house. How can he sleep at night? He must feel his choices have narrowed so much with his and the News-Press' standing in our community that he has no choice but to lash out at others. It is hard to believe that his vitriol would be accepted at any other newspaper.
Yesterday's opinion piece, however, was ridiculous in it's hatred to others. Forget that Armstrong went on about KEYT Tea Fire coverage when the News-Press coverage was less than adequate. Forget that he feels the need to judge them for laying off employees without mentioning the fact the News-Press recently laid off more than twice the amount of employees. Forget that he is fixated on the "infamous" newsroom video in rather lurid detail when the News-Press has plenty of their own problems with soap opera like drama.
This opinion took his obsessive compulsive hatred for "cabal" members too far. Armstrong included a reference to a website outlining a court case being filed against John Palminteri (http://www.johnpalminteri.com).
Unfortunately, the web site URL is Prime Time's own name....he must feel hijacked on several fronts. If Palminteri really committed fraud as this site suggests, I'm sure the courts will work out the details find justice for all parties involved. It is, however, a private matter and separate from the more public nature of his work life at KEYT -- which is contrary to what Armstrong suggests.
What concerns me most is that Armstrong so easily attacks people in our community when he lives in a glass house. How can he sleep at night? He must feel his choices have narrowed so much with his and the News-Press' standing in our community that he has no choice but to lash out at others. It is hard to believe that his vitriol would be accepted at any other newspaper.
Labels: Santa Barbara News-Press, Travis Armstrong
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 1/18/2009 06:47:00 AM
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Here are some excerpts from this pathetic editorial:
Opinion: Lopez, now Palminteri, KEYT strife never stops
Travis Armstrong
January 17, 2009
More turmoil is rocking TV Hill. It's amateur hour. Perhaps it's all a bit of karma for KEYT's out-of-town management and on-air personalities whose behavior and news judgment in the past have raised ethical questions.
Viewers in July criticized KEYT for its lack of Gap Fire coverage.
Not learning from this mistake, KEYT fumbled again with the Tea Fire.
As the fire erupted, camera crews in helicopters from L.A. stations broadcast footage of countless houses on fire.
KEYT staff changes, spotty coverage and other public blemishes -- including abandoning the Unity Shoppe Telethon -- have taken their toll on the place.
Later, the station slashed commercials during the evening newscasts to rock-bottom prices.
Also last year, a raunchy video originally shown at a KEYT company party surfaced. Another segment depicts a reporter atop a KEYT satellite van using the antenna to pole-dance. In another, a woman in a clingy skirt gets out of a car with a black box digitally superimposed over her crotch.
Ever the role model, the video depicts Ms. Lopez dancing on boxes to music with lyrics that say "dance for me, b----." (For the record, Ms. Lopez has turned down numerous requests to discuss ethical concerns regarding her brand of journalism. These include the lack of disclosure to viewers about possible personal conflicts of interest in her coverage.)
Now comes the latest bombshell to hit the hill. I held off writing about this in hopes that KEYT and the parties involved would settle the matter. A Web site -- www.johnpalminteri.com -- went up last week. It uses court records to question the reliability of its namesake reporter as a source of news.
This KEYT mess could rival anything on "All My Children."
Lest we forget some of the past vitriolic editorial fabrications,
recall this from the SB Independent
about when TKA totally made up a story about Mayor Marty Blum resigning from office.
We also could recall how the Federal Judge concluded that TKA is a big fat liar under oath in court.
also from the SB Independent
There are so many, many more examples of his spiteful lies.
I just saw this posting on Craig's List: "HUGE MCCAW CAGE". Maybe it's the answer to all the News-Press's problems! Check it out here.
Travis is simply an exemplar of the old adage, "Just because you live in a glass house doesn't mean you shouldn't throw stones." No defense intended, because the guy is not only a vitriolic writer lacking substance, analytical skills or style, he's a proven liar who's factually, ethically and cause-and-effect challenged. But we can't expect the News-Press to mute itself just because it's guilty of many of the offenses of which it accuses others. It should point out the flaws in others just as others should point out its flaws. Part of the problem is the arrogance, lies and poor journalistic practices that emanate from the paper. Another part of the problem is that the News-Press constantly declares itself the victim, and whines that others are trying to "silence" it, which shows it can't discern the difference between criticism and censorship, or the difference between collective bargaining and threats of coercion, and is insensitive to its own more malodorous and coercive attempts to silence others through the pressure of vexatious and harassing lawsuits, libelous ads and public pronouncements spewed forth from its multi-million dollar loudspeaker. While someone like Travis should have virtually no influence when he dusts off his cache of moldy oldie criticisms and grievances, there can be no expectation that he will employ discretion or grace, as he and his superiors have proven time and time again.
As loathsome, venal and dishonest Travis is, I sometimes feel just the teensiest bit sorry for him. This is a small and sad man, the gutless sort of bully who pulls the wings off butterflies because they can't fight back. What sort of upbringing leads to so pathetic a man?
In the end he's just a coward who, most certainly, will find himself frog-marched out the door of the N-P with few friends and no prospects.
And rest assured it'll come to that because McCaw always turns on her people. Always.
Armstrong is obviously an angry and "McCAW-controlled" man. He hasn't learned that launching smear campaigns only backfires.
People in glass houses often, in fact, have no stones.
99% of the article was rehashed hatred; the ONLY new item was the website attacking John P.
Anyone else notice that these meanspirited personal attacks now seem to occur most often on Saturdays, a day when the News Press' low readership is probably even lower than usual.
Maybe they're restricting his personal vendettas to Saturdays?
Yes, ever loyal Travis will be escorted out eventually, too. Count on it.
To alter the La. Governor Edwards famous phrase to fit this situation, in order for Travis to be escorted out by Wendy's stooges, he would have to be caught in bed with a dead boy or a live animal.
In response to "No Exit's" parameter's for Travis departure:
don't put it past him!
As was said in Angels in the Outfield:
"Hey, it could happen!"
Travis could get caught with a dead boy or a live animal, or could just get canned.
Quien sabe, whether Travis is capable of that particular kind of malfeasance, I leave to others to judge. I know he's proven himself dishonest, self-absorbed and unethical (and not merely in the journalistic sense), not to mention a poor writer. What I'm trying to say is that those criteria don't seem to matter to Wendy, but perhaps the Gov. Edwards-described offenses would require his ouster. Maybe.
Angel, anything is possible. But there does seem to be a perfect sycophant/benefactor relationship there, and what has Trav done to screw it up? His ethics, honesty, writing skill, analytical ability, and managerial competence all don't matter. So, if he doesn't get convicted and Wendy doesn't find something better to do with her money, what's going to get him canned?
It will take more than getting rid of Travis to revive the News-Press. There are some ethically-challenged editors still in the newsroom.
Getting rid of Travis for a truly ethical reason would go a long way toward fixing the problems and improving the atmosphere -- which is exactly why it won't happen. Actually, if there had to be one person to go, it would be the two-time inveterate liar hatchetman Steepleton who would be the primo choice.
Both Travis & Big Scotty are sad examples of credible journalism.
I'll predict right now, that both will not be working for Wendy on 12-31-09.
They will be "as history" as Circuit City and other folded institutions.
Good does prevail over evil - ALWAYS.
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