Local TV Journalism Isn't Totally Dead...

Because Byron Harris needed more encouragement... With KTVT-Channel 11 giving into the Dark Side of the Force and KXAS-Channel 5 peddling fear and face creams, yeah, it's easy to write off local TV news as the Brockmans leading the Burgundys down the primrose path. But all is not lost: Thirty...

By Robert Wilonsky

May 22, 2007

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Because Byron Harris needed more encouragement...

With KTVT-Channel 11 giving into the Dark Side of the Force and KXAS-Channel 5 peddling fear and face creams, yeah, it's easy to write off local TV news as the Brockmans leading the Burgundys down the primrose path. But all is not lost: Thirty minutes ago, the finalists for the prestigious 2007 Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism -- among the highest honors in business journalism, if not the top prize -- were announced, and WFAA-Channel 8 can claim quite the coup.

There are four finalists in the Television Enterprise Category -- and all the nominees are national broadcasts. Except, of course, one. And the nominees are:

Brian Ross for "Brian Ross Investigates: Mugus and Masters," 20/20 (ABC)

Jeff Fager, Steve Kroft and Andy Court for "The Mother of All Heists," 60 Minutes (CBS)

Josh Howard and David Faber for Big Brother, Big Business (CNBC)

Byron Harris, Mark Smith and Kraig Kirchem for "A Fraud on Your House" (WFAA-TV)

So, all's not lost in local TV...not yet. Oh, and mazel tov to Josh Howard too. CNBC? A true two-way player. --Robert Wilonsky

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