Media Buzz | News/views about local media

Newspaper Tree sale final

Officials with the El Paso Community Foundation today told the El Paso Times that they have purchased the defunct Newspaper Tree online publication from former publisher Keith Mahar for an undisclosed amount.

Eric Pearson, the foundation’s executive vice president, said the online news site will re-emerge in February or March as a non-profit publication.

“Non-profit news is a trend in the industry right now,” he said. “This new model gives the people of El Paso another way to hold our elected officials accountable.”

Pearson also said former Newspaper Tree staff members Sito Negron and David Crowder are set to return as editor and reporter, respectively.

He also said his vision for Newspaper Tree is not as a competitor to the two dailies and five television stations in the region.

"We don't want to go out and cover the one-vehicle wreck. I respect that type of journalism because it is needed," said Pearson, a former reporter and news director.  "We want to work on investigative journalism and actually partner with the established media in El Paso."

Newspaper Tree stopped posting original content earlier this fall after it put all of its employees on permanent furlough. Mahar at that time also folded his other print and online products: El Paso Magazine, El Pasoan and In the 915.

Alvarez debuts gay show online

Sidney Alvarez, the former reporter/anchor at KFOX-TV Channel 14 (cable Channel 8), is back on the tube ... rather, he's back on the computer screen.  Alvarez, who left El Paso several years ago to do public relations in Pittsburgh, Pa., is doing a weekly online news and entertainment program for Out TV & Out Publishing, a gay media company.

The show is called "The Real Zephyr" and has a news-talk format that will feature news and commentary on business, entertainment, politics, sports, education and public service. While Sidney is openly gay and the show is produced by a gay company, its targeted audience is not just the LGBT community, officials said. Topics will be presented with "a human angle" that may impact everyone regardless of sexual orientation, they said.

Sidney, who is in El Paso for the holidays, said he's very excited about the show and about his return to a news format.

"We produced a few short demos for this project that quickly surfaced online in different social networking sites and discovered it was a hit," he said.

The show premiers at 4 p.m. Jan. 6 online at www.outonline.com

Molestina stays put

KVIA-TV Channel 7 (cable Channel 6) weekend anchor and reporter Ken Molestina has extended his contract with the station for one more year. His contract was set to expire on Dec. 31, but he announced that he signed an extension that keeps him in El Paso until the end of 2010.

Ken, a graduate of the University of Florida and a native of Miami, arrived in El Paso on January 2007 and quickly made himself at home.

On top of his duties at KVIA, Ken is a volunteer firefighter in the Upper Valley and a board member of the El Paso Press Club. Since arriving in El Paso, Ken has also won an EMMY and a first-place award from the Texas AP Broadcasters.

KTSM News Director Out

Kim Bridger, the news director at KTSM-TV Channel 9 (cable Channel 9) is leaving the station in January. After about two years at the NBC affiliate, Bridger is stepping down to return to her hometown of Corpus Christi.

Bridger's last day is January 11.

No word on who her replacement will be. Whoever that person is will be in charge of the news product for two stations. Of course Channel 9 is one of them. The other is KDBC-TV Channel 4 (cable Channel 3) which just this winter came under the management of Ch. 9.

KFOX gets new morning anchor

KFOX-TV Channel 14 (cable Channel 8) announced today that it has hired a new morning anchor to replace Noreen Jaramillo, who left the station last month when her contract was not renewed.

Bill Young will join Stephanie Guadian

on Jan. 11 for the KFOX Morning News show that airs from 5 to 8 a.m. Young comes to El Paso from Waco, where he was the morning and noon anchor at the Fox station. Before that, he worked at the Fox station in Oklahoma City.

Young is the latest Pittsburgh-native to work as a journalist in El Paso. Besides from a couple Times staffers, other Pittsburgh TV reporters include Rachel Abell and Ashley Hardway.

Another addition to the KFOX Morning News team will be traffic reporter Martina Valverde, who until recently was a reporter for KDBC-TV Channel 4 (cable Channel 3).

What happened to KDBC's 5:30 show?

Today's 5:30 p.m. KDBC newscast wa supposed to be the first transmitted from the KTSM studios. You may remember that Channel 9 is taking over the news operations of Channel 4.

Today's newscast was ready to go and reporters were in place. But because of a technology glitch at Channel 9, no image was broadcast. Viewers watching Channel 4 were treated instead to nothing but commercials.

Let's see how future Channel 4 broadcasts from Channel 9 go.

Jaramillo out at KFOX

Noreen Jaramillo will anchor her last KFOX Morning News show on Friday, the management at the station announced late today. She is expected to say good-bye to her viewers and the rest of the staff at KFOX during Friday's show.

No word on what Jaramillo's plans will be after she leaves the station. Management at KFOX said Jaramillo's contract was not renewed, but refused to answer any more questions about the issue since it is a personnel matter.

Jaramillo has been with KFOX since 2006, when she returned to El Paso to host the morning show after a three-year stint at KTVU, the Fox affiliate in San Francisco. Of course, she was KFOX's first-ever anchor in 1997. Before that she was a reporter at KVIA here in El Paso and for TV stations in Roswell, N.M.

KFOX's news director, Liz O'Hara, said on Thursday that she is looking to replace Jaramillo soon. She said the search could be finalized before the end of the month.