Some quick midweek notes:
— The Internet sex sting in Polk County that resulted in the arrests of 28 men — including three Disney workers and one technician for Local 6 — was widely reported on local TV news. But the way the stations reported it varied greatly. Video on WKMG’s Local6.com site shows the station did not try to downplay its employee’s arrest. Actually, it’s the Disney connection that’s downplayed in my opinion. It’s obviously an embarrassing incident, but WKMG made the right call in not trying to hide the arrest of one of its own. WESH.com video shows Channel 2 focused on the three Disney workers. Video on WFTV.com shows Eyewitness News reported the Disney workers and the WKMG worker in its package. A co-worker told me she thought WFTV was overplaying the WKMG’s worker’s connection to the sting, but based on the video here I would have to disagree.
— Apparently a lot of folks in Central Florida think it’s great to be a Florida Gator! Monday night’s NCAA basketball championship on WKMG was watched in 294,000 local households, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The semifinal game against UCLA on Saturday drew an impressive 214,000 homes on Local 6.
— I told you last week about a possible WESH May sweeps project. Now, Channel 2 is posting a call for "healthy, overweight" people. (A bit of a contradiction there?)
— Interesting discussion topic I’ll throw out for you all. If you were having a charity event or other public function, what Orlando TV anchor would you want the most to be the guest speaker? Somehow, a colleague ended up in a discussion about this, and he said hands-down it’s WESH’s Wendy Chioji. She’s been here a long time, folks here know her and she’s living a great story after successfully battling cancer. Can’t disagree with that. Any others you would put high on your list and why? You can leave comments below.