By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
Fri Aug 19, 9:11 PM ET
While some cable TV hosts are making their living off the Natalee Holloway case this summer, Bob Costas is having none of it.
Costas, hired by CNN as an occasional fill-in on "Larry King Live," refused to anchor Thursday's show because it was primarily about the Alabama teenager who went missing in Aruba. Chris Pixley filled in at the last minute.
"I didn't think the subject matter of Thursday's show was the kind of broadcast I should be doing," Costas said in a statement. "I suggested some alternatives but the producers preferred the topics they had chosen. I was fine with that, and respectfully declined to participate."
Costas' manager declined to elaborate on what Costas didn't like about the topic.
Thursday's guests included Beth Holloway Twitty, the girl's mother; a television reporter; and an investigator in the case. Seven of the show's 10 guests talked about the missing girl, the other segments were about the BTK killer.
The Holloway case has been a big attraction on cable news networks during a slow news period, with Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren getting record ratings as she's paid almost nonstop attention to it. Reports of Costas' decision first surfaced on the mediabistro.com Web site on Friday.
"There were no hard feelings at all," Costas said. "It's not a big deal. I'm sure there are countless topics that will be mutually acceptable in the future."
Wendy Walker, senior executive producer of "Larry King Live," described it as a mutual decision for Costas not to do the show because he was uncomfortable with the subject matter.
"We love having Bob ... and since `Larry King Live' covers an extremely extensive palate of subjects, there will always be shows that he will enjoy hosting," she said.
The NBC Sports personality, also host of "Costas Now" on HBO, had agreed to be host for about 20 editions of "Larry King Live" this year. He's done six, the network said.
His decision is reminiscent of Keith Olbermann, the former sportscaster who left his MSNBC news show in the late 1990s in part because he was asked to repeatedly cover the Monica Lewinsky story. Olbermann is back now for his second run at MSNBC.
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Good job Bob!
_________________ Deep below the dunes I roved Past the rows, past the rows Beside the acacias freshly in bloom I sent men to their doom
Good decision. I feel badly for the girl, of course, but the story is "big" only because she's young and pretty. Put even a handsome guy in her place of the same age and you'll have only the corner of the local news.
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:12 am Posts: 1006 Location: my desk in fort worth
C4Lukin wrote:
Does anyone not like Costas? He has to be the most likeable fella on the face of the planet.
I do not like Bob Costas's Olympic coverage. If he's doing other major sports, I can tolerate him, but during the Olympics everything is bigger than it really needs to be.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:32 pm Posts: 766 Location: Grayson County, Virginia
C4Lukin wrote:
Does anyone not like Costas? He has to be the most likeable fella on the face of the planet.
i think he is pretty boring, nothing special. does job though i guess
_________________ "I came here as a child when it first opened," said Tarsley. "Now that I have kids, where are they supposed to go for Whoppers or Chicken Tenders? We need to ask ourselves, as a culture, 'Where are our priorities?'"
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Won't someone think of poor Natalee??
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Slain Pa. Woman's Ex-Boyfriend Arrested By DAN ROBRISH, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 21, 8:13 AM ET
PHILADELPHIA - Police discovered the remains of a missing pregnant woman and quickly arrested the father of her unborn child Saturday, ending an exhaustive, monthlong search.
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District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said Stephen Poaches would be charged with two counts of murder and related offenses for the deaths of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa and her fetus.
Authorities did not provide a motive or say what led them to suspect Poaches, 25, who police said was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a pistol when he was arrested.
The remains were recovered in a grassy, partially wooded lot in Chester, 13 miles from Philadelphia. A few dozen members of the Figueroa family and supporters arrived at the scene shortly after daybreak, clustering close to the police tape and embracing each other.
"Now she can rest in peace," said the woman's father, Melvin Figueroa. "All I want is justice with that peace."
The woman's uncle, Jose Figueroa, said as terrible as the discovery of the body was, it puts an end to the weeks of fear and not knowing about LaToyia, who was five months pregnant at the time of the disappearance. "We can actually try to go back to a normal life," he said.
Relatives and friends have papered the city with flyers and held large-scale searches for any sign of Figueroa, recently marking one month since her disappearance. A reward fund for information had reached $100,000, including donations from the restaurant where she worked.
The case attracted a brief flurry of television attention after several Philadelphia-area bloggers waged a campaign urging networks to give the same attention to Fugueroa, who is black and Hispanic, as they did to Natalee Holloway, a white woman who disappeared in Aruba.
Poaches' lawyer, Michael Coard, has repeatedly spoken to journalists on behalf of his client, including national television appearances in which he noted that Poaches has spoken to investigators voluntarily and that he has consented to have his home and his vehicle searched.
Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said Saturday that Coard's public relations moves would not hold up.
"He has an attorney who has basically tried this case in the news media and has depicted him to be innocent. We are saying today that he is not innocent and we are going to convict him and he will go to whatever he deserves to get," Johnson said.
Coard did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment after Saturday's news conference.
Figueroa, who also is the mother of a 7-year-old girl, was last seen on the afternoon of July 18 in West Philadelphia.
_________________ Ringo: Wretched slugs, don't any of you have the guts to play for blood?
Doc: I'm your huckleberry.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
Quote:
The case attracted a brief flurry of television attention after several Philadelphia-area bloggers waged a campaign urging networks to give the same attention to Fugueroa, who is black and Hispanic, as they did to Natalee Holloway, a white woman who disappeared in Aruba.
I'd just prefer that the national news not give either story any attention.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 6:44 am Posts: 14671 Location: Baton Rouge Gender: Male
Green Habit wrote:
Quote:
The case attracted a brief flurry of television attention after several Philadelphia-area bloggers waged a campaign urging networks to give the same attention to Fugueroa, who is black and Hispanic, as they did to Natalee Holloway, a white woman who disappeared in Aruba.
I'd just prefer that the national news not give either story any attention.
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