KTLA reporter David Begnaud knew he was taking a risk when he left the confines of traditional TV reporting to join Larry King’s new home, Ora TV. But already, he says he is basking in the ability of the online network’s second show NewsBreaker to report on news as it happens.

This morning happens to coincide with Begnaud’s first exclusive. After hearing about an open letter written by Special Olympics ambassador John Franklin Stephens to Ann Coulter in response to the latter’s now infamous Obama R-word tweet, he tracked the gentleman down and got him to read his letter on camera.

“I said to my team, ‘It’s one thing to read the open letter but it’s much more powerful to see him read it,” Begnaud tells FishbowlLA via telephone. “It’s sort of personal for me, because I grew up in Louisiana with a mentally handicapped aunt and my mother has a company that takes care of the developmentally disabled.”

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Gawker called out KTLA’s David Begnaud today for the somewhat lighthearted tone of his report on the murder of MTV music/production coordinator Gabriel Aron Benmeir. In particular, Gawker’s Richard Lawson wasn’t a fan of Gegnaud’s interview with “Block Captain” Joann Smyth.

“They banter back and forth a bit, all the while seeming to entirely forget that someone was horribly murdered right near where they stand. Local news broadcasts are often a bit tonally off, but the cutesy get-to-know-a-neighborhood vibe of this strikes as especially strange.”

The interview in question takes place about a minute into the piece.

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