The Providence Phoenix recently went looking for the story behind the now viral video of Melisa Lawrence throwing a rock at WLNE reporter Abbey Niezgoda and photographer Marc Jackson, then grabbing a baseball bat to drive the local ABC affiliate crew away before eventually siccing her dogs on them.

Everybody’s like, “Oh, you’re a star now!” I don’t feel like a star. If this is what they call “being a star” then guess what? Let me be the dirt. I’d rather be . . . just a pile of dirt. Because that’s how I feel. I feel like a bag of poop. I feel like nothing. I feel like the scum of the earth.

The Phoenix spoke to local reporters, community leaders and Lawrence herself to hear what happened before the incident, what might have prevented it from happening and give Lawrence more dimension than the video suggests.

Lawrence, who is now facing two counts of felony assault with a dangerous weapon, told the Phoenix the story was ruining her life and went on to offer some advice to TV crews, “When you’re dealing with the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or whoever — just dealing with victims of a shooting, period — have some compassion. Put yourself in their shoes. You know? Try to get a better understanding of what they’re going through and, like, approach them a different way. If they say ‘No,’ just understand: ‘No’ means ‘No.’”

You can read the entire article by clicking here. You can watch the video of the incident after the jump. Read more

A Providence, RI, woman has been arrested after an exchange with a reporter and photographer for ABC affiliate WLNE ended with the reporter being bitten by the woman’s dog.

Melissa Lawrence has been charged with two counts of felony assault with a dangerous weapon after throwing a rock at WLNE photographer Marc Jackson and siccing her dogs on both Jackson and reporter Abbey Niezgoda.

The two had approached Lawrence to tell her a suspect in the weekend shooting of her daughter had turned himself in. As the reporter and photographer backed off after Lawrence began her assault, Lawrence ran inside her house and grabbed a baseball bat. “Why are you attacking us ma’am?” asked Niezgoda. Lawrence replied, “Get away from me.” She then sicced her two dogs on the crew. The dogs chased Niezgoda, biting her on the arm and following her as she tried escaping down the street.

Watch the video of the incident after the jump. Read more

WJAR, the Media General NBC affiliate in Providence, found a new way to spell SUCCESS in February. For the first time, the station’s 4-year old 7pm newscast beat perennial time period winner “Wheel of Fortune.” The newscast, anchored by Dan Jaehnig and Alison Bologna, is the only local newscast at 7pm and certainly got a boost from an unusually snowy month. “With our continued on-air blizzard coverage and in-depth investigative stories from the I-Team and Money Watchers, we feel we have raised the bar on local news content,” says news director Christopher Lanni.

With a 7.32 rating, the 7pm news was up +24% year-over-year. “Wheel” airs on CBS affiliate WPRI at 7pm.

“It was an incredibly rewarding success in February to finally beat this previous ratings dominator,” Lanni tells GoLocalProv. “Dan and Alison and the entire team really put their heart and soul into this show. We’re also proud of the fact that we’re one of the highest rated 7pm newscasts in the entire country.”

OTA Broadcasting has agreed to buy WLWC in Providence from Sinclair Broadcast Group, according to TVNewsCheck.

WLWC is the CW affiliate in Providence. It will be sold to OTA Broadcasting, which is owned by Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell, for $13.75 million.

Sinclair bought WLWC as part of a seven-station deal from Four Points Media last year. [h/t NewsBlues]

While our mediabistroTV crew is busy putting the finishing touches on next week’s “My First Big Break” we thought we’d give you a little preview of what you can expect.

Christiane Amanpour tells mediabistroTV how her journey from Tehran during the revolution and first TV job as a graphics coordinator for WJAR in Providence, RI came together to lead her to the early days of CNN and finally to her role of global affairs anchor for ABC News.

Tune in to mediabsitroTV next Wednesday for the whole story in “Christiane Amanpour: My First Big Break.”

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

While the rest of the East Coast was focused on Hurricane Sandy last Monday, a Providence, RI prankster snuck a couple past the censors at WJAR.  During the NBC affiliate’s regular “First Birthdays” segment anchor Frank Coletta breezed right through the first two names before turning his attention back to the lead of the day, Hurricane Sandy’s approach.

Of course, we don’t know for sure those were fake names, but the 13-year-old boy in me guesses they’re not real.  Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel agreed.  He pointed out the prank on his show.  You can watch that video after the jump. Read more

Karen Rezendes has been named news director for WPRI-WNAC.

For the past several years, Rezendes has been the assistant news director and manager of special projects for the Providence FOX and CBS affiliate.

“For the past sixteen years, Karen has played a key role in successfully growing our Eyewitness News ratings,” said president and general manager Patrick Wholey. “Karen has been instrumental in developing and growing our Target 12 investigative brand and our Eyewitness News brand across all platforms. She’s the perfect person to continue the momentum and success of our news stations and will continue to provide viewers with the high quality of news coverage they’ve come to expect from Eyewitness News.”

Rezendes has also worked at WTKR in Norfolk, VA.

[golocalprov.com]

LIN Media has announced three promotions within the company’s executive ranks. Jay Howell has been promoted to vice president of regional television, Patrick Wholey has been named president and general manager of WPRI-WNAC in Providence, and Joseph Abouzeid has been named president and general manager of WDTN-WBDT in Dayton.

Howell previously was the president and general manager of WPRI-WNAC. In his new role as vice president of regional television, he will oversee those stations as well as WWLP in Springfield, WAVY-WVBT in Norfolk, WIVB-WNLO in Buffalo, WDTN-WBDT in Dayton, KIMT in Mason City and KSNT in Topeka.

“Jay did an outstanding job as General Manager, building revenue and profit performance through the growth of audiences both on-air and online, staff development and relationships with clients and viewers in the local community,” LIN Media EVP Scott Blumenthal said in a statement. Read more

Kevin Coskren is leaving KLKN to be the chief meteorologist at WLNE in Providence, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.

Coskren, who joined the Lincoln ABC-affiliate in 1999 and was promoted to chief meteorologist in 2001, said that he has always wanted to return to the northeast. After KLKN parent company Citadel Communications purchased WLNE last year, he wrote to the president of the company and said he’d like to be considered for open positions at the Providence ABC-affiliate.

“I wish I could pick up the city of Lincoln, all my friends, my children’s school and KLKN and move it with me to another part of the country,” Coskren said. “This always will be my second home.” Read more

Chief meteorologist Fred Campagna is leaving WLNE, the ABC-affiliate in Providence, next month, GoLocalProv reports.

“At the appropriate time, I went to channel 6 management with a reasonable proposal that I thought would allow me to stay at the station for, at least, the remainder of my contract (Aug 2013),” Campagna told GoLocalProv. “The station dismissed my proposal out of hand, and we agreed to terminate the contract on July 31.”

Campagna, who handles the weather forecasts on the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, has worked at the station for 14 years. He will reportedly be replaced by Kevin Coskren, who is currently chief meteorologist at KLKN, the ABC-affiliate in Lincoln, NE.