Kurt Knuttson, better known by his on-air persona “Kurt the CyberGuy,” is suing KTLA and several other Tribune stations for breach of contract and age discrimination, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Knuttson joined KTLA, Tribune’s CW affiliate in Los Angeles, as a technology reporter in 1995. He agreed to provide his reporting to KTLA in exchange for exposure, and within two years, his reports were being syndicated to other Tribune stations.

In 2008, he signed a five-year deal with the station, but two years later, his contract was terminated. Knuttson says he was informed that the deal would be renegotiated, but that he would be paid less. In 2011, he was informed he would no longer appear on the air.

THR has more details on Knuttson’s version of what happened next:

Despite being let go, Knutsson says his name and image continued for some time on the TV station’s websites, but when a viewer clicked on the link, they were shown consumer technology reports by Rich DeMuro instead, that were broadcast from the same studio as CyberGuy, with the same format and style

KTLA and the other stations never announced his departure to viewers. He says they also “manipulated content descriptions (keywords and metatags) in order to produce misleading results from common search engines so persons seeking Knutsson were routed to (DeMuro).” Read more

Broadcast media outlets in Los Angeles have been asked to avoid showing the “tactical movements” of officers during live coverage of the manhunt for Christopher Dorner, the ex-LAPD officer who allegedly shot four police officers Thursday morning.

“The Los Angeles Police Protective League respectfully requests that media outlets broadcasting live images from Big Bear discontinue showing the tactical movements of officers searching for Christopher Jordan Dorner,” a representative of the union wrote in an email to broadcast media outlets Thursday afternoon. “We request the assistance of the media in helping to protect the officers searching for this murder suspect.”

LA stations have been in various degrees of continuing coverage throughout the day. The stations have provided aerial coverage over Big Bear, where police have been focusing their search efforts. The news helicopters have occasionally captured shots LAPD officers in the park (like in the screengrab above, from KTLA‘s coverage).

A representative for the union said the stations have been receptive to the request.

KTLA‘s Rebecca Hall has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s largest entertainment union, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Hall, who is a reporter and weekend sports anchor at KTLA, filed the complaint Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board. In the filing, Halls says the union demanded she pay “excessive” initiation fees and union dues if she wanted to keep working at KTLA, Tribune’s CW affiliate in Los Angeles.

Hall’s complaint was filed with the help of attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation, the L.A. Times reports:

“Instead of informing Ms. Hall of her workplace rights, SAG bosses threatened to have her fired for refusing to join their union and pay full dues,” Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, said in a statement. “That’s unacceptable, which is why we’re helping her fight back against these heavy-handed tactics.”

In a statement, SAG-AFTRA disputed the claims. “SAG-AFTRA denies these allegations, which are completely without merit,” the union said. “The NLRB is reviewing this and we look forward to the speedy disposition of the charge.”

John D. Silva, the man who invented helicopter coverage for television, has died.

Silva was the chief engineer for Los Angeles station KTLA when he convinced station executives to give him $40,000 to outfit a rented Bell helicopter with a TV camera for news coverage.

Working in secrecy with Hollywood special effects shops and engineers from General Electric to find or invent technology small and light enough to fit on a helicopter, Silva and his small team broadcast their first signal on July 28, 1958 to Los Angeles viewers who would eventually come to equate a helicopter shot with a high-speed chase. Read more

Our sister site FishbowlLA interviews former KTLA reporter David Begnaud about his latest career move to Larry King‘s new home, online network Ora TV. Begnaud talks about making the jump from traditional television:

“For me, the tough part, always, was getting breaking news and then having to wait for the evening newscast. I met Larry King and his executive producer Wendy Walker, and she asked me if I wanted to bring my dream, vision of a breaking news show to Ora. It was definitely a big risk to move from ten years in traditional TV to online.”

The program is entirely elastic, with Begnaud and his team doing as many daily short blasts as the news dictates. “We’ve done five, we’ve done seven, we’ve done close to ten in a day,” he explains.  Read more

Los Angeles is gearing up for another “Carmageddon,” a weekend closure of a 10-mile strech of the 405 Freeway. One of the major complaints during the last Carmageddon weekend was the helicopter noise from the media’s aerial coverage, so LA stations are pooling resources this time around to keep things quiet. Rick Terrell, executive director of the RTNA of Southern California, shares details on the “unprecedented” arrangement with the Los Angeles Times:

Rather than sending up a helicopter from each station for each news broadcast, Terrell said, pilots will fly in shifts. Only one helicopter from member stations — including KABC, KCBS/KCAL, KMEX, KNBC/KVEA, KTLA and KTTV –- will go up at a time. He said the pool plan calls for three flights per night on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings prior to each major newscast at 6 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. respectively. He said one helicopter will also be sent out about 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

As the space shuttle Endeavour made its final flight around Los Angeles Friday afternoon, every major station in the region was carrying live coverage of its arrival.

KNBC anchors Michael Brownlee and Kathy Vara began anchoring coverage just before 9:30amPT. They were joined by Colleen Williams at Griffith Observatory, John Cadiz Klemack in Palmdale, Sean Murphy at the Santa Monica Pier, Ted Chen at Edwards Air Force Base, Toni Guinyard and Chuck Henry at LAX, Patrick Healy at the Nasa Propulsion Center and Antonio Castelan in El Segundo.

KTTV had several anchors participating: Phil Shuman, Carlos Amezcua, Araksya Karapetyan, Lisa Breckenridge and Jeff Michael. Meteorologist Maria Quiban and Pablo Pereira handled the weather reports, and reporters were live across Los Angeles, including Bob DeCastro and Gigi Graciette at LAX, Mar Yvette at a restaurant near LAX and Gina Silva at Griffith Observatory. Hal Eisner and Tshaka Armstrong also contributed. Read more

All the local stations in Los Angeles devoted special coverage to a high-speed pursuit in Los Angeles this morning. Four men who held up a bank in the Santa Clarita Valley led police through the streets of downtown LA, throwing fistfuls of cash out the window of the moving vehicle as they tried to evade capture.

KTLA morning anchor Frank Buckley was the first to report the news at 10:34amPT, breaking in to “Who Wants to be a Millionare?”

KNBC interrupted the fourth hour of “Today” with the news at 10:40amPT, with Kathy Vara anchoring. KCAL noon anchors David Gonzales and Sandra Mitchell were next at 10:42amPT.

KABC followed the news for the entirety of its regularly-scheduled 11 a.m. newscast, anchored by Phillip Palmer and Leslie Sykes. KTTV anchors Jeff Michael and Lisa Breckenridge first reported the news at at 11:42amPT, shortly after the chase came to an end with an arrest. Raw video of the chase, via KNBC, is after the jump… Read more

Veteran KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin is trying to set the record straight after a message was sent from his Twitter account containing the N-word.

Over the weekend, seemingly out of the blue, a tweet was posted from Rubin’s account to Yung Berg (@TheRealYungBerg), a rapper from Chicago. The tweet read: “fake ass n—-.”

Gawker pounced on it and highlighted the fact that Rubin tweeted “OOPS….I will explain later. But, biggest boo boo of the year. For reals,” apparently in response to the errant tweet. Read more

Brandi Hitt is joining ABC NewsOne, the network’s affiliate news service, as a Los Angeles-based correspondent.

Hitt comes from KTLA, the CW-affiliate in Los Angeles, where she was a reporter and anchor. She begins at NewsOne this week and will spend two weeks in the New York bureau before returning to the West Coast permanently.

“Brandi’s energy and experience will be a tremendous asset to NewsOne as we continue to help our stations and clients provide the highest quality news and information to their viewers each and every day,” ABC NewsOne vice president Al Prieto said in a statement.