Seniority and pension at stake in ABC union negotiations

No agreement has been reached between ABC and unions representing news personnel, who have been working at the network with an expired contract since March 31. No date yet on when talks will resume.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, ABC wants to change the seniority system currently in place, to give them flexibility on who to eliminate during layoffs. They also want to freeze the pension plan, due to the volatility of the market. But the network is willing to drop this issue for the next four years if the unions agree on the seniority change - that's only if the unions speed up ratifying the deal.

Reading up on the contract negotiations situation at ABC reminded me of the last time they went through the process that turned nasty - back at the end of 1998, when the network ended up locking out more than 2,000 of their employees for about three months, before they reached a deal.

Suro leaves Pew Hispanic Center

Longtime journalist Roberto Suro has left the Pew Hispanic Center and as of Monday, is teaching journalism at he University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. Suro, the founding director of the center, had headed the organization for six years. He had previously worked for The Washington Post.

In his more than 25-year journalism career, he also worked as a foreign correspondent for Time Magazine and The New York Times in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

L.A. reporter and news director suspended after investigation

After an internal investigation, Telemundo executives announced that Mirthala Salinas, the reporter who had an affair with L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is suspended for two months without pay. KVEA-52 news director Al Corral also had the same fate. Three other supervisors were reprimanded for allowing Salinas to continue reporting on the mayor while romantically involved with him. General manager Manuel Abud was reassigned to another position.

The L.A. Times has the full story in today's paper.