CBS 2 News Covers Giants Win

The New York Giants upset the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game Sunday night, advancing to the Super Bowl in two weeks. CBS 2 News at 11:00, anchored by Mary Calvi (Don Dahler was off), had team coverage: Sports director Ducis Rodgers was in the studio with highlights; Jackie Hyland was live at a sports bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn with fan reaction; and sports anchor Sam Ryan was live at Lambeau Field in Green Bay with player interviews. Rodgers had another 30 minutes of Giants coverage on Sports Sunday beginning at 11:35 and Sam Ryan provided more reports from Green Bay.






CBS 2 News announced yesterday that Ducis Rodgers, John Discepolo and Hazel Sanchez will file reports from Phoenix, site of this year's Super Bowl, beginning Monday.

Bartelstein: "Unfortunately, the chemo has not worked"

The Daily News' Richard Huff reports disappointing news in anchor Steve Bartelstein's battle with testicular cancer: Not only have his four rounds of chemotherapy not been effective, but doctors worry that the cancer has spread to his brain.

Here are some of Bartelstein's quotes from the article:

• "I don't want to make it sound more dramatic than it is. I'm a little worried; it's somewhere else."
• "I'm not scared. I hate to say it, it sounds like a commercial for [Memorial] Sloan-Kettering, but they say not to be worried."
• "In their [the doctors'] words, 'We're disturbed, we're curious, we don't know why this is happening; if it was terrible, we would have seen something before this.'"
• "When I say I'm worried, I just want to find out. I'm still pretty upbeat about it. I've said this before; in some ways, it's been kind of this great gift, I've met so many amazing people."
• "I might have had one of those days last week, when word got back it didn't work. I'm really, really tired of being sick. For the most part, I haven't had many of those days, but I'm tired of being sick."

Update: Kristine Johnson spoke with Bartelstein at the end of CBS 2 News at 5:00... That segment is available on wcbstv.com.

"Eye on the Storm" Saturday

CBS 2 will air a half-hour special Saturday on winter weather. "Eye on the Storm: Extreme Winter Weather" will feature the CBS 2 weather team of Lonnie Quinn, John Elliott and Elise Finch. It begins at 7:00 p.m. For more information, check out this press release or watch this promo:



The special will re-air Sunday morning at 11:30.

CBS 2's last weather special was "Eye On The Storm: The Hurricane Threat," which first aired back in June.

Interview Set Spotted

CBS 2's interview set made a brief appearance during the noon news today. John Elliott mentioned during his forecast that students from Gettysburg College were in the studio to watch the newscast. On his walk back to the desk, a shot of the students was taken.

It is believed to be the first time this set has been shown on-air since the station switched over to broadcasting in high definition. And it looked a bit different: The background cityscape has been replaced by a large flag graphic, possibly in advance of election-related interviews.

Shelley Promoted to Director of Digital Media

CBS 2 promoted Dan Shelley yesterday to the position of director of Digital Media. "In this new post, Shelley will oversee all sales and editorial content for WCBSTV.com and the station's other digital content delivery platforms," says the press release. He previously served as that department's executive editor and is credited with increasing the traffic to WCBSTV.com by over 300% year-to-year.

CBS 2 News Reporters Across the Country, Around the World

CBS 2 News currently has three reporters covering political events happening outside of the tri-state area and providing live reports.

Marcia Kramer followed Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Norman, OK. The trip is seen by many as Bloomberg's testing of the political waters for a presidential run.

On the eve of the New Hampsire primary elections, Andrew Kirtzman is reporting from Manchester, NH. While he's been covering all of the Democratic and Republican candidates, his reports have focused on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton because of her local ties. Kirtzman reported from Des Moines, IA last week on that state's caucuses.

And Lou Young began reporting from Jerusalem, Israel this evening. He's making his 11th trip to the area to cover President George W. Bush's visit later this week. Jim Rosenfield was originally slated to take the trip and even spoke to NewsByte2 about it, but he fell ill at the last minute.

Rosenfield Discusses Israel Assignment

As was previously reported here, CBS 2 News anchor Jim Rosenfield is headed to Israel this weekend. He'll be covering the president's trip to the country.

Rosenfield tells NewsByte2 that this won't be his first visit to the country. Here he recounts his experiences reporting during the Gulf War from Tel Aviv:

That was a time of high anxiety for Israelis, subjected to threats and rocket attacks from Saddam Hussein. But the Israelis tried their best to carry on with their daily lives, despite repeated trips at all hours of the night into their sealed rooms during scud alerts. We had to learn how to don gas masks, and head quickly to a sealed floor of our hotel just as the Israelis did in their own homes. My last night there, one of the scuds did, in fact, hit a neighborhood in a suburb of Tel Aviv. I still remember an elderly man walking through the rubble of what was his apartment. He was a Holocaust survivor who had lived through Hitler's atrocities, but lost his home to Saddam Hussein.

Rosenfield says his focus is to talk with Israelis and Palestinians, especially those with ties to the tri-state area, and getting their reactions on Bush's visit. He will provide live reports on the 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts beginning Monday and continuing through Thursday night.

Update on New Reporters

It is important to point out that Samantha Knapp and Jackie Hyland, who recently made their debuts on CBS 2 News, are freelance reporters. This blog incorrectly used the word "joined" when referring to their appearances. Those entry headlines have been modified to more accurately reflect the statuses of Knapp and Hyland. NewsByte2 will take greater care in reporting future events.

Hyland on CBS 2 News

Jackie Hyland made her debut on CBS 2 News at 5:00 this evening. She was most recently a morning anchor and reporter at WFAA-TV in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. She left on November 28th, writing on wfaa.com, "I am going back home to New York to be with my family."

Prior to WFAA, Hyland served as a reporter and anchor at WPIX. She has also worked at News 12's Long Island and Westchester operations.

Hyland answered in this Q&A that she was born in New York, raised in Ireland and attended St. John's University.

Rosenfield to Israel

CBS 2 News anchor Jim Rosenfield announced this evening that he will report from Israel next week. He's going to cover President Bush's visit to Israel, his first as president, which aims to push Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.