Observer » Jay DeDapper

Former WNBC-4 Reporter Launches Boutique Production Company

Felix Gillette — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:39:53 -0400

Today, former WNBC-4 political reporter Jay DeDapper launched an eponymous New York–based production company.

"Pretty pictures and nice editing are meaningless without a well told story," writes Mr. DeDapper on his company's new site. "That's what we do. We are storytellers."

Mr. DeDapper is one of several high-profile anchors and reporters who have left NBC's flagship New York station in recent months, as NBCU executives have struggled to dramatically alter their approach toward the local news business.

This morning, Mr. DeDapper spoke to Richard Huff of the Daily News about his career change. "I have not been shy about talking to people about the incredible changes and self-destruction of journalism on television," said Mr. DeDapper. "The jobs, they're not just disappearing and they'll be coming back; they're disappearing permanently. There will be very few places in journalism on television for good people."

WNBC Staffers Toast Their Former Colleagues at ‘Severance-Fest 2009′

Felix Gillette — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:12:46 -0400

On Friday night, a roiling crowd of local TV newsmen and -women packed into an Irish bar in midtown to toast their former colleagues who had recently lost their jobs in the layoffs and buyouts that have been sweeping WNBC-4, NBC's flagship station in New York.

In the days leading up to the party, some staffers jokingly referred to it as a "Wake 4 NY" and a "gathering of the recently departed." Others took to calling it "Severence-Fest 2009."

Sure enough, the past year at WNBC-4 has been one of upheaval, as managers dismantled the traditional newsroom in favor of a so-called digital "content center." Dozens of veteran station employees have lost their jobs along the way.

By the time Friday night rolled around, everyone needed a stiff drink, went the thinking. And in the end, despite the recent gloominess at WNBC-4, Friday night's party turned into a jovial affair, according to several attendees. The cash bar, located in the basement of Legends 33, was packed by 7:30 p.m., and the party didn't break up until 3:30 a.m. By Monday morning, photos of the revelry were already making their way onto Facebook.

According to sources, current WNBC anchors Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons attended the party briefly, quietly eating dinner at a side table before returning to the station for the 11 p.m. news. Meteorologist Janice Huff also turned up to say goodbye to her former friends and coworkers.

Here and there, newsmen and -women from other stations, including Channel 7 and NY1, mingled with reporters who had left the station months and years earlier, including the likes of David Diaz and Scott Weinberger. One partygoer estimated the crowd at around 150 persons.

At around 9:30 p.m., the collective tipsy brain trust decided that somebody had to say something to the group as a whole. Eventually, the station's ex-political reporter Jay DeDapper accepted the assignment. From a stairway landing at the front of the room, he addressed his fellow unemployed and under-employed colleagues.

For the most part, according to sources, Mr. DeDapper kept things positive. He gave shout-outs to former WNBC-4 news director Paula Madison and former station manager Dan Forman, who was there drinking in the crowd. Mr. DeDapper said that they had built something special at WNBC-4. Everyone should feel proud.

When the Media Mob caught up with Mr. DeDapper by phone on Monday afternoon, he confirmed that his comments had been upbeat and celebratory.

"I wouldn't call it a wake," said Mr. DeDapper. "It was more of a reunion and a goodbye. We put the dot at the end of the sentence. News Channel 4 is over."

"Everything that we did, all the Emmys we won, all the great stories and series we did, that's done," he added. "There may be great stuff in the future with the new group of people. We're just not going to be a part of it. We had what we had. Now it's time to move on."

John Hall on Congress and the War

Azi Paybarah — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:28:59 -0400

NBC News Forum host Jay DeDapper pressed freshman Representative John Hall on the Iraq war during the taping of the show today.

DeDapper notes that Hall and others won their seats in 2006 in part because of sweeping antiwar sentiment, but as he faces reelection, he may have to explain why the country is still engaged in combat in Iraq, even though Democrats have a majority in Congress.

The show airs Sunday, but here's a segment from a transcript the studio sent over:

DeDAPPER:…Democrats, including you, were elected to Congress in 2006, a lot of people believe because there was a public sentiment to get out of Iraq.

Rep. HALL: There still is.

DeDAPPER: You're not out of Iraq. The Democrats haven't been able to do
that.

Rep. HALL: Well, it's been a rough thing not having quite enough numbers to do it. Like in the House, the Democrats have a working majority and we've been able to pass legislation, which puts in a time line for withdrawal. And that's the only funding that I will vote for or that I have voted for is funding that gives our troops what they need, but also puts a time line and a withdrawal schedule down in black and white. The Senate doesn't have enough votes, it's 51-49. Senator Lieberman is number 51. He's an Independent, but he votes with the president on the war, so it's a tie. And then Vice President Cheney breaks the tie. So the Senate has been dysfunctional and unable, really, to pass, you know, much of anything. But...

DeDAPPER: Is that something that the American people understand, though...

Rep. HALL: I don't think they do. The polls...

DeDAPPER: The Democrats went to Congress to change this, to get us out of Iraq and a year and a half later your...

Rep. HALL: We're still trying.

DeDAPPER: ...approval ratings are--not yours personally--but the Congress' are at the bottom and we're still in Iraq.

Rep. HALL: We're still trying to change things and unfortunately we need a workable majority in the Senate in order to do that and also we need either a president who won't veto our bills or we need a president who we can override. We need a veto-proof majority, which right now we don't have. So we've had to work with the president and with the knowledge that his veto. But in six years he never vetoed anything, by the way. But all of a sudden there's a Democratic Congress and...

DeDAPPER: Now that the Democrats, yeah.

Rep. HALL: ...the House. All of a sudden he's vetoing things.

Bill Thompson on Congestion Pricing, Bloomberg's Legacy

Azi Paybarah — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:37:09 -0400

Bill Thompson has a problem with congestion pricing.

Here’s part of the transcript from a television interview Thompson did this morning with NBC’s Jay DeDapper which will air on Sunday:

Mr. THOMPSON: I've got some problems with it. I mean...
DeDAPPER: Name one big problem you have.

Mr. THOMPSON: Well, how do you allow deductibility of tolls for people
coming in through the George Washington Bridge and coming in from Jersey...

DeDAPPER: Like the Holland Tunnel, right.

Mr. THOMPSON: ...and Long Island, and at the same point, you say to New
Yorkers, you have to dig deeper in your pocket? You know, those are the sins of the city. I mean, I think there's an unfairness there. So that was one of the big complaints I had before. I still have that complaint. I just think it's unfair to New Yorkers.

Congestion pricing is the centerpiece of Michael Bloomberg's long-term transportation plan for the city. But its passage from the City Council and the State Legislature is in question.

For people keeping score, that’s two mayoral candidates with objections to the plan (Thompson and Anthony Weiner) and one that is much more in favor of it (Christine Quinn).

DeDapper later asked whether the 2009 mayor’s race is going to be a race to see who can best replicate the third term of Michael Bloomberg’s administration.

Mr. THOMPSON: I think that, you know, people are pleased with the direction that the city has moved in in the last six years under Mayor Bloomberg. At the same point, I think everybody's going to have to talk about what they're going to do and do differently. I think you're going to be able, just like Mayor Bloomberg was able to build on the past, all of us are going to be able to build on that, but also say what we're going to do for the future of New York City.

DeDAPPER: Is his endorsement going to be as valuable as Rudy Giuliani's was to him?

Mr. THOMPSON: Hmm, times are different. I don't believe anybody's
endorsement carries that much weight, usually. Would everybody like it?
Sure.

Schneiderman Says Undocumented Immigrants Less Crime-Prone Than Americans

Azi Paybarah — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:44:07 -0400

Two of the state Senate’s most articulate members, Marty Golden and Eric Schneiderman, debated Eliot Spitzer’s driver’s license plan today on NBC’s News Forum where host “Jay DeDapper was forced to play referee as the two men battled it out.”

Before the outbursts (sort of minor, but still), Schneiderman said there is no safety issue at stake: “In fact, our undocumented immigrants are the safest population we have, committing crimes at one-fifth the rate of native Americans.”

You can watch the debate here.

Bill Thompson Open to Bi-Partisan Probe of Spitzer

Azi Paybarah — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:01:57 -0400

Here’s a bit of Bill Thompson’s interview with Jay DeDapper of WNBC in which he discusses Eliot Spitzer’s still-unfolding Joe Bruno problem.

Thompson said that if a circumstance arose in which his own chief of staff failed to inform him that he was doing the kinds of things Spitzer’s top aide, Rich Baum, admitted to doing, Thompson would fire him.

From the interview:

JD: If your chief of staff didn't tell you about something like this that was going on and was actively involved, would he still be working for you?

Later in the interview, Thompson says he's open the idea of another inquiry into the whole matter, as long as it's carried out by both houses of the state legislature, not just by the Republican-controlled Senate.

From Spitzer's point of view, it's not exactly clear that getting the Democratic-controlled Assembly involved in this matter would be an entirely good thing.

Here's a longer excerpt:

JD: Do you believe he would not have known about any of this?

BT: Given his comments, he's not going to lie at this point. He said he
didn't know, I believe he didn't. Staff doesn't tell you everything, and
I think something on this level, it's a possibility that staff didn't
tell him, so I'd take him at his word.

JD: Should they have been fired?

BT: That's for the Governor to determine.

JD: Would you have fired them?

BT: I might have.

JD: If your chief of staff didn't tell you about something like this that
was going on and was actively involved, would he still be working for
you?

BT: My chief of staff would not be working for me. I'm not going to comment on what Eliot should do with his staff, at the same point, the one thing that has to occur, his two staff people, it has come out today that they have not spoken to the Attorney General's office. They have to come forward. They have to be honest and just say, 'look, here's what happened, here's what we did, we're sorry, we made a mistake,' and I honestly believe in forgiveness, people do make mistakes, they get overzealous. You see someone as a political enemy for some reason or standing in the way of trying to get an agenda or the people's agenda done, and they overreacted, but they have to come forward, they can't stonewall the Attorney General.

JD: Is using the state police to go after a political enemy, which some
people have called Nixonian, Ed Koch called it Gestapo tactics, is that
going over the top, or is that something more?

BT That is definitely going over the top. It is improper, that's not why
the state police are there, they are not there to be used as a political
tool for anyone, so it was going over the top. I think the governor
responded, suspending people, moving people, so we'll see what else
happens. But those two individuals do have to come forward and be honest and open.

JD: Should there be an independent investigator on this case?

BT: I think the Attorney General did a thorough a job on this one, as
thorough as possible. It said he didn't believe there was any criminal
wrongdoing in this. What the venue is... is it a legislative body, is it
another body, one that is impartial would help. Maybe a joint hearing
between the assembly and the senate that way, issues of partisanship are taken off the table.

Quinn and Bloomberg and 2009

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:17:23 -0400

So, how does anybody run for mayor in this town in the wake of Michael Bloomberg? Aside from the disastrous school bus plan, the race to City Hall at times seems more like a race to stand closest to Bloomberg.

Case in point, WNBC reporter Jay DeDapper's interview with Christine Quinn, whose big State of the City speech - that informal mayoral campaign warning shot - got slightly overshadowed with the mayor's flap about not easing parking restrictions.

But no complaints from Quinn.

DeDAPPER: Is that his problem that he's got a little bit of a tin ear?

Ms. QUINN: You don't end up being the mayor of the city of New York if you don't understand politics.

DeDAPPER: Good point.

[skip]

DeDAPPER: Does the next mayor need to continue his legacy, do you think? I mean, if he laid the path that whoever it is, a Republican, an Independent, a Democrat, they basically have to say, `I'm going to do Bloomberg'?

Ms. QUINN: I think the next mayor, whoever they are, has to be somebody who has a vision for the city, somebody who has a belief in this city and somebody who's willing to work very hard and put the good of this city ahead of politics and who's willing to really move the city forward to keep all of the progress that Mayor Bloomberg has set up moving forward, but to keep it moving forward in a vision that really embraces the needs of New Yorkers.

-- Azi Paybarah

Dubya, who?

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:36:18 -0400

This Sunday on NBC's News Forum, reporter Jay DeDapper talks to republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso.

When asked if he would like George Bush to campaign with him should he be nominated for the republican ticket, he responded: "Well, I will be delighted to have the support of all the republicans that want to support me but particularly the three point two million republicans here in New York State."

Not surprisingly, Faso sees no coattails to ride in this race.

—Nicole Brydson