TV producer Fineman dead at 54

L.A. native often critiqued local news

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Veteran California broadcaster Ron Fineman has died. He was 54.

His wife, CBS 2 and KCAL 9 news producer Christy Knorr, said Fineman died Saturday at a hospital in Santa Clarita after a three-year battle with colon cancer.

Most recently Fineman was known for his On the Record Web site, which critiqued television news coverage in Southern California. The site was a learning tool for journalists and was followed closely by his broadcasting colleagues.

Fineman grew up in Los Angeles where he attended Fairfax High School and West L.A. College and earned a history degree from UCLA in 1974. He worked at news stations across the state, including at KNTB in Bakersfield and KNX Radio in L.A.

Fineman won three Golden Mike awards for commentary, most recently in 2001.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm leaving this world having contributed something important, and I hope people remember me for that," Fineman told the Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview Dec. 21, shortly after he was removed from a respirator at the hospital.

"Some people were angry with what I wrote; some people took it in stride, and professionally. The real pros looked at the content of what I wrote and realized there was merit to what I was saying."

"He had a kind of high standard for what television news should be," said Kevin Roderick, whose Web site laobserved.com fills a similar watchdog role for local print media.

"He was kind of old-fashioned in his tastes. He didn't like 'happy talk,' a lot of banter between the anchors. He definitely did not appreciate women who dressed in anything other than very professional on stage."

He is survived by his wife, a son, James Fineman, and a brother, Ken Fineman.