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We’ll miss Dick Ellis …
I really hate to see Dick Ellis go. He brings a comforting credibility to local TV news with his 34 years of experience in reporting and anchoring in Austin. He’s the dean of local broadcast news and deservedly so.
Last week, we learned that Ellis and KTBC’s Fox 7 News are parting ways. Ellis’ last day at KTBC is scheduled to be Tuesday. His last night anchoring was Friday. He’s a night-side reporter this week.
Neither side will say on the record what caused the break, but the fact that KTBC assigned Ellis to reporting duties this week pretty much spells it out. The station wanted new anchors, so Ellis and Carrie Schumacher were ditched, and newcomers Mike Warren and Linda Stratton were hired.
What’s the big deal about Ellis? Newcomers may not know that this 54-year-old newsman knows Austin inside and out. He’s been reporting here since 1970, when he was a journalism student at the University of Texas. He worked briefly in city government, but covering local politics and government has been his staple for years.
Even as an anchor, Ellis has been one of Austin’s best reporters. Years ago I referred to him as “Austin’s Dan Rather” because of the tenacity of his reporting. One election night he was tossed around like a human beach ball as he forced his way to the front of a crowd to interview the winning candidate.
There’s nothing wrong with anchors who just read a TelePrompTer, and that certainly seems to be the trend. But Ellis has the kind of gravitas that only comes from knowing the history and up-to-the-minute goings-on in our city. He’s not the only anchor-reporter we have, but he certainly is one of the best.
But maybe Ellis was too much of a real newsman for Fox 7 News, which seems to spend way too much time spinning off Fox entertainment shows. I bet there were almost as many stories about “American Idol” last season on Fox 7 as City Council meetings.
Ellis says he has a job prospect that’s not in television, but I hope he winds up back on the air at some point. Austin viewers are poorer for losing him.
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