Blagojevich clinched Carol Fowler's return to TV news

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: Arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich clinched Carol Fowler's return to TV news : ------------------------- : : The morning in December that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested by the feds had an impact on a lot of people. One was Carol Fowler, the ex-WBBM-Ch. 2 news boss. : A little more than three weeks removed from the end of her six-year run at Channel 2, Fowler still was trying to figure out what she might want to do for a living when word broke of the bust. And, almost immediately, she knew she had one choice. : "I realized I had to get back into this," said Fowler, who on Tuesday was named vice president and news director of Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32. "It was excruciating not to be involved, covering the story, because it was such a good story." : Fowler replaces Andrew Finlayson, who leaves after three years to become director of online content and business development for the Fox Television Stations group. His new job looks to build on projects such as LiveNewsCameras.com, FoxWeatherWatch.com and FoxJox.com, as well as a soon-to-be unveiled relaunch of the main site, MyFoxChicago.com. : "Andrew is a builder," said Pat Mullen, who's in charge of WFLD and WPWR-Ch. 50, the News Corp. duopoly in Chicago. "Many news directors understand news, but they don't have the technical acumen that he does for the Internet. So he looks at this opportunity and says, 'I can do something. I can build something here.' " : Fowler, who's set to start on Groundhog Day, is the immediate beneficiary of the foundation Finlayson built and the goodwill much of the rank-and-file will accord a newcomer. : The job goes beyond overseeing a market-leading station that produces 40 hours or so of live local news each week. The station has to figure out how to better parlay the ratings from prime-time hits such as Fox's "American Idol," "House" and "24" into a bigger, younger audience for Channel 32's showcase 9 p.m. newscast against Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9. : A former Channel 9 news chief, Fowler was unable to duplicate her earlier success at Channel 2, which remained in the doldrums for years. But not all the factors in that were necessarily in her control. : Fowler likes the potential she sees in WFLD's expanded 5-to-10 a.m. morning show. But there is plenty of room for growth across the board, especially for the weeknight 10 p.m. newscast added under Finlayson. : "I come in with a ton of respect for what they're doing, and it's a matter of getting more viewers to notice," she said. "I wouldn't be taking the job if I didn't think it was winnable. At this point in my career, I'm not signing on to bang my head against the wall." : Fowler worked at top-rated WLS-Ch. 7 before joining WGN in 1994, initially as managing editor. WBBM snagged her despite Mullen's efforts as then-head of Tribune Broadcasting. : A behind-the-scenes player in getting her to CBS was ex-WLS boss Dennis Swanson, then an influential CBS stations exec who is now in a similar role with Fox. : "She's a brilliant woman. She's a terrific journalist. Her editorial integrity and news judgment are just rock solid," Mullen said. : On the morning of Blagojevich's arrest, Fowler watched as every station in town returned to regular programming while WFLD shrewdly stayed with the story non-stop into the afternoon. : As she pined to be involved in some way, Fowler was impressed by what she saw. : "I benefited from watching Chicago television as a viewer the last few weeks," Fowler said. "When you're in the [news director's] seat, the job's so intense, you're distracted by a lot of things, and really watching the product is hard to do. … I don't know if I'll look at TV news quite the same way, and that's good." : (Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)

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