NEWS EDITOR ERNIE FORD LEAVING CH. 5

Ernie Ford, a veteran Salt Lake City journalist and a KSL-TV news editor for 10 years, is leaving Ch. 5 to become the assistant news director and managing editor for KDFW-TV in Dallas.

"It looks like a good career move for me," Ford said Monday. "The future there looks bright."Which is probably more than could be said of Ford's future at KSL. As KSL's assistant news director and managing editor, Ford had carved out an important niche for himself at Ch. 5. His years of experience in the market - a news internship at The Deseret News and 15 years with The Salt Lake Tribune - made him an especially invaluable resource to some of KSL's younger, less experienced reporters, many of whom were new to the area.

But that niche looked like it had the possibility of becoming a rut. KSL's news director, Spence Kinard, isn't anywhere near being close to retirement age, and, with his roots sunk deep in Utah soil, doesn't seem a likely candidate to move elsewhere. And even if Kinard were to move on to another job within KSL, there are those who wonder if Ford would ever be seriously considered for the top news position at LDS Church-owned KSL.

"It isn't just that he isn't Mormon," said one local television industry observer, who asked that his name be kept off the record. "Ernie has a tendency to go out of his way to flout his non-Mormon-ness around the community and around the office. I don't think that plays very well with the folks in charge there."

KSL vice president and station manager William R. Murdoch doesn't buy that suggestion. "Ernie's been a great asset to KSL News," Murdoch said Tuesday. "He's a quality guy, and he's going to be sorely missed. But we understand that there was a mobility problem for him here, with Spence likely to be our news director for many years to come.

"That's why we're happy for him," Murdoch continued. "We're not happy to see him go, but we're happy he has this tremendous opportunity to move into a big market like Dallas."

Ford acknowledges that he has wondered if KSL would hire a non-Mormon news director. "But I don't know the answer," he said. "The simple fact is, Spence is a good news director, and he could be here for another 20 years. I'm 48, and I'm not getting any younger. If I'm going to make a move, it seems to me that now is the time."

In fact, Ford was an applicant for the KUTV news directorship, which was open until Ch. 2 officials hired Daniel Webster away from "USA Today on TV" recently. "I wanted that job for a while," Ford said of the KUTV position. "But then everything became sort of confused over there and I began to have serious doubts about the job. I was frankly glad it didn't come through."