Innocent Bystander

Duck and cover part two: Don't send the assignment editor...

It's interesting to hear/see (mostly hear) breaking news outside your window and then see how the local TV stations react to it. Yesterday's shooting at the corner of Fourth Ave. and E St. in downtown San Diego--literally spitting distance from my window, if the wind is with me--became last night's lead story on all the stations. You can read my original post here.

When it comes to airtime, San Diego TV news has shrunk in the past few years. Only NBC 7/39 is on the air at 4:30-5:00pm these weekdays. Channel 10 is partying with Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Channel 8 is whooping it up Oprah-style. KUSI (sorry...make that K-YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-SI) doesn't have one of it's 10,000 daily news shows with blond female anchors and their aging male counterparts (seriously...that station's news shows looks like a trophy wife reunion) on until 6:00pm. So NBC 7/39 was the only station on the air live with the breaking news story of the homeless man shot downtown after brandishing a steak knife that he stole from a local restaurant.

The station is also the only one located in downtown San Diego. In fact, they're located just a block away from the shooting. (They too are within spitting distance, and trust me: news reporters can spit. I knew this guy in Pittsburgh who carried a styrofoam cup around to always spit his chaw out. But I digress.) Within 2 minutes of the shooting a helicopter was overhead. I'm not sure if it was police or a news organization. Within 8 minutes of the shooting, NBC 7/39 had a "reporter" on the scene with a cellphone.

And that was their fatal mistake. Because the person on the phone was clearly not a reporter, she was an assignment editor. And she had to only utter ONE word on live TV to make that distinction perfectly clear. Don't get me wrong: When I worked in TV news, I loved the assignment editors. (One in particular, and she taught me a valuable life lesson: you get just as many flies with honey as you do with shit. That's why she was so good at what she did.)

So there's the very professional and well-spoken Catherine Garcia throwing to the assignment editor on the phone. And what comes back--to everyone's surprise, I'm guessing, especially Catherine Garcia--is this sing-songy "HELLLLLLLLLLL-O!" We're then treated to a Valley Girl rendition of a crime scene with "a guy" laying in the street, and the "guy" might be homeless and the "guy" might be dead.

Needless to say, the report was cut short. NBC 7/39 went to commercial break, reported on a few more stories, then threw back to the live shooting scene and the voice on the other end of the phone was that of a much more authoritative male, using official news-type words like "allegedly," "assailant," and "steak-knife." Cooler heads evidently prevailed.

So, kudos to NBC 7/39 for reacting so quickly to local breaking news, especially when it's right around the corner from them. Oh, and next time? Don't react so quickly. Or at least don't send the assignment editor. I'm hoping that the producer who yelled "YOU! Grab a cellphone and get over there NOW!" is still sitting in a corner in a well-deserved time-out. Because breaking news is so much better when it's reported by someone who doesn't break it even more.

Best local news headline of the evening...

"Orange County man caught with birds stuffed in his pants." Write your own story, folks.

A disturbing trend...

Recently here in San Diego, I've noticed a couple of TV stations starting to promote their on-air talent in a funny--let's say "whimsical"--fashion. I think this is a major mistake.

NBC 7/39 has ads running about how seasoned a reporter/anchor Marty Levin is...and he plays a mean banjo, too. Their morning team, Jason Austell and Marianne Kushi, share a moment with an uncooperative teleprompter.

Over on San Diego 6, anchor Marc Baily is revealed to have a sweet tooth, while co-anchor Lynda Martin is the fastest clothes-changer in town.

I've always believed that EVERY TV station's most tangible asset is its on-air talent. If you don't like someone, you don't watch. So I think it's great these stations are promoting their people. I think the way they're promoting them is stupid.

Knowing Marty plays the banjo doesn't make me want to watch NBC 7/39 any more. I know he's not going to whip it out in the middle of breaking news to make things seem better, and go all Flatt and Scruggs on us. And while Marc might eat all the newsroom donuts, it doesn't mean I'm going to tune in San Diego 6 either, except at 8:50 every morning to see what that cute woman with the animals is doing, and whether she brought kitties or puppies or bunnies.

It's wonderful that all these people are down-to-earth menschs, likable off-camera, too. I get that part. But it doesn't make me want to watch them when the chips are down and there's breaking news, or any other time, either. I realize that the morning show people are an entirely different breed, a bunch that deals with info-tainment, more than news, and therefore you can get away with a little bit of levity with them. But none of these "shenanigans" make me want to tune in.

The other side of the coin is the promo on CBS8 for "time," featuring speeded up images and explaining how we don't have enough time, and how their 11pm newscast gives it to us. It's pompous and hollow and "artsy." But CBS8 has left us with a bunch of wooden anchors, "newsbots" if you will (with the exception of Barbara-Lee Edwards), including one who insists on adding a third syllable to "evening" everytime she says the word ("Good eve-a-ning." Who is she? Alfred Hitchcock?)

Maybe that's a promo in and of itself.

ADDED: And then of course, there's this, which brings news promotion to a totally new standard. You can decide if it's high or low, but all I can say is I am SO going to watch these guys next time San Diego County catches fire, because, you know, they did a music video, which is an important part of establishing your news reporting cred.

It's "Your News Producer Is An Idiot Day" all across America...

As predicted here, it's April 15, which is of course the deadline for sending off your income tax.

But it's also "Your News Producer Is An Idiot Day," because if you live in an area large enough to have a local television news operation (or 5, like I do), you're most certainly going to turn on the TV to see one of the reporters braving the traffic in and around your local post office, as people scramble to file their taxes by the midnight deadline.

Why this is always a story, year after year, is beyond my comprehension. Is it that people procrastinate? Hate to do their taxes? Resist paying if need be? All three of those questions can be met with a resounding "Duh!" For some reason, every news director in America finds this some kind of compelling story topic, and you can bet the lowliest of low assignment directors got a gold star today by mentioning it in the morning meeting.

It's days like today when I thank God I'm no longer part of any TV news station. But that doesn't stop me from pointing out that when it comes to TV news, the inmates have always run the asylum.

TV News School 101...

Every day I am reminded of my illustrious career as a graphic designer in television news. I say illustrious, but other than some of the people I worked with, I don't miss it for one second. Because usually when I am reminded of it these days, it's because of something I've seen on local San Diego newscasts, something painful.

Last weekend I was watching one of the local stations, and the lead story was the horrendous mass shooting at a nursing home in North Carolina which claimed 8 lives. The report started out with a map of the United States which showed all 48 contiguous states, and had a dot on the town in North Carolina and a dot showing where San Diego is. This is something that must be taught at TV News school: Show the viewers where everything happens in relation to where they live. The map was up for all of 5 seconds and meant absolutely nothing. The viewer either does or does not know where North Carolina is at this point in their lives, and the fact that it's at the other side of the country doesn't require a map. Why they do something like this and don't do more maps about local stories, which show where shootings, accidents, and fires are located, is beyond my comprehension. Other than weather maps, the whole concept of a map on television news is ridiculous. Maps are designed to be studied and viewed for longer periods of times, not the 5-second placement most TV newscasts allow. CBS's network news also showed a map, but they showed one of North Carolina and where Cathage, where the shootings took place, is in reference to other larger cities in the same state. That works because it gives you a frame of reference outside of the entire freakin' country.

On the same broadcast the flooding in North Dakota was one of the top stories, too, and once again those lessons from TV News School 101 were prevalent. The story was presented by the local weatherman, who was live somewhere in San Diego on a windswept cliff...to talk about weather in North Dakota. No map this time, just a weather guy who for some strange reason HAD to be out live somewhere telling us what the weather is in his local "microclimate." I have these strange clear objects in my apartment, they're called "windows." They allow me to see outside and see what the weather is directly in my own neighborhood. I don't need a weather person out standing in his field to throw to a bunch of maps and statistics back in the studio.

This live mentality is something that drives me nuts on a regular basis. Live reporting should be reserved for something that's happening here and now (ironically the station I'm writing about used to have a slogan that read "right here, right now;" I'm not mentioning their call-letters because they're not the only ones who do this kind of crap on a regular basis). It shouldn't be a reporter in front of a downtown San Diego courthouse to report on a California State Supreme Court hearing taking place in San Francisco. That's cheating. I understand that reporter after reporter in the studio for a live shot is boring and redundant. But propping them up outside somewhere in either a location that has nothing to do with the actual story, or in a timeframe hours after something has occurred is insulting to me as a viewer. Thankfully, in the case of the nursing home shooting, we were spared another of TV News School's lessons: Can it happen here?

We're now into the month of April and that means my all-time favorite live shot location is coming up. On the night of April 15, just about a dozen short days from now, tune into your favorite local station's 11pm newscast. There will be a reporter doing a live shot from in front of one of the main post offices around San Diego County--or wherever your county is--reporting on the crush of last-minute taxpayers mailing their income tax returns in at the last possible minute. And when you see that idiot out there, reporting on the biggest NON-story of the year, one that makes news directors and producers jizz in their pants each year, have a nice long pull on whatever your favorite alcoholic beverage is. If you're lucky, you can switch channels and have at least 3 different drinks, so make sure you're home and safe in your comfy pants and ready for bed, and not out driving. After all, there's a lot of angry taxpayers on the road on that night, not to mention a whole fleet of news vans.

Chrissy Russo fans: this one's for you (sing-along optional)...

You may find yourself here because you typed "Chrissy Russo" in that little Google box on your web browser. A goodly number of readers have made that trek to these here pages and found the interview I did with Chrissy when she moved over to the Fox 5 Morning News show back in August.

I've stayed in touch with Chrissy since that interview last summer and I'm happy to share the fact that she has a nice one-page feature article in the April issue of Pacific San Diego Magazine, which can be found at select restaurants, bars, and offices in San Diego's downtown, uptown, and Mission Valley areas, plus up and down the coast from Pacific Beach to Carlsbad. (In other words, just about everywhere.) You can click on the link above to see back issues, and undoubtedly the current issue will be posted sometime soon, so check back. Look for the actual magazine though, because there's some great photos of Chrissy with the article, including a larger--and better!--version of the one to the right. Dave Good is the photographer.

We're not the only one with a fondness for Chrissy, even first thing in the morning when anyone with that much energy deserves...well, I'd normally say to be shot. But we have yet to resort to writing any songs about her. This guy evidently feels differently. Congratulations, Chrissy...you're slowly becoming the master of all media, and you're the only meteorologist I know who has her own song.

Finally, if you're not watching Chrissy in the morning, consider this a semi-unbiased plug, even if they still have her playing "attack of the 50-foot woman" on that ridiculous mega-map thing, usually in a cute pair of slippers sent in by some viewer. I especially recommend watching on Fridays, when the whole on-air crew gets a little punch-drunk and giddy from 2:30am wake-ups and four long, lonely hours on the air each day. You think you know TGIF? Work that shift and tell me how thankful you are for the weekend, bub.

Photo ©2009 Dave Good

February is Black History Month...

Many years ago I worked for a TV station in Pittsburgh. When I first started off, I worked on the weekends. This was a time period when--besides the local newscasts at 6 and 11pm--we worker-bees at the station did other projects. The control room crew often did commercial and public affairs productions.

One such weekend in February, on a bitterly cold Sunday evening in a year which escapes me, the public affairs producer--a woman whose name I will not mention in order to stop any of my old friends who might read this from running from the room screaming and bleeding from the eyes--decided to do a Black History Month promo. Nowadays, the way TV stations do this type of public affairs promotion--which often has on-air talent from the station "host" the 30- or 60-second spots, featuring a historical fact--is to go out and find a sponsor who pays money to be mentioned at the beginning and end of each promo. Not so back then.

Someone in the station had woken up to the fact that it was February and it was Black History Month, and we weren't running anything about it. So on this dreary Sunday evening, the public affairs producer schlepped into the station and in between 6 and 11 pm newscasts, worked with the director and control room crew to cut a promo. After wrestling with it all night (with the news clock quickly ticking away), about 9:30 pm they called me--the graphics person--in to see if I had any opinion on something they could do graphically to add to the piece. At that point, the piece consisted of an excerpt from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Had A Dream" speech, and a pretty crummy copy of it at that.

As I'm standing in the control room, the public affairs producer--while thoughtfully scratching her left armpit by placing her entire right hand up to her forearm down her sweater--turned to the director and asked, "As a black man, do you find it offensive that we're using this speech?" And the director, an extremely patient and calm man, paused and then quietly said, "No. What I find offensive is we're producing a Black History Month promo on February 26."

The public affairs producer paused herself--just for a moment--and replied, "You know what? You're right." And got up and left. And that year, the station never did run a Black History Month promo during the month of February.

I never liked that director more than I did at that particular point in time. He was a nice guy, easy to work with, but in that one brief, shining moment, he more than rose to the occasion. The public affairs producer was gone within a short period after that. I'm uncertain if she ever solved the problem of that itchy armpit.

The punny world of local TV news...

I enjoy a good pun as much as the next fellow (so move over and we'll talk to the next fellow), but one place it particularly seems out of place is TV news. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate an anchor or reporter who knows the proper time and place to make a funny. We're blessed in San Diego with at least three anchors--Susan Lennon and Kathleen Bade on Fox 5, Barbara-Lee Edwards on CBS8--who know when to flash a smile and make a joke. Hell, even Stan Miller did the funny every once and a while to good effect.

But one place puns and fun don't belong is in the coverage of serious news. Over the past few weeks, I've seen a couple of incidents where local San Diego stations have gotten "cute" with story titles appearing on graphics. One of them--on CBS8 the other day, was minor, but still grating. It came while the station was covering the ongoing story about how the Chula Vista Nature Center may be forced to close down due to budget cuts. I know next to nothing about the Nature Center--never been there--but the way the local media is covering this story, it's apparent the place is a local treasure. Still, some wildly creative producer at CBS8 felt compelled to title the story--on the title bar graphic on the lower part of the screen--with something like "Chula Vista Nature Center may be extinct." I know, I know, that's not that objectionable, but the fact that someone just had to get punny with this story kind of grates on my nerves.

Much more objectionable--horrifyingly so--was the Fox 5 News graphic that was put up on the screen behind the anchor on a night around Christmas. It was about the story of the man dressed as Santa Claus who shot his ex-wife and her family at their Christmas Eve party in Los Angeles, then burned the house down. I think he killed 6 people total (and then himself), and the media had a field day with the fact he was dressed as Santa. The offending Fox 5 graphic read "Santa Slay." If ever there was a story that was terrible enough and didn't need the added insult of a pun, this was it.

When I worked as a graphic designer for a local station years ago, I had a hard time convincing the weekend producer that a graphic titled "Dead Baby" was a bad thing. "What do you want me to show?" I asked. "A photo of a baby in a crib." When I told her that was in bad taste, I was told to do my job. When I went over the graphics list with the director before the show, he asked, "You didn't really do a 'Dead Baby' graphic, did you?" When I told him yes, I did, he said, "Do you mind if I don't use it?"

Even though the above example doesn't contain a pun, it's part and parcel of the same type of mentality that pops us with increasing frequency in local news. There's just no accounting for taste sometimes. Maybe I'm too sensitive to it, after 20 years in the business, but "Santa Slay?" C'mon...someone somewhere in that newsroom must have thought that was a bad idea. And I'm sure someone else sitting at home--besides me--thought so, too.

Presidential brief: the media is a fickle beast...

I love this CBS News article about president-elect Barack Obama already bristling under the constant attention of the media, weeks before he's in office. What I love most of it is it's totally non-ironic mention of Obama ordering a tuna melt on 12-grain bread in the middle of it, pointing out the very fact that is bothering the president-elect: who gives a crap about what he had for lunch? I'm shocked--shocked, I dare say--that the reporter didn't go on to mention whether or not he had a pickle and chips on the side and what brands they were.

I don't think the White House press corps needs to record every thought, utterance, or bowel movement the new prez has while he's in office. While I would prefer to know more things about the president than I would, say, Madonna shagging A-Rod, or Lindsay Lohan's alleged rug-munching with her adrogenyous-looking BFF, I think the media needs a major time-out. And I firmly believe the world would be a better place if the media kept bankers' hours, say from 9am to 5pm (with a nice hour-long lunch from 12-1), and went home and got a good night's sleep each night.

I'm hoping Obama is the president who leaves the bozos on the bus for once. Bush and Cheney certainly had their secrets, I'm certain Obama and company will, too. But this article points out the one constant fact in the media's reporting on itself: whoever is doing the reporting is never guilty of the sins of the rest of the reporters. "Oh no, not me," said the CBS reporter, as he asked the newly-minted president "mustard or mayonnaise?"

Where in the world is Stan Miller...the final chapter.

This dates back to October, but if you click on this link, you'll be directed to SignOnSanDiego, a local website run by that august newspaper of Pulitzer prominence, the San Diego Union-Tribune and Diane Bell's column for October 14. We're running this now because A). we're lame and missed it two-and-a-half months ago and B). the January issue of San Diego Magazine has a full-page ad for O'Riordan and Associates, prominently featuring--you guessed it--Stan Miller.

For those of you waiting for the imminent announcement of former KFMB (CBS8) anchor Stan's return to the airwaves-somewhere, anywhere--stop waiting. He isn't coming back. Many of you surf your way here to find out just where in the world he is...well, here's your answer: He's now the marketing director for an insurance firm, and as Ms. Bell's article states, he has no plans to return to local TV news. He's not opposed to radio, however. Plus, if you want to talk to Stan directly, she includes an email address.

Much as I hate to admit it, CBS8 hasn't been the same without Stan. His replacement, Carlo Cecchetto, has zero chemistry with the lovely Barbara-Lee Edwards, the sole anchor left from the firm of Miller, Bade, Edwards, and Shelburne. I still prefer CBS8 as my local news source to any of the other local stations, but it's tough sledding at times, especially on a day like today when they have Doug Kolk anchoring. Stan was never the reason why I watched (it was his co-anchors, both here and at KUSI who were the real stars, in my book), but many of you evidently enjoyed him a great deal, judging by your comments, and he did have a sense of humor and a bit of chemistry with his co-anchors, even if it could have been summed up as gentle "ribbing" (we're being polite).

With this post, we close the book on Mr. Miller. You'll have to search elsewhere to find out what's going on in his life. We're fine with covering the local TV news scene occasionally, but the insurance business is a bit out of our league.