Finish strong!

One day left of the May book and my first year at KSHB is drawing to a close.  I am so incredibly proud of the effort put forth by the team!  Today, for instance, we needed some help from the engineers and they didn't even blink.  The entire news department has endured even more changes as we unveiled a new web design today.  And we did it all sans the five open positions, soon to be filled, in news managers, assignment desk, producer and MMJ.

Every day of the sweep, our folks worked hard to find stories not to be seen anywhere else.  It's a marathon and a sprint and it is hard to maintain the pressure. 

I'm so pleased to report that in almost every newscast, we are up, year to year.

We can't/won't let up.  On to July!

Ethics question. What if the news is brutal? And you captured it?

When I showed John this photo, without any explanation, he thought it was a young man, hand-cuffed next to a van that had been shot up. 

He didn't know the 16-year-old was dead, apparently from police gunfire, after this young man and his father allegedly killed two police officers earlier in the day.  Two other cops were wounded in this shoot-out.

Death toll--four.  Wounded--who knows how many?

This picture is from Friday's front page of the Memphis CA.  I clipped it from their website and then discovered it was in the "top ten" for the Newseum's Front Page gallery.

Full disclosure.  The Commercial Appeal is a Scripps paper and I work for Scripps.  And as you probably know, I spent nearly nine years in Memphis at WMC-TV (formerly a Scripps TV station).

Here the CA's editorial boss explaining his decision to publish the photo.

And there's more. Here's a report from WMC after the shooting  about video they captured before the photo was taken.

My thoughts:  Sometimes news is ugly.  Sad.  Horrible.  It is our job to report the facts, as best we can, without bias, without judgement.  I don't know how this teenager and his dad got into so much trouble.  I don't know why they apparently shot police officers.  I'm sad for my friends in Memphis who are in law enforcement (and for the ones who have to report on it) because it seems like my former home town has had its share of senseless violence.

Four men died in the Mid-South yesterday.  One was just a kid.  It's the job of news gatherers in that community to do the best they can to discover the truth and report it.

The Commercial Appeal reporters and photographer did their job.  I salute their courage in publishing this photograph.

Letters, I get letters

Ten, even five years ago...when viewers/customers felt that we had made a mistake in coverage, they called the station.  Or sent a snail-mail (letter).  These days, it's easy for them to click an email off and let me know immediately that they disagree with my news judgement.

I got a classic a couple of weeks ago.  Let me set the stage.  We were in our afternoon editorial meeting when Gary (Assignment Desk) came in to report that someone had reported a gun on the KU campus.  We determined who we'd send but moments later, it became a search for a gunman on campus and a room-by-room search of a dorm.  We went on the air for just over an hour, preempting Dr. Oz.  As much as I appreciate the wisdom of Oprah's doctor, he garner's just a one rating here in Kansas City. 

Except William wanted to see that show.  So here's what William had to say:

Peggy;

You are out of control and should be fired.
Today, as I tried to watch Dr. Oz, I saw that you were freaked out once again.
Rather than the network programming of Dr. Oz, you were executing your version of "breaking news". I now know what you mean...."breaking in on " the network programming rather than waiting your turn at your assigned news presentation time slot. Not just a brief "this is happening" blurb, but a sustained gulp of stolen time to tell the public what you DON"T actually know. I don't give a tinkers damn what stray students might think about the hubbub at KU. Frankly, I don't care about anything happening at KU, but you should accumulate and sift the facts then present them at the "News Time".
Like your stupid weather reporting, even if I had offspring attending KU, there's not a thing I could DO about the events you were reporting.
Kindly pull you head out of the nether region and stay out of network programming.

My answer to William was to thank him for taking the time to share his concerns, that we take our responsibility to deliver news in a timely fashion seriously and that I was sorry our reporting of the breaking news interferred with his plans.  I apologized for that and promised to share his message with the appropriate managers at the television station.

Sometimes that works. 

But William, I fear, will be disappointed time and time again because we no longer have a "designated news time."

I understand his frustration.  I grew up like that. 

But the rules have changed.

When I was a child, the news came on at 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm.  No sooner, no later.  In South Dakota, except for the assassinations, the Viet Nam war, Nixon hearings and other random crazy shit that happened in the 60s and 70s, the local news stations didn't break into "regular programming." 

In SD, the big news happened far away and wasn't relevant.  Weather could have been important and relevant but  a tornado on the ground in Lake Andes (a handful of miles from our farm) didn't intrude on our soap operas and TV dramas either.  I remember standing with Mom and some of the other kids, watching a funnel cloud.  Dad ran in from the field and we all spent the next few hours in the basement.  Tornado watches?  Warnings?  Nope.  TV didn't warn us, that was not their job.

How much longer before Nashville gets significant attention?

I've been paying attention to the plight of Nashville and find the lack of MSM attention interesting.  Twenty-three dead, property damage is now estimated at $1.5 billion.

My friend Chez blogged about it and it reminded me of when I was in South Florida -- Hurricane Andrew destroyed a large portion of South Dade County and for a couple of days, it seemed like nobody was paying attention.  I was in Memphis when a freak summer storm left nearly a half million homes without power.   So here's a little bit from the Wayback Machine:

July 30, 2003.  More than a week has passed since The Storm hit Memphis.

My city is in shambles. As of this moment, more than 60,000 homes are still without power. In my own newsroom, Ursula Madden, Tracy Langlois and Janice Broach are all working in the newsroom by day and dealing with life in the Delta heat sans AC by night.
The storm and its wake killed seven people. The city and surrounding areas suffered damages in excess of $40 million. Assuming that each home has two occupants, it may be Friday before 120,000 have electricity. Yesterday, President Bush (may I say FINALLY) declared Shelby and Fayette a disaster area.
The weirdest thing about this whole thing (for me) has been the lack of national attention. No network crews, very little mention except for a couple of voice-overs on some of the networks. Tammy Robken got the attention of a CNBC producer yesterday and Tuesday night, Shelby County mayor A C Wharton did a "Kate Hale" on CNBC (anyone who was in South Florida during Andrew will know what that is, more than ten years later) and later tonight, NBC correspondent Kerry Sanders, will arrive in Memphis to put a story together for Thursday night's Nightly News.
Finally, some attention! Send money! Send baby food! Send trees!

Nashville's disaster is much worse than what Memphians experienced nearly seven years ago.  I hope somebody starts paying attention to them soon.

Mother's Day musings

It's was downright cold for our picnic at Clinton Lake!  We ate fast and retreated to the car to warm up.  But we enjoyed the history lesson at the Wakarusa Museum and the drive around the lake. 

We also spent a little time in Lawrence...

Things I think I think (tip of the hat to SI's Peter King)

Just like clouds are different, this post will be a mish-mash--a bit of a salad.  Some lettuce, some cucumbers, a handful of edamame, 3.5 ounces of boiled chicken and of course, the hottest sauce I can find with my fat-free, sugar-free, taste-devoid Ranch dressing...I eat it almost every day for lunch.

• My diet is about to enter the third month and I'm pleased to say that I've lost 30 pounds since it began on March 8.  Yes, I miss bread and potatoes but since some folks now mention that I look like I've lost a few -- that keeps me going!  And I feel great!  And so it continues...45 lbs to go.
• My manager hires are complete.  Brooke Givens (formerly Senior Producer, 5pm) is the new morning EP.  LaQunta Dixon (formerly Deuce at WHAS, Louisville) is the new evening EP.  Brett Akagi (formerly Senior Video Producer at Star Trib in Minneapolis) is the new Assistant News Director. 
• It's been too long since I've seen Charlie.  He'll be here at the end of the month and I can hardly wait.
• WTF with the stock market today?  We were busy with the serial rape suspect so I didn't know about the loss until it was moving back up again.   From the NY Times:  The near-instantaneous swings left brokers dumbfounded. Dermott W. Clancy, who runs a New York Stock Exchange broker, said Thursday was one of the five worst days he has seen in 24 years in the business. When the market dropped across all indexes in a matter of minutes, customers were calling him nonstop. Was it really the cause and effect of a misplaced letter in an order?  (A B instead of an M).  What happens to that guy/gal?  Do they at least get a verbal warning? 
• Man U is coming to KC!  Freaking awesome.  I missed the "friendly" in Baltimore last year even though I had tickets because we moved here.  God, I hope THAT doesn't happen again.
• That's all.  There's more but it's bedtime.

Weekend in Cedar Rapids

This picture of John in front of the Czeck/Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (closed on Sundays) is appropriate for our weekend.  I was the "keynote" speaker at the Iowa Broadcaster News Association convention this past weekend.

They couldn't find anyone else.

Here's a taste of what I told them:
When I was in Syracuse (just one winter, 125 inches of snow is a serious wakeup call) I hired a young reporter right out of college. Until then I’d never had a Facebook page. Until then I’d never hired a reporter based solely on his web resume. Until then I hadn't met Ray Villeda.

Believe it or not, Syracuse, despite the university, is not a destination market. And although the Orange are great at basketball and host one of the best J-schools in the nation, most of those kids are looking to get away from the eight month winter by the time they’ve finished four or five years of college. Ray, however, was different. He went to Ithaca College…(Ithaca is in the banana belt of Central New York…they only get about 70 inches of snow). Ray had no commercial television reporting experience but I hired him anyway. Sure he made mistakes but he was my project so we worked on writing, editing, presentation and six months in, he was leading newscasts with his stories.

It nearly broke my heart when I had to tell Ray and eleven of his-coworkers that it was over. Last in, first out. That’s the union way. The choices I made were dictated by a collective bargaining agreement and at the time, I almost quit TV news for good because it made me sick. I had hired some of the people we laid off that day and most are no longer in the news business. Ray’s story has a happy ending though. He worked at another station in Syracuse for a year and is now at WFSB in Hartford.

Those of us who remain, whether we’re managers or not, have a responsibility to work together as news gatherers—news is a team sport. I subscribe to many online resources to help me navigate the pathway of management and one I love is written by Jill Geisler, who lives in Milwaukee but is a leadership mentor at the Poynter Institute. She was the country’s first female news director of a major market network affiliate, and built an award-winning newsroom culture at WITI in Milwaukee, her home town. Hers was a teaching newsroom, where coaching and collaboration were as important as ethics and enterprise.

Here’s what Jill says about working in newsgathering today:

Your organization has cut staff, salaries and benefits, and it has asked employees to take on more work. If I ask about morale, the answer's obvious: It's taken a hit. But let's talk about how morale is measured and managed.

Morale can be measured across multiple dimensions. Consider who on your team might say:

I get satisfaction from my job.

I feel valued in this company.

I'm compensated fairly for my work.

I have a chance to grow.

People look out for each other here.

I respect and trust my boss.

I believe in what we do.

I think the leadership of this organization is moving us in the right direction.
When a substantial number of your co-workers find it hard to agree with a substantial number of those statements, morale is suffering.
What can you do about it?
First, take note that only one of those morale metrics deals directly with money. Make no mistake, money matters, and I never had a co-worker who demanded a decrease. Cuts hurt. But they're not necessarily fatal to morale.
That may come as a surprise to managers and employees who think money changes everything and assume that lowered wages and benefits dramatically impair engagement.
Bottom line? If you believe low morale is tied to dollars alone, you'll miss important opportunities to boost job satisfaction in ways that don't take a dime out of an anemic budget.

Can I get an amen?

Journalists should be careful with charges of racism - KansasCity.com