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.