It's official. Writing is good for you.

Check it out:  You don't have to be a serious novelist or constantly reflecting on your life's most traumatic moments to get these great benefits. Even blogging or journaling is enough to see results. One study found that blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to the effect from running or listening to music.

Have you seen me? (I might have questionable mental capacity)

This is not a rant about that makes-me-shudder phrase now used by newspapers and network reports to describe Someone-Who-is-not-Where-He-or-She-is-Supposed-to-be.

It's about the secrets families tell police departments when it happens to that certain Someone.

People disappear in South Florida and elsewhere. They don't GO MISSING. And they never WENT MISSING. They got lost. They left their troubled families. They vanished. They were kidnapped. They intentionally  hid. They got sucked into drug and prostitution. They wandered away. Unfortunately, sometimes, they got murdered.

When someone disappears, a family member contacts a local police department and suddenly medical privacy goes out the window. 

Here are some phrases from south Florida police department news releases about missing people:

• Deputies are looking for a missing West Park man who suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s disease. (Name redacted), 72, has been missing since just before 4 p.m. from the area of 3500 S.W. 40th Avenue in West Park
• The missing person is a twenty- year- old male that has no physical or medical conditions. He jumped into a canal after arguing with family members and then threatened to kill himself.
• The missing person is a twenty (20) year-old female that has a low mental capacity. On Saturday, July 12, 2014, at approximately 5:00 p.m., she was engaged in a heated dispute with her grandmother and fled.
• (Name redacted) was last seen at home in the early afternoon. Ms Laura suffers from Dementia, is of questionable mental capacity, and is very child like. She is not a danger to anyone in the community. (Name redacted) left home without her medication.
• The Police Department is requesting your assistance in locating this missing adult. She suffers from schizophrenia and has not taken her medication.
• The Police Department is requesting your assistance in locating this endangered child, (Name redacted) was last seen at the location above at approximately 8p.m on 07/19/2014. She was wearing an orange blouse and white short pants. (Name redacted) suffers from depression and according to the family, she has a slow mental capacity.
• And my personal favorite: The missing person suffers from an un-diagnosed mental condition. Unknown if also under the influence of drugs or alcohol.   Missing person walked away in an unknown direction.

In almost every case these alerts are regurgitated on local news...either on broadcast, digital, social media. Or all three.

And it always makes me uncomfortable.

Do we really need to throw up a photo and include the "un-diagnosed mental condition" in our script?

I think not.

Sadly, I am probably a better journalist...

Great journalist or great manager: Who would you prefer for a boss? | Poynter.

Five feet away...

David Beckham was in the newsroom Wednesday.

We all knew he was coming but still, the energy was palpable as the time for his arrival advanced.

Some of us on the assignment desk debated his status in the "World's Most Popular Sports Figure" category but all agree he is in the top five.

The man knows how to win the room.  He was gracious. Smiling. Patient. And never wavered even when a twenty-foot line of adults immediately formed, post interview, for photos.  

Thankfully, it became a big group shot and although I was not among them I witnessed the most touching thing after the photos were taken.  

Our morning director had brought his young son in and Beckham immediately gravitated to the lad and gave him a few one-on-one tidbits on soccer that I am sure will never be forgotten.  You can see more pictures on this blog by my beautiful and clever co-worker Lauren.

It was a sweet moment.

I don't know if David Beckham will get the soccer stadium built where he wants it.  It's an unpopular choice with many powerful south Floridians.

I do know that I've never experienced such raw charisma since I saw Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic convention.

I love days like this.

At one point, David Beckham was five feet away from me.  It was a thrill.

Demand Rising For Enterprise TV Reporting

Read more here about a big reliance — particularly in the morning — on personality and credibility.

Demand Rising For Enterprise TV Reporting

Fabiola got it right...we in media may say we hate the story. But we really don't

Fabiola Santiago: Bieber’s follies an only-in-Miami act - Fabiola Santiago - MiamiHerald.com

Suggestion to LEOs...

Dear Police Departments.
Please follow the lead of the Miami Beach PD and also, learn how to set up a YouTube channel ala the Kansas City PD so you can easily and instantly distribute videos.

I checked with Alfred E. Newman...

...he said the black spy really does hate the white spy.

And vice versa.

That was my first reaction when I saw Steve Schwaid's Facebook post about the reporter who debunked something from The Onion.

WTF? I wrongly assumed that the reporter was a youngster fresh out of college.

Nope, according to her online bio, she has more than six years experience. It goes on to say that when she's away from the newsroom she spends time with family, friends and her dog. May I kindly suggest she do a bit of reading?

And where oh where was her manager? Did someone assign this story to her? Or did she go rogue, investigate the proposal that the United States sever ties to the state of Alabama, determine the truth and take it upon herself to expose herself and her newsroom to ridicule on social media?

Tsk tsk.

It's good to be first but better to be right

I've waited a few days to post about the DEBACLE at the "networks" of CNN and FOX.  Shame.

Read more here.

Learn.

Never make the mistakes they made.

What Is Newsworthy?

Although I am trying hard not to be a shill for HBO, I can't resist sharing the trailers/teasers they release about their upcoming series that starts later this month.

This is an interesting question that is not answered in this video.

For me, newsworthy means it affects a lot of people, may or may not include conflict although conflict is preferred or has a "holy shit" factor that cannot be predicted.  For me, most celebrity information is not newsworthy.  Most of the news releases emailed, faxed and mailed to the assignment desk as not newsworthy.  Most of the email tips we get from viewers are not newsworthy.

But.

We have to process each one.  And try not to make decisions based on our cynical views.

Great read on the difficulty of changing a culture

News executives acknowledge ‘toxic’ cultural divide between print and digital:
After 18 months of work and countless pinky-shake vows of confidentiality, my colleagues at the Project for Excellence In Journalism have a fresh report out today on the newspaper industry’s search for a new business model.

The report, “The… Read more

Got an iPad for Christmas, thought it might be an incentive to blog more.

not.

This is my first and last post via the blogger app on iPad

App is terrible.

I get it, Apple.  You hate Google.

I get it Google.  You hate Apple.

No prob.

I can live with you both.

WCCO’s Chinatown Dog Meat Story

IRE and RTDNA need to do seminars on this incident at the next conventions.  Best case scenario is that the news director, reporter, producer (anyone who had their hands on it) participates in a panel discussion on what happened.  We can all learn from this.

Here’s WCCO’s Chinatown Dog Meat Story

"But I'm a journalist!"

John and I returned from six days in New Orleans Wednesday night.  It was a GREAT conference!  It was the first iteration of a joint partnership between RTDNA and SPJ.  A resounding success.  We also included some meetings with other Scripps managers so I've returned to KC with my brain quite full.

You should start making your plans for the 2012 confab right now.  September 20-22 in Fort Lauderdale.

Something happened at the airport yesterday that was disturbing.  We dragged our bags to the Continental kiosks and proceeded to pay the usury.  I heard a shrill voice at the counter and watched a woman thoroughly berate two airline employees.  She was upset about the baggage fees and believed that she had already paid them.  She apparently did not have the additional $25.  She was told that she had to pay or she would not be allowed to fly. 

"Do you know who I am?" she demanded.  "Do you know what I can do about this?"  She went on to shout that she was a journalist, that she had just finished attending a conference and that, upon her return home, she intended to write a story about her shabby treatment.  She dropped two or three f-bombs.

To their credit, the Continental folks never lost their cool but I almost did.  Journalism isn't to be used as a threat.  I wanted to shake her.

Eventually, she called someone who provided a credit card to pay for the bag and she huffed off.  Next time, I hope she flies Southwest or Jet Blue.  And she has a lot to learn before she's a journalist.

How to pursue a story. Every story.

Tommy Lee Jone's character in "The Fugitive" gives a great roadmap on how all journalists should track down leads.

Paraphrasing...

"Alright, listen up, people. The STORY has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. The STORY is still out there. Go get it!"

One call to the police PIO is not enough.

Asking tough questions is part of the job

Reporter Amy Hawley caught up with KU AD Lew Perkins today and asked a very pertinent question about his job security.  Mr. Perkins didn't appreciate the interuption of his golf game, apparently: 
Lew Perkins gets upset in interview after questioned about recent KU scandal - NBCActionNews.com

Incredibly, a reporter from WDAF, Al Wallace, was also there, recorded the whole thing and presented it as a "confrontation."  We were all amused when during the 6pm news, anchor Phil Witt appeared to congratulate our reporter for her tenacity.

Amy did her job.  Can't say the same thing for Al.

Can I get an amen?

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

Excellent Movie!

It's only taken me seven years to watch this film about Stephen Glass and his made-up stories written for "The New Republic."  If you haven't seen it, grab it on DVD...and make sure you see Steve Kroft's interview with the real liar on "60 Minutes."

The Road to Sedition (we're on it)

My pal Bonnie sent this to me today. 

If you consider yourself a journalist, please read it.  And ask yourself, when was the last time you practiced your craft?  When was the last time you were proud of what you produced?  When was the last time you aggressively pursued the truth?

We must put ourselves and our precious reputations at risk.

We must ask tough questions.

We must not be afraid.

We must expose.

We must.