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.

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

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.

Bottoms Up! I'm a news director! Or am I....

On the way home tonight, for some reason, I was navel-gazing considering my job title.

News director.

And just at that moment the newest Sonic radio commercial played on the Royals pre-game show.  (The displayed Sonic commercial has nothing to do with this post, by the way.  I just like it because it starts with a Kansas City reference.)

The Sonic radio commercial I heard was a somewhat amusing riff on oxymorons.  Jean jacket, relaxing fuel, etc.

My job title is a contradiction of terms.  News director.  Bah!  I don't direct the news.  I have no control over the news.

I'm a news responder.

Most days, I feel like all I've done is respond (and react) to news.

(Everyone knows that if you make a plan for severe weather, it will by-pass us to the north or south.  But the second we don't have a plan, tornado warnings will strike without notice.  Floods, frogs, plague.  A certainty the one time you don't have a plan.)

How I love it!

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.

Reflections on a Career

John and I watched this movie the other day and this passage (part of the above clip) spoke to me:

I wouldn't have had it any other way. But there are times when suddenly you realize you're nearer the end than the beginning. And you wonder, you ask yourself, what the sum total of your life represents. What difference your being there at any time made to anything. Hardly made any difference at all, really, particularly in comparison with other...careers.

Leadership lessons in "Bridge on the River Kwai" are everywhere.  I wonder how many times my boss has watched this movie.  He loves movies and leadership and although I don't think he loves conflict, he definitely understands and appreciates Lt. Col. Nicholson's desire to build a great bridge and how conflicted he was, at the end.

We are building a bridge.  We want it to be the best bridge we can build.

But we can't be afraid to blow it up, if necessary.

It's okay if you call me a 'douche-nugget' (or worse)

This blog about a book had me chuckling.  I don't work in HR but I'm always amazed at the employee-employer relationship...and how quickly it can go south.

Groundhog Day

On the way home from work Wednesday, I realized, after ciphering the number in my head and confirming it by counting on my fingers, tomorrow will be the 16th time.

Sixteen times as a news director embarking on a February sweeps period.

It's kind of exciting.  It's the shortest month of the year but sweeps months are always longer than other months, somehow.  It starts with a bang for all NBC stations.  We have the Superbowl!  (Go Giants)  And there are plenty of other big events to draw folks to the  TV set.

CBS has the Grammys.  FOX has American Idol.  ABC has the Academy Awards.

Sweeps Eve?  It does feel like Groundhog Day.  And of course, tomorrow is.

For me professionally, this has been an incredible year of working on the way I communicate.  How do I get out of the death-spiral rut of negativity?  How do I transform myself into a more positive leader?  How do I provide feedback that feels like coaching, not criticism?

I still fail.  Regularly.

In the movie, the Bill Murray character (Phil Connors) is stuck in an endless loop.  I think we all get that way.

If you find yourself in a rut, keep working at it!  And for guidance, check this out:

So how does Phil Connors change in the movie? Ironically, Phil breaks free and changes his life by slowing down. By doing the equivalent of going from fast-forward to pause, he can start to see an accurate image of himself.

It's not easy.  I especially struggle with the slow down part.  There always seems to be so much to do and so little time to do it.

On this, the eve of Groundhog Day, I pledge to let go of my set ways.

And slow down so I can be a better leader.

Drive 55? No Can Do.

Seriously.  Today I had one of the Best. Birthdays. Ever.

I can live with being 55.  Double nickles.  The speed limit.

Birthdays that end in 0 or 5  are more momentous than the rest..  When I turned 50, I was unemployed. OMG!

I was fresh off of an eight-year-plus stint at WMC-TV in Memphis.  Legacy station.  Long time number one.  Ratings leader.

Some background.  I was hired in at WMC in 1998 by Bill Applegate, one of the most brilliant minds in the business. He moved on to Cleveland and was replaced by Howard Meagle.

Howard and I had a difficult beginning, to say the least.  We learned to appreciate each other.

I was invited to leave (fired) after the November book in 2006.  Not that it was a surprise.  Howard was dispatched in July, 2006 and when the new I-want-my-own-puppet GM arrived, I knew my days were numbered.  I lasted four months before hearing the words..."we need/want to make a change....blah blah blah."

Two weeks after a great 50th birthday celebration (January, 2007) in SD I traded in my beloved Mustang convertible for a Ford 500 (I am still driving the white Beast) and headed to Syracuse for a job at WSTM.  Fifteen months later John and I moved slightly south to the Scripps station in Baltimore, WMAR.  Forty-nine weeks later...west to Kansas City and KSHB.

I have now been at NBC Action News for two years, eight months.  Learned some things.  Hard things.  Survived another general manager change.  Learned to appreciate my strengths and to fix some of my weaknesses.

I let go of Memphis.  I began to appreciate Kansas City.  We bought a house here.

Most of all, though, I recognize the competitive spirit of the folks at 4720 Oak.  Today, I saw evidence of a high-functioning newsroom.  There have been glimpses before.  Today, I saw it clearly.

It was a great birthday present.

We can be winners.  I know it.  I believe it.

And I'm now 55 years old.  Wow.

The March to Irrelevance

I am one week away from a day I've been dreading since I became aware of the importance of demographics in the life a TV news director.

We-Who-Run-Newsrooms live and die (get fired) based on the number of people ages 18-49 or 25-54 that watch our newscasts.  Those ratings are figured every February, May, July, November.

Next Wednesday, I will no longer matter, according to Nielsen, the company that determines who watches television and when.

I will be 55 years old.  And I'm not alone.

I have more disposable income than I did at 18.  More than I had at 25.  More than I had at 35.  I have more buying power but the Powers-That-Be who determine my professional fate.  Still, they say I'm too old to matter.

I say, "Hold the bus headed the old folks home."

I'm still here, I'm still buying stuff.

Most of the time with cash!

I want a new kitchen and a deck and I want to turn my unfinished basement into a Man Cave for John.  He wants a pool table.

Don't stop paying attention to me, retailers.  I still matter.

I'm not the only one who thinks this way:

"...the current state of media evaluation and advertising targeting is dominated by a fundamentally flawed, and increasingly anachronistic, age-based process. This process is resulting in the misallocation of billions of dollars in media expenditures and in an imbalance in the programming mix of the media."

It's time for Nielsen to realize that 55 is the new 47.

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

I hate it when this happens...watch all the way to the end.

Can I get an amen?

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

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

Today, I left the office and accompanied Chris Hernandez on his day as a "one man band reporter."  Our story changed as the day progressed.  Later, we met up with Tim Hellhake and the two of them reported live during the 5pm and 6pm newscasts.

Actually, this video only shows what happened in the afternoon.  The morning included an interview with the new CEO of the fire department. 

I learned a great deal today about the MMJ workflow.

I need to go on more "ride-alongs."

"Hello, I'm a Reporter. Sorry For Your Loss. Can I Have a Picture of Your Loved One?"

The quote doesn't belong to me--some former KSHB journalist said it years ago and it came up while we talked about how aggressive reporters should be when covering murdered children.  (Thursday afternoon, this teenager was stabbed to death about 45 minutes south of Kansas City in a rural area that doesn't see much violence.)

After reading the Plog's admonition to KC reporters regarding postings on the 14-year-old girl's Facebook memorial, I thought about two reporters I worked with in other markets.  One in Miami and one in Memphis -- each had their own tactics for dealing with the relatives of the recently murdered.

The WSVN reporter's actions were the worst and a manager brought her scheme quickly to an end.  Background:  Miami in the early 90s was easily one of the most violent cities in the country.  At WSVN where I worked on the assignment desk, we ignored many, many homicides.  But some, based on unspoken criteria, broke through.  Tourists, the famous, children, the wealthy, anything tainted with Santeria; those killings were covered zealously for 24-48 hours.  After that, even the murdered children mostly were forgotten.

I recall the WSVN reporter's remarkable ability to get a grieving family to talk on camera about a recently slain loved one and even to provide photos.  Finally, I asked her about it.  She was very proud of her discovery--if she promised the family the TV station would promote a memorial bank account (shilling for donations), they would almost always agree to an interview.  And then, she'd tell them that it would really only work if her interview remained "exclusive."

I don't think she is still working as a journalist anymore, thank God.

The Memphis reporter has moved to a larger market and his methods aren't nearly as despicable.  He would, when a family member agreed to talk, start the interview and then, if the person he was talking to began to weep, he would say "Where are those tears coming from?"  Which would often mean even more tears and wailing as the person interviewed recalled happier days and times.

After more than thirty years in local news, covering murdered children should be rote by now but it's not.  Each murder is different.  None of the decisions about coverage are easy.

"What do I know?  What do I need to know?"  Those two questions always come to my mind (thanks Al Tompkins) when I'm dealing with ethical decision-making...like covering the murder of a beloved daughter, sister, student, friend.  Here's the list Bob Steele put together for high school journalism students.  It's the same one we "pros" should use.

By the way.  Russ Ptacek handled his request for information exactly the right way.  Honestly.  Above-board.  Without pandering.  That's the way it should be done. 

Back to the list.  Did you need to know that before she was killed, Katie Rios, an honor student, was in the band?  Did you need to know her friends called her "Smiley?"  Did you need to know her principal remembers her as a mentor when she was class president?

You did.

Otherwise, you cannot properly mourn our world's loss of Katie Rios.

Ten Years in Seven Minutes (Thanks Newsweek)

MMJ Serendipity and a Little From the Wayback Machine

Newsblues posted this today, so a tip of the hat to Mike James.  And a tip of the hat to Lori Jane Gliha.  I don't know her but I'm proud she is a Scripps co-worker.  Lori Jane sang this song at a station gathering recently:



Her song struck a chord.  I blogged about our new reality six years ago when I was a news director in another market:

==============================================
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Tonight something happened that got me thinking. Let me set the stage. Our service technician (consultant) has been in for the past three days. That's Always stressful even if you like the person (and I think I do). So tonight, I left work early (6:25pm) and was settled into my couch about thirty minutes later. I learned from another station's cut-in that a robbery and shooting had occured at a grocery store. MY grocery store. Less than two miles from my house.

I immediately started putting my shoes back on and told John he should drive me there. Good plan until I realized the camcorder was dead. No battery. Dead freaking camera. Somehow it got left on when we were shooting video of our fantastic holiday light display.

A big story happening in my neighborhood and No battery.

For a moment, I was apoplectic. Seriously irritated.

But then I remembered that I work with professionals and although they could not get to the scene as quickly as I could, they would get there and do a good job.  And they did. I watched the late news and save for an audio buzz in the lead live shot, our coverage was fine. More than fine. I'm proud of my team. (Thanks y'all)

But dammit, I really wanted to be involved...shoot some video. Twice in my tenure here, I've shot stories that made it onto the NBC regional feed.  I gotta tell ya, that's serious thrill.

Probably the photojournalists who work at Action News 5 have a "no-big-deal" attitude about shooting stories that are good enough to be sent via satellite to the rest of the world because they do it all the time but I haven't had a camera on my shoulder for a living since the 70's. Nixon was president, for godsakes!

Where I'm going here is that Forward Thinkers say that at some point, all local TV news employees will carry cameras and all will report stories.

I can't wait./pp
============================================
Here's the deal.  The Newsroom of the Future is HERE.  On NBC Action News Thursday evening, we presented our viewers with four stories that were shot, written, edited and presented by MMJ's.  It is the new way.  And we will do it every day.

Since that night in December, 2003, I've never been without a video camera (complete with fully charged battery).  These days I carry a Flip with me and I hope to upgrade to a Flip HD.

I intend to make the network feed again.  Hopefully soon.