In most professions, your competition is a pain in your neck. That’s certainly true in the business of TV news. But today I’m here to praise my competition. I might even say I’m thankful for them. But that’s just the tryptophan talking. The tryptophan reminds me of the time when, following the verdict in the [...]
Archive for November, 2009
23 Nov
Shortcuts
It’s a question that will probably never get an adequate answer: How did a WSB live truck operator / photographer overlook the fact that he hadn’t retracted the mast of his live truck prior to driving away from the Fulton County Jail last Wednesday? As we now know, the crew’s extended mast hit some overhead [...]
20 Nov
Aftershock
Reporter Tom Jones agreed to answer some e-mailed questions. What was the shock / explosion like? The explosion sounded like something out of Baghdad. It was horrific and rocked the van. Were you able to keep your wits about you? How? It was very difficult to keep my wits because of the smoke that quickly [...]
18 Nov
Mast v. power lines
A WSB TV crew failed to lower its 40-foot mast following a noon live shot at the Fulton County jail today. WGCL reports the operator drove the truck, mast extended, into some power lines. That triggered an explosion which damaged the truck and sent a surge of electricity into the ground below, damaging a water [...]
17 Nov
Something about Mary
It’s not easy to irritate the cadre of reporters assigned to cover your campaign for Mayor. But it can be done. Exhibit A is Mary Norwood, the onetime frontrunner in the Atlanta mayor’s race. On Wednesday, Norwood called a news conference at 4pm, a curiously out-of-context “tribute to veterans.” It was Veterans Day, but it [...]
14 Nov
RIP Jim
Longtime WAGA anchor / reporter Jim Axel lost his battle with cancer Saturday morning. He was 75. Axel was always an inspiration to me. When I first realized that big-market daily TV news had the capacity to quickly burn out a young career, I would look at Axel and watch the way he handled it. [...]
12 Nov
Tough universe
By Russ Jamieson Whew. That’ll teach me to doze off during CSI:NY. I’ve lived in Atlanta forever. I’m an ex-WAGA reporter, ex-CNN freelance correspondent. I’ve learned to expect certain things from my local news. I woke up from my nap to see WGCL’s 11pm newscast… which I probably hadn’t watched in years. It felt as [...]
9 Nov
Election night
Election night is a noble pursuit for local TV news. It’s about the delivery of timely information to that desirable part of the audience that actually pays attention to issues. There’s drama and intrigue. It’s a night to deliver breaking news which doesn’t involve a police investigation. Below are 10 random observations about election night, [...]
6 Nov
The shootist
An Army Major identified by police as Nidal Malik Hasan goes on a killing rampage in Ft. Hood Texas, and the media calls him a “shooter.” A student at Virginia Tech massacres his fellow students, and the press calls him the “Virginia Tech shooter.” Brian Nichols murders a judge and a court reporter in cold [...]
3 Nov
High wire act
“Here. Let me clip this mic on you.” There’s no getting around it. One cannot gather news unless one records audio. Operating in a world that lacks boom-mic toting audio techs, the local TV news goon typically has two options: Hold the unwieldy, flag-draped stick microphone under the chin of your interview subject; or clip [...]
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