Tom Snyder, the news anchor turned host of the long-defunct “Tomorrow” show on NBC, would occasionally get asked about writing. He would famously reply: “I can’t write. But I can write 90 seconds of television.” Snyder’s answer was a snarky assessment of TV news as much as his own talent. It also overlooked the genuinely [...]
Archive for January, 2010
28 Jan
Stink Test
Two things about this story. First, it illustrates how tone deaf folks can be. Jeremy Porter seems like a sensible, ambitious guy. His vision is interesting: He wants to build an environmentally-friendly motorsports park in undeveloped Dawson County. He wants customers when it opens this fall. But he and his PR folks came up with [...]
26 Jan
Dude
When I started working at WXIA, I learned I’d be working alongside a guy called “Commuter Dude.” That would be his on-air name. He’d cover viewer gripes about roads and such. He’d wear a reflective vest on camera. “Sounds kitschy,” I thought. As a supervisor told me about the Commuter Dude, I fought mightily to [...]
24 Jan
“Put down the camera and help somebody!”
The Daily Show has become a go-to for exposing misleading video in the TV news biz. When Fox News transposed rally footage in Washington, showing a larger crowd than actually attended, the Daily Show nailed them. Yet the Daily Show does its own sleight-of-hand in editing a comedy bit featuring footage shot by a Weather [...]
21 Jan
Winne Watch 1.21.10
Readers of this site have clamored for the return of “Winne Watch.” OK, that would be a broad overstatement. The truth is, I miss it. I also suspect Mr. Winne, once again a respected competitor, doesn’t mind the attention. So here goes: The return of Winne Watch. You’re welcome. “J.J. was shot in the face [...]
20 Jan
RIP John Cater
John Cater had been a freelance reporter at WXIA, WGCL and WSB. He died Tuesday; an unknown illness hospitalized him at Thanksgiving. An infection developed. He never shook it. Talk about a life cut short. Cater was 32. I didn’t know Cater. He made it into this site twice, once during his coverage of a [...]
17 Jan
Mood swing
It had been two and a half years since I’d covered a killing. In this case, it was a shooting rampage, fatally injuring three people at Kennesaw’s Penske facility. “You’re on victims / family,” read the text message. It was inevitable. I’d worked five months at WXIA and had successfully avoided such stuff until Wednesday. [...]
14 Jan
Wonky WABE
I left local news in 2007 and returned in 2009. When I began covering stories again, I noticed one eye-opening change in the news market. Radio news is different. WSB radio was the most relevant radio game in town in 2007. Nowadays, that relevance seems to belong to WABE. I used to run into WSB [...]
12 Jan
Hypothetically speaking…
Suppose you’re assigned to cover the first day of the legislative session. Suppose you drive straight to the Capitol, learn of a communications snafu, and realize your colleague’s House credentials (and yours, probably) have been distributed at the TV station. You drive back to the TV station. You fetch your colleague’s credentials. But yours are [...]
10 Jan
Armageddon
Click here to view the “Icy Crash in Roswell” link that was previously embedded here.) There are many reasons why I don’t run a TV newsroom. Most have to do with an absence of talent. Some of it is due to an aversion to the high-wire act that news directors perform career-wise, knowing that their [...]
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