Daily Archives: March 3, 2008

“are you calling me a dumbass…?”

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This isn’t Atlanta-media related.  But the fact that a New York TV station would do a live shot on a broken elevator in Chelsea goes to show that there are slow news days everywhere.  And that an on-air pissing match would emerge between anchor and reporter over the latter’s coverage shows that “veteran” journalists can be as petty and silly as gum-snapping schoolgirls.  At my old station, management would have severely overreacted to this.  The proper approach would have been to tell these guys to chill out and behave like adults next time, and let the viewers enjoy the raw flavor of New York news. Thanks to Timmy.

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“she’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake…”

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  • It’s soooo last week’s news.  But WSB-TV has posted an explanation of how it got the John Lewis “exclusive.”  After viewing it, one wonders why the station bothered.  Turns out that the anchorwoman known as Monica Pearson was in the newsroom when her phone rang.  The caller ID apparently showed the well-known 202.224.xxxx of the US  Capitol.  Monica deigned to answer. The caller was from Lewis’s office, offering an interview the following day.
  • This was a story that the AJC and presumably, all four Atlanta stations pursued pretty aggressively.  Monica was apparently not among those losing sleep over Lewis’s will-he, won’t-he decision to bolt from Clinton in favor of Obama.  But as she gigglingly explains, the call led to what WSB touted for days as an exclusive. 
  • True, any Atlanta TV station would have gone apeshit upon receiving the same call.  True too, that no Atlanta TV station would have been able to resist a little breast-beating and self-congratulation over being selected to get the interview.  But it’s always a little fishy when a news organization / personality gets selected by a newsmaker as a favorite— especially when that personality e.g. Pearson, has shown no apparent interest in the ongoing story previously.  I would have been a little embarrassed to tell the world that I got a scoop because I got an unexpected phone call out of the blue. 
  • Lastly– is it really an exclusive when the AJC and NBC news got the exact same interview at the same time?  Next time, save the chest-beating for something that is a) really exclusive and b) something you actually worked at to put on TV.