Two rants today. Digital madness, and on a related note, the headlong and frequently ill-conceived descent into that madness by newspapers and other text-driven media. Going Digital If you’re a journalist and you want to survive in these here modern times, there is one thing that you simply must do: slap the word “digital” on everything […]
Meslissa Click please go away
February 18, 2016 by
So the dolt we now know as professor Melissa Click was on CBS This Morning marshalling all of her strategic communications skills in an effort to rehabilitate her soiled image. An image, by the way, she soiled herself when she became the enforcement arm of the victim-culture movement that has sized control of many of […]
Trigger warning: Missouri prof must resign
November 10, 2015 by
In the interest of protecting my back story in case I run for President, I didn’t complete my masters at the University of Missouri, Columbia – but I did visit the campus on a couple of occasions during summer quarter and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the faculty teaching the media management curriculum. Between […]
Death in Virginia
August 26, 2015 by
The specter of death lurks in and around the TV news industry every day. Every reporter and photographer in America can drive around town and point to the spots where they encountered the aftermath of tragedy. Most reporters and photographers also have at least one story of almost “losing it.” I’ve come close to a […]
Exposure to the system
April 21, 2015 by
FIRST, THE END Later in this blog I’m going to tell you about two amazing conversations I had with a police officer and a prosecutor who both said about the same thing. They were a couple of the most influential off-the-record conversations I’ve ever had. They deeply influenced my approach during the many years I […]
Guilty until proven innocent
April 17, 2015 by
If you’ve read my blog over the years, you know I am a supporter of newspapers in general, and the News Tribune specifically. Today however I am sorely disappointed by the paper’s editorial team and their decision to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to state Auditor Troy Kelley. Kelley may be guilty as […]
Beware the Fool
April 1, 2015 by
On April first, some knuckle-headed media-type loses his or her job broadcasting an April Fools news story. You never know when. You never know where. But at some point today or tomorrow, news will break about an April Fools joke gone wrong and the subsequent firing. The corporate suit or local GM will get to […]
Hyping Drones – Enough Already
March 16, 2015 by
The shiny new object in news gathering is the drone. If you listen to the hype, it will replace reporters, camera crews and perhaps even sliced bread. It’s bunk. But that won’t stop the entire exhibition hall at this year’s NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) annual shindig from being given over to the whizzing miniatures […]
News Tribune in a Vice
March 13, 2015 by
Media doesn’t typically cover media anymore, which is why this blog may well be the only news you hear about all the changes that are likely coming to the News Tribune over the course of the next year. Vice President of News for the Sacramento-based McClatchy Company Anders Gyllenhall recently laid out a robust new […]
Actors & princesses need not apply
March 9, 2015 by
There are many unwritten rules in the world of television news. One of them is to avoid coming off as a lightweight. Sure, you may be a lightweight with little journalistic experience or passion for storytelling, but do NOT under any circumstances let that slip out (LOL). In other words, do NOT put anything about […]
“It will be better in the new building…”
March 2, 2015 by
“It will be better in the new building.” For anybody who has gone through a move at a television station, that is a meme with an eternal life span. Every question or concern can always and forever be laughingly answered with, “It will be better in the new building.” Computer down? “It will be better in […]
Critics, Williams, Simon & Stewart
February 12, 2015 by
I’m not going to name names here, because I don’t want to promote their dreck – but there are a number of ink-stained numbskulls working overtime pounding-out the same anti-TV vitriol on their Underwoods regarding the Brian Williams debacle. Print-based TV columnists and critics are just about extinct. Newspapers used them for years trying to […]
Brian Williams
February 11, 2015 by
Nobody enjoyed playing the role of the top dog news anchor more than Brian Williams. Like Richard Sherman though, if a player’s annoying arrogance can be backed up by a glance at the scoreboard and a resume full of “been there, done that” – well, it is what it is. No matter what you thought […]
The End Has Come
May 6, 2014 by
I don’t watch three or four TVs at once any more. But I do graze, and what I have seen develop over the years with network TV news is amazing. Amazingly bad. CBS has a total of about five reporters I think. The other guys have issues too – but I don’t think anybody even […]
Feeling the Joy at the News Tribune
May 5, 2014 by
In media, the word “ascertainment” means figuring out what readers or viewers think is important and what they want to see on TV or read in your magazine or newspaper. It’s a fancy word for research, but it sounds less expensive and less threatening. It’s a fine idea in the world of entertainment, but when […]
Can Cool Kids Dig Public Records?
March 10, 2014 by
This past weekend while the cool people were out skiing deep powder or wing-suiting off the summit of Mount Rainier, a certain collection of nerds was at the annual meeting of the Washington Coalition for Open Government (WACOG). This crowd cares about the availability of public records and open meetings – two of the major […]
