[7/97]

By Deb Stanley

Ever heard a Producer Horror Story? Here's one. On the one hand it was a Producer's Horror Week, but on the other hand it was damn fun and the timing every single day this week was perfect.

• Sunday—Plane crash at an Air Show. My day off. I'm moving, so I don't go in.
• Monday—The Oklahoma City verdict comes in. Since the trial is in my city, this is a big deal. Luckily I have a great reporter/anchor who's been covering this event. We're the 1st station in the market with local coverage and just before we went on, my reporter said one thing, "I can do it." (We're 45 minutes from the verdict, that line meant we were staying on the air straight through) We did an hour and half straight through, great coverage. It's now 2:17 and I do the 5. Luckily I have a great desk guy who has everyone in place and working by the time we have a "meeting" at 2:30. A perfect show at 5.
• Tuesday—As we hit the open, the nightside desk calls saying he's sending a live truck and a reporter to a house explosion. (!!!!!) I tell him to send the chopper and I tell the reporter who's using the chopper as a background on the roof to go with the chopper. This house explosion is the real thing, one house leveled, a woman trapped inside. By 5:05 we're into coverage with just one story. (Sports which got 25 seconds Monday, gets nothing today.) The woman was saved, good okay.
• Wednesday—All's quiet, we hit early so everyone is getting extra time. Just after giving weather an extra 45 and promising sports an extra 15, the call comes. Breaking news. I wouldn't believe it, except the chopper shot is already in. A water main break. (We had a major one 2 weeks ago) This isn't a big deal, but it's worth a pop before sports, now sports is cut back—again! We end up doing 2 pops on this before the end of the show.
• Thursday—By now we're laughing pretty hard about there can't be anything left. We've had a plane crash, a major verdict, a watermain break, a shooting spree in California this morning, tornadoes Monday during the verdict coverage. Thursday ends up quiet. Then . . .
• Friday—A reporter asks if he can storm chase this afternoon, I said no, the weather guy says there won't be anything. I go home for lunch, my photographer boyfriend points out the dark clouds, again I repeat, there's nothing going on today. Two minutes later, we've got hail. Lots! I rush back to work where all the crews are off to cover reports of funnel clouds. I have a show ready to go and by 4:40 I get the impression that show is gone, out the window. The weather guy is anchoring the coverage tossing to live shot after live shot, more shots are being added, more video coming in, next thing I know it's 10 after. Ok, take a break, do more weather live shots. We end up doing a storm show. ALL STORMS. Even the Oklahoma City Bombing Case ends up in the 4th segment, in guess whose spot, SPORTS!

I'm exhausted, but the shows were all clean. A few are keepers for the personal file.

Deb Stanley (formerly KAMC-TV, Lubbock) now KCNC-TV, Denver.

[7/97]

By Ted Wilson

About ten years ago, two people were found burned to death in the trunk of a car. It fell to the rookie associate producer to call the police to get the names of the victims. As she heard the names over the phone line, she felt a knot form in her stomach. She asked their ages, and then she knew. One of the victims was a friend. The other was an acquaintance. She went to the ladies' room and cried. Then she wrote the story for the 10 o'clock news.

If a story this terrible has never hit so close to home for you, be grateful. Stories directly affect us more often than many people realize. One producer in Texas recalls reading a wire report about the murder of a childhood friend. Another producer in Michigan found out about the death of a relative the same way. Yet another producer in New York had to cover her mother, who was part of a board that was in charge of a mine where there had been an accident.

But these experiences can also make us better journalists. They give us insights we might not otherwise have because we have been through the same situation ourselves. We know the questions to ask. We know the emotions that are being felt. As journalists we are supposed to be objective, but how can we be objective when stories touch us so personally?

Bob Steele, director of ethics at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, says at times like this, we must be at our very best in journalistic craftsmanship. He points out that while we sometimes have a special insight on a story because of our own experience or connections, we also risk our journalistic independence. "The key is to recognize those factors that can negatively impact our ability to provide fair, accurate, authentic and meaningful journalism," Steele said.

Journalists often wish they were ahead of criminal investigators. Anderson Williams was not only ahead of police in one case, he was a key witness. He is now the weekend executive producer at WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama. But in the Fall of 1996 Williams was the weekend producer and a weekday reporter/photographer at WAAY in Huntsville. The incident happened while he was doing a story on an old covered bridge that was going to be moved from extreme southern Alabama to Huntsville. He was about to arrive at the bridge when something unusual happened. "As I headed down the dusty road covered with leaves, I met a car headed the other direction." Williams said. That was odd since the bridge was on a closed road. The man driving car was crunched down in the front seat . "I looked right at the guy and he didn’t look back. It was kind of an errie feeling." He adds. Three days later, after reading a wire report, he realized he had probably seen a murderer leaving the scene of a crime. "I was shaken", Williams said.

The body of a young woman had been strangled, thrown off a second floor balcony and then dumped in the water under the bridge. The car Williams saw driving away from the bridge was the victim’s car. "The detective said I spotted the suspect driving away, possibly after dumping the body," Williams said.

Williams gave police a statement, picked a suspect’s picture from a collection of mug shots and made a dub of the tape he shot at the bridge for police. He never did the story he was sent to cover. He was never called to testify and does not know how the case ended,. But, "because I knew about what time I had arrived in town, my story helped confirm another suspect’s innocence." Williams said. As a key witness, he was also told details about the murder that could never be used in a story.

Williams found the whole event very disturbing. "I always wondered what would have happened if I had driven up in my personal car a few minutes earlier and caught the guy in the act." Williams said.

When confronted by tough situations like these, Steele has several suggestions:

• "Chart" a course, literally, by listing the issues of the story, those affected, other approaches you can take and the possible consequences of your actions. Being analytical minimizes some of the emotion involved in covering a story or people you know very well.
• Practice collaboration at every step of the process. Use colleagues as sounding boards and warning bells. Share concerns about your personal connections to a story and keep asking those colleagues to check you at every step to prevent veering off course for inappropriate personal reasons.
• Keep asking the "motives" questions. Why am I doing this story? Why am I thinking this way? Why am I following this path on the story? Am I allowing my personal feelings to overwhelm my professional responsibility?
• Remember that your primary loyalty is to viewers and to the general public affected by the issue. While working as a reporter, Scott Tallal learned about the death of one of his best friends in high school from a wire report. The friend ,19, was a third-year cadet at the Air Force Academy.

Tallal, now the president of Advance Research Services, has spent the past 16 years researching television audiences. "With the exception of major stories, such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, most audiences might want producers to exercise a little restraint in showing exceptionally graphic or violent images", Tallal said. At the same time, viewers do not want the information in their news to be censored. "If something serious has happened, they definitely want to know about it, especially if it’s happened in their neighborhood." Tallal adds.

It can be a fine line between the self-censorship of not showing certain pictures, and giving viewers all the information they want. If there is any benefit from journalists coping with stories that have touched them personally, it is that they might be more sensitive to showing images that loved ones and friends of victims might see. That must be weighed against the right of the public to know.

In an ideal world, competitive pressures would not play a role in those decisions. They often do, of course. But when stations televise video or information solely because "the other guys are doing it" it means the station has elevated its priorities above the people who are supposed to be served.

The story the rookie AP covered about the two people burned in the trunk of a car became huge in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the memories have lingered ever since. That associate producer was Alice Johnson, now Alice Main, an executive producer and the editor of The Producer Page.

The suspects were caught and convicted after a highly publicized trial. Main had to write a lot of stories about the victims, who were also friends. She says it was difficult every time. She thinks of them often when she hears about young people who have been murdered.

Stories that hit close to home can be some of the hardest any of us cover. They test our news judgement, ethics and skills as storytellers. If we are fortunate, they may also be some of the best stories we ever do.

Ted Wilson is senior producer at WKRC-TV, Cincinnati, Oh.

[5/96]

By Alice Main (webdesign@mainhat.com)

There's certainly nothing wrong with signing a producer to a personal-service contract. In theory, anyway. But to hear the terms of the contracts being offered to producers, you'd think producers were actually making some big money. Nearly all the contracts I've heard about are one-sided (in the station's favor) and offer almost nothing beneficial to the producer, unless, of course, you count the tiny paycheck. What's the deal with this non-compete thing, anyway? I can understand not wanting a producer to work at a different station in the same market before her contract is up. But these contracts are demanding that producers not work in the same market, AFTER THE CONTRACT PERIOD RUNS OUT, many times even if the STATION chooses not to renew the contract.

I'm appalled. But see for yourself.

CONTRACT TERMS (cities, names, call letters disguised)

Sample #1:

The one I just escaped (actually was released from) since I was miserable. SO I'll give management credit for eventually being human. But in _________, I was signed to a one-year contract that basically matched the one given to talent. One year, non-compete for a year afterwards (officially for any other signal entering the market, although I doubt they could have stopped me from taking a network job.) The station refused to give anyone any kind of out clause, even for a Top 20 market or something like that. Now I've moved into a bigger market, and have no contract. I understand the two-way street with the contract. Small-market stations are sick and tired of losing their talented young producers to bigger markets once they get better. But where I am now, producers stay because they want to, not because someone has locked them into a contract. In some ways, I see the contracts at some stations (and the fact that every contract my old station put together got tighter and tighter) as a way to keep producers without ever considering how to improve their working conditions. It's true in starter markets that contracts are becoming more and more a fact of life. So first job takers need to realize that there are a lot of unfair contracts out there that they need to watch out for—with one-way clauses, etc., etc. Make sure if your contract identifies the limits that the station is going to have with you, like salary no overtime, that the limits of what you are responsible for are equally well-defined. It doesn't mean that you say "Sorry, I'm just a nightside producer" when they need someone to fill-in dayside. But you can't be told you have to do it because it's in your contract.

Sample #2:

I'm very fortunate to have a great contract, something good for me and I guess they felt it was good for them. I was the first producer put under contract at my station, according to my boss. It's a one-year contract. No raises in it, I'll assume that would be worked out with a new contract in a year. I have a one month out, just by giving 4 weeks' notice. The best part, if they fire me, they have to give me 4 weeks, too. I've never seen that. Normally it's one of those "you're stuck, no outs, but we can fire you on a moment's notice." Also, I don't have a non-compete. I will say after I was offered a job across the street, now they're taking a closer look at the producer contract to get rid of the easy 4-week out. When I was offered an EP job in _________, it was 2 year, no raise in it. No non-compete, and the only out was one I insisted on, that if the ND left, I could, too. (What happens if you don't like your boss) (If a GM and ND are confident, they'll give you this and understand, because if you get new management you'll probably be replaced). It was what I called a typical contract. But it was long, 4+ pages and had a clause in it that if I was disfigured, they could fire me. I think it was an anchor contract with producer filled in the blanks.

Sample #3:

Producers often joke about their contract as "their sentence." I've worked as a producer with a contract and without. And, by far, I prefer to work without one. When I'm without a contract, I just work and don't think about when I'm going to leave. But there's a some psychological effect about a contract that makes you continually think about when it's up and what you're going to do. My original contract was for 2 years with a several thousand dollar increase on the second year. There were no "outs" for myself. The company, of course, could pretty much terminate at any time. I did have to sign a non-compete clause. I believe it was for 6 months. The station paid a certain amount of my moving costs and if I left within the first year, the contract stipulated that I would repay the entire amount. My advice, don't sign unless you have to, and unfortunately, I see more and more stations putting producers on contracts.

Sample #4:

My contract is for one year with an option after the year is up (I told my parents it sounds like I'm a ball player or something!) Coming right out of school, I did not expect to have a contract, but now that I do have one, it kind of feels good, I have at least a little security. My 90-day probation period ends soon, then I get the official title of EP of news, and a raise. As far as no-compete, it is for one year after the contract is expired, and it is for a 35-mile radius around the station, pretty much our ADI. The market is in the mid-100's, and even my professors from college were surprised I was offered one. I plan to stay here until it is up, then go back East, unless they offer me A LOT more money. I'm making around 16 right now, but the cost of living is a lot less than back East.

Sample #5:

At the ABC network level, personal service contracts are discouraged. In fact, union contracts really are THE only network contract. As non-union, managerial people, you're hired and fired at will. Raises depend on the success of the company as a whole, and not on merit, and vacations are set corporately. Such is life as a small fish in a big sea.

Sample #6:

• 10 percent raise the first year, 5 percent for the second and the third.
• No "outs" the first year. 45 day out for the next two, provided the final day falls outside a rarings period.
• 13 weeks severance
• A non-compete clause for the market that runs six months past the end of the third year.
• A guarantee of a thousand dollars the first year for outside training for things like RTNDA or Poynter seminars.

Sample #7:

I just finished my contractual obligations to a station in _________. The contract was for 18 months, with a one year no-compete clause and an out clause that allowed me to pursue professional acting opportunities if they arose. It also guaranteed a Monday through Friday evening newscast, except in emergency and fill-in situations.

Sample #8:

In order to get my producer position I had to sign a non-compete. It's actually pretty simple. I signed it in November '95 and it's for two years, so I won't be out of it until November '97. If I quit my station, I cannot work at any other station in my market for 12 months, after that time period I can do whatever I want. At anytime I am free to go to another market. The only way I COULD go to another station in my market would be if I make a career change: if I decide to be a reporter, a sales rep., an accountant, a janitor, etc. Yearly raises are standard at my station anyway, so there is not a special raise of any sort written into the non-compete.

Sample #9:

As far as contracts go, mine is fairly cut and dry. I have a one-year contract. 90 days before my contract expires I am told if they want to renew or not. If they do, I have to exclusively negotiate with them until 30 days before the contract expires. After that point they have the right to match any other offer I get. Now, I have only been here two months, and it's my first job, but from looking at those before me it doesn't make that much of a difference. The producer I replaced left after six months.

Sample #10:

I now work at a station where it appears a few but not all of the producers have contracts. In my case, I presented myself as a candidate with special skills, and I pushed for a salary higher than they were at first willing to pay. The News Director asked me if I'd consider a contract. I said "no problem". Here are the basic terms:

• 3 years, no "out"
• Flat salary, no overtime
• No-compete clause that only prohibits on-air appearances (they gave me a standard form contract that is used primarily for talent—I don't think they read their form too carefully, and I certainly didn't bring it up).
• Prearranged salary raises built into 2nd and 3rd years

Sample #11:

I have had three types of contracts during my 8 years of producing. The first contract taught me a lot because I see now that I made some mistakes. The contract I had was a two-year one. At the time I signed it, I was my station's morning-show producer. But my news director insisted that my contract just say "producer" so that he wouldn't have to write a new one for me every time I did another show. During those two years, I was promoted to two other shows, so I think I actually lost out financially because my $2,000 automatic raises went into effect instead of my getting what the promotions actually paid. If I had been smart, I would negotiated the amount to include promotions. That same contract gave the employer an option at the end of the first year to say if he wanted me for the second year. My non-compete clause said that I couldn't work anywhere within a 50-mile radius within a year after my contract ended. I also had a moral clause which basically said that I could be out of a job if I did anything morally wrong to embarrass the station such as ending up in jail or drunk or on drug charges, etc. Since I also do some freelance writing for publications, I insisted that my contract say that I am allowed to do that and that any money I make from it is mine. My out said that if I got a job in the top ten or network I could leave immediately (I was working in the 32nd market at the time.) This contract was the strictest one I've ever signed and my boss held me to it (I had other offers along the way). But I refused to sign another one and left the day it ended. My second contract was just the opposite. The news director had set it up so that everyone's contract expired on the same date, Dec. 31. No one had more than a year contract and it ended on the same day! When I decided to work there, it was July, so my contract was only for five months. It simply stated that I was a producer and would be responsible for any producer-like duties that occurred during my shift. My news director's philosophy was that if someone found something they wanted to do better than the job they had, he'd let them go. I left 2 weeks before my contract officially ended to work in _____________. In ____________, I was asked to sign a three-year contract, but negotiated it down to a two-year one. It was pretty much like the first one I mentioned except it listed me as the producer of a specific show. The only problem with this one was that the news director kept forgetting to give it to me to sign, so I never did. I left to take a job with a national show. I'm still a producer for a network overnight show and the only thing I had to sign was a paper stating that I would pay back my moving expenses if I left before a year had passed. No contract. And now that I've been here a year and a half, I can take any job I want, when I want.

Sample #12:

I signed a non-compete clause when I started working at my current station ten years ago. Since then, my job responsibilities have changes, I signed another document outlining responsibilities and the terms of my employment. Since then, the station has broken its end of the agreement, others have gone to competitors without any trouble. I'd like to know if I could switch channels without facing legal action.

Sample #13:

As an academic working with students, I've found that recent graduates are being asked or encouraged to sign contracts for reporter or producer jobs at several small- to medium-market stations. While the contract may initially guarantee a job and afford some job stability, the recent graduate is also locked out of other opportunities. Employees move on not necessarily because they are unhappy but because local stations appear to offer so little future for them. Low salaries sometimes associated with contracts create substantial burdens for recent graduates as well. A monthly salary of $1,200 ($14,400 a year) nets the student only $850-900—barely enough to pay meager living expenses, provided the recent graduate does not have significant student loans to repay. One of my advisees, who was recruited by several larger markets, left broadcasting to attend law school because she couldn't see herself continuing her low-paying producer career. Part of my time is devoted to helping students find internships before graduation and jobs after graduation. My worry is that contracts (especially buy-out and non-compete clauses) may lead some very good students to pursue other career paths. Unfortunately, both the student who abandons her/his career plans and the news industry are the losers. (Greg Pitts, gpitts@kiowa.astate.edu)

Sample #14:

I am news producer in the _______ TV news market. I signed a three year contract that includes a 5% annual raise built in, but also includes a "no out" clause for the first year, as well as no-compete for a year after the contract ends. I was told this was "standard" procedure for that type of news market.

Sample #15:

I am a first-time producer in a medium-size market. When I was offered the job of producer, I was told that I would need to sign a contract. The news director wanted me to sign on for two years, but he also said that one year would be fine. Not knowing whether I wanted to devote two years to a place I had so far spent 2 weeks, I opted for the one-year commitment. When I received my copy of the contract, the ND advised me to go over it for a few days before signing it. Luckily, I have a friend who works in entertainment law, and he looked it over for me. I had no idea what was right and what was wrong! I didn't know whether the terms were acceptable or not, because I had nothing to base it on. Anyway, here are some of the terms of the contract: I can be fired for "cause." Cause is described as, in laymen's terms, any reason they really see fit to fire me, ranging from my not living up to the responsibilities of a "Producer," to drinking or doing drugs on the job. I cannot work within a 75-mile radius of this city for 6 months after my contract expires. (on the advice of my lawyer-friend, I had them change this to read that if they decided not to re-sign me after a year, I COULD work within those constraints, however if I chose not to re-sign with them, I could NOT). I was told that this clause was mainly used for talent, and that they would not be likely to sue me if I chose not to honor it. But I guess they could if they really wanted to. The only other real issue on the contract was my salary, which had been discussed prior to the contract negotiations. Okay, so now, after nine months within this contract, I see a problem with it. I have been given additional shows to produce than I was not initially signed on to do. But no raise came with those added responsibilities. In fact, there are no raises in between contracts at all. The only way for me to get a raise right now would be to sign another contract right now, and that would lock me in for another year and three months, again, on the same salary. The good news about signing a contract is that you don't have to worry about losing your job to the next hot-shot who walks into your newsroom. They don't only have you there until someone better comes along. And likewise, they don't have to worry that you're only there until you find a better job. In other words, there's a good feeling of loyalty, on both parts. I have to say that I feel lucky, and that the station I work at should, too. What if I, like the two other producers they hired just weeks prior to myself, didn't work out? What if I just couldn't "cut it" as a producer? (They really had no way of knowing whether I would, or wouldn't, seeing as I had only been training for two weeks when I signed). I have seen the station I work at get burned too many times to think it's a good idea to sign a new producer onto a contract. A better idea would probably be to discuss contracts after 6 months. That way, both the producer and the station know whether or not it's working out.

Sample #16:

As far as I know, the producers here at _____________ are locked into three year deals. 4-percent raise, no out-clause, and a non-compete clause of 90 days. We've basically sold our souls to the station.

WHY CONTRACTS CAN BE GOOD
(IF THE STATION WANTS YOU BADLY ENOUGH)

From a Network Insider

• You should probably choose an attorney rather than an agent to represent you.
• "Your deal" may not be cut with The Big Guy but with his Hired Help (and part of this is to preserve the Big Guy's deniability, nasty as that sounds).
• During negotiations—when They really want you—is the time to nail down whatever protection and freebies you can, and to see what, if any, special or executive perks might be available.
• Some of the "perks" sometimes granted: a car-'phone paid by your employer, one day off or one day's pay for every day over 5 worked per week and company-paid subscriptions (to, at least, the three newsweeklies, the NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and "the local paper)."
• Oh, and if you're on-the-air, get the boss to pay for clothes, or, at least for one anchor I once knew, 5 identical blazers, in different colors. (But be careful here; some "apparel" runs into tax qualifications on use & deductibility.)
• Oh, yeah, get 'em to pay to do your taxes! Some folks have that, too, along with things like a leased "company" car.
• First Class travel & accommodations—unless you're a pretty big on-air or executive "star"—are going away at lower levels throughout the networks, but they're still worth asking for.

ANOTHER CONTRACT DILEMMA

I just started a new position with the agreement that I would be under contract. Several months into my stint . . . still no contract. Yes, I signed a letter of intent. Yes, it is for more than one year. But without an actual contract . . . where do I stand? Can management let me go without notice? Should I hire a lawyer to look over my letter of intent? If another offer comes along should I consider it? Has anyone else done this and are there any serious consequences?

Response #1:

I am not a lawyer, nor do I even play one on (or in) TV. How many notes and conversations have I started with those words over the years? Still, I can answer your anonymous writer's bottom-line question about her contract status: Yes, there are "serious consequences" to this sort of thing.

She might end up needing to talk to an attorney. An initial consultation, which is probably all she'd need, is cheap compared with the heartache she could endure if she doesn't sort out her status. But before she goes to even that much expense— in fact, before she lets another day go by—she should make an appointment to talk with her boss. It sounds like they aren't communicating at all, and that's a really bad way to start off a work relationship.

I say make an appointment because this is not a conversation they should have while passing each other in the hallway, while the boss is in anyway distracted, or in any setting other than face to face, in private, with the door closed. Get on the boss's calendar. In ink. It doesn't need to be a long, drawn-out session; 15 minutes might be all it takes.

The "letter of intent" may or not be binding on her, on the station, or on both parties. That all depends on its contents. But the time to find out is not when she decides to test it. And remember: Her boss has dozens of people to worry about, each of whom has unique circumstances. The producer has only herself. (Kind of sounds like what producers normally envy about reporters: They have only themselves to worry about.) Yes, a perfect boss would have taken the initiative to settle this months ago. But, for those working for less-than-perfect bosses, looking out for yourself is part of the job. (Scott Libin, The Poynter Institute, libin@poynter.org)

Response #2:

1) Get a lawyer to look over your letter, just so you know where you stand legally. Next time, have a lawyer read over anything and everything a station wants you to sign. Remember, every state has different laws regarding employment, so make sure you get counsel that's appropriate for where you're working.

2) In your own mind, go beyond the written words of a "letter of intent." Do the RIGHT thing. Think back: when you took this job, do you feel you reached an understanding (oral, written, implied) with the station to work a certain amount of time before considering another job? Would you be happy with yourself leaving the station before the terms of that agreement were fulfilled? Just because your attorney might say the station might not have any recourse against you, if you left . . . is that reason enough to make a move?

You might not suffer any legal consequences if you left the station under the circumstances you stated. But indeed there may be other consequences—somewhere down the road, if that is the road you choose.

You bring up a great question, and I know this dilemma will be shared by many more people in the years to come, given the current trend to put more and more people under contract. Good luck with your decision. (Chip Mahaney, KDFW FOX 4 News Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)

Response #3:

I'm sorry I can't shed any light on your writer's dilemma. But since you bring up contracts—allow me to vent on non-competes for producers. An investigative reporter in this top-20 market recently went 'across the street.' This person had a non-compete that evidently specified only being on the air as competition. This reporter is 'working' at the new station, drawing as far as I know full salary, as an investigative producer. Another reporter fronts the stuff. Producers realistically, in a big market anyway, can't do anything else, unless they want to move, which I don't. So to say I can't produce newscasts at the competition for six months after ending my employment at one station essentially means I can't earn a decent living in that time. Yet the talent has an out. Maybe that is just a perk for being a big time great investigative reporter, which this person is. But it makes me inclined to pass on any job which has a non-compete attached. I think this is just management trying to take advantage with a practice that is not common in any other place in the business world. I would advise your writer to keep his/her mouth shut and work his/her butt off. Producers are hard to come by and if you do a good job, your position is secure, or at least you know another job won't be too hard to find. Then when you want to leave, you can. I would question any station that tries to lock you into a long-term, tight contract. If they can't keep producers, you might not want to work there. Do your homework on the place. (Name Withheld)

Response #4:

Just wanted to shed a little light on the non-compete issue. One of your letter writers did have an interesting point about the "out clause" for talent while the producers had none. Contracts are negotiable instruments before they're signed. It's not unusual to find quite a bit of variation among the contracts in just one newsroom, depending on who the news director is dealing with, how much the ND needs that person, how replaceable that person is, and what the station's position is in the market. Negotiations not only depend on these things but also on how much money the station has compared with how much the guys across the street are throwing around. I would like to dispel the myth fostered by that same letter writer who wrote that non-compete clauses are not common in any other place in the business world. Not true. Even the attorney we deal with here in this small agriculture-oriented city says he's dealt with several non-compete cases, dealing with sales, medical, and other professional fields. In fact, when he was advising us on what he felt would be an enforceable length of time in our contracts, he was drawing on the experience he's had with judges in this area on that issue. I believe you'll find more stations these days even in smaller markets requiring contracts, complete with non-compete clauses. It's just another evolution of the business. I agree with the advice already rendered in this column to have an attorney review your contract with your interests in mind. And make sure you feel OK about the people and the company you'll be working for before relying on any contract. (Doug Maughan, News Director KMVT, Twin Falls, Idaho)

[8/96]

By Scott Libin (libin@poynter.org)

I've been thinking a lot the last few weeks about the phenomenon of "wall-to-wall" or, to put it more formally, "sustained" live coverage. The TWA crash and, to a lesser extent, the Atlanta bomb both provided prominent examples.

You know just how it works. In many—maybe most—TV newsrooms, the top priority upon learning of a huge breaking story is not to gather information, to dispatch crews, or to plan coverage. All of that comes after Job One: No, it's not quality—this isn't Ford; Job One is getting on the air.

You can't really blame news directors for establishing this as the most urgent mission. Newspapers, radio, magazines, and online services can all cover big stories in their own ways, but only TV can put live, moving pictures in front of millions of people in mere moments. (Even if those pictures for a while are nothing more than talking heads on set or in the newsroom.) And, in fairness, there's usually enough to go on the air with as soon as the first confirmed reports cross the wire or feed or whatever. But going on the air is one thing; staying on is quite another.

For the first few hours after a major disaster such as the TWA crash, there's just not much actual information available. (This was less a factor in the Atlanta bombing because most of the audience was asleep for the first few hours.) You've got at most maybe half a dozen facts you can trust enough to share with viewers: A plane is down, here's the airline, here's the rough location, maybe you know the flight number, maybe you don't. You certainly don't know some of the things people care about most: Who was on the plane, did anybody survive, and what caused the crash?

So, once you've recited the facts as you know them a few times, what do you do? In the old days, standard operating procedure was to go back to regular programming until you had something more to offer—something like live reports from the scene, or at least near it, or at the very least the airport or someplace similarly relevant. But nowadays, returning to non-news programming—even with the promise that you'll break in again at the very moment you have anything further to report—is like reaching right through the screen, handing that viewer the remote, and suggesting she shop elsewhere for news. And where she finds it, she just might stay.

Nobody wants to let go of viewers once you've got them. You want to be the one they find when shopping around—"sampling" or "surfing" or whatever the latest term is. But there are few risks greater than having too much time and too little to say to fill it.

This is true not just of TV news, but of many sticky situations in life. Some of the dumbest things anybody ever said came out due to simple, primitive fear of dead air. Think about your biggest job-interview gaffe, or the most astonishingly stupid thing you ever said on a first date. Chances are your motivation was the same as the anchors' when it's time to stretch: You just had to say something—anything.

I know, the best anchors can handle this. But we can't all be the best. (And, when it comes to anchoring, I speak from experience.) What we tend to do is speculate. We load up our speculation with all sorts of qualifiers and disclaimers, but that's not what people remember. Worse yet, anchors (prompted by producers, prompted by news directors) often try to force others to speculate. And often those who find it hardest to resist these loaded questions are our own reporters. Fear of saying "I don't know" is almost as great as fear of saying nothing.

So, what's the solution? I don't know. (Hey, that didn't hurt.) But I do have a suggestion.

We all know how important it is to have a thorough, up-to-date disaster plan, and we agonize over whether we've thought of everything: who calls whom, how to round up our experts on a moment's notice, where to send equipment and people. All of that comes under the category Bob Steele, who directs the Poynter Institute's ethics program, calls "front-end work." And in the same category is something some news managers don't think of as part of disaster planning—but it can, if not thoroughly planned, be a disaster itself in the making: It's the set of guidelines—the "protocols," in Bob's terms—that govern the way we make ethical decisions on deadline. It's not how we get on the air, but what we say and do once we get there.

These things are tough enough when you have time to sit around and talk about them, to get everybody's view, to reason, and to reflect. But when you don't—when that bulletin crosses saying "plane down"—you need to know that everybody already has the same principles in mind. That anchor on her way to the set for the first cut-in doesn't have time to stop in the news director's office for a thoughtful examination of the issues. And she may not come out from under the lights for quite a while. In the meantime, where does she get her guidance for the hundred little split-second decisions behind all that ad-libbing? It's not the voice in her IFB, telling her where to pitch next. By comparison, that's the easy part. It's the other voice, telling her not necessarily what to do, but how to decide. Because she and her colleagues and the people who lead them took the time before the big story broke to think things out, to talk them out, and to commit themselves to certain practical principles.

Effective leaders, and that certainly should include producers, make those conversations happen. They don't wait for that "slow time" that never comes in TV news, nor do they wait till they "need to," because by then, it's too late. Even in newsrooms that know this vital secret to covering major breaking news, it's still a challenge to fill those first few hours on air with only a few minutes' worth of information. But, when everybody knows the rules in advance, the danger to fairness, to accuracy, and to the team's own credibility is far smaller.

Too bad you can't train that way for a first date.

Scott Libin is a former television reporter, anchor, and news director who now teaches at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg.

[7/96]

By Catherine Silverman (SilverMedia@compuserve.com)

When you work in a newsroom 10 to 12 hours a day—often evenings and weekends and always holidays—it's no wonder that more and more people date and/or marry someone in the business. After all, where else are you going to meet ANYONE, much less someone who understands the pressures and demands of TV news?

Hey, I know whatof I speak. My husband and I met 10 years ago in a newsroom in Lancaster, PA at WGAL-TV where we both produced. And we're still in the same business —sort of (more on that later). In fact, most of the TV couples we've heard from met on the job.

"My wife and I knew each other as fellow interns, then coworkers at KCRA-TV, Sacramento, for two years before we even started dating," says Ward Koppel, a producer at KOVR-TV, Sacramento. "When we got married in 1982, several folks asked which one of us was leaving. 'Neither,' we replied. As the news director put it, we'd own the station by the time all the legal action was done if he tried to force one of us out."

TIL DEATH DO US PART

As a result, more stations are allowing spouses to work together. Battling turnover, producer shortages and the threat of lawsuit, some stations have simply given up their anti-nepotism policies. More often now, the only rule is that one spouse cannot supervise the other. And even that provision can be pushed aside by staffing problems.

"My fiancée and I (we're marrying in September) both worked at the same station in Louisville and both moved to Milwaukee in January," says Paul Whitmore with WDJT-TV, CBS 58 in Milwaukee. "I accepted a job here and Betsy came along for the ride. We expanded before we were even on the air and Betsy was hired as an associate producer for the 5:00 and the 10 (my show). We have worked the exact same shift for about four months now, and we have no problems at all. Whatever happens at work stays at work. She basically works for me on the 10 and we keep all personal feelings out of it."

Working relationships with a personal side are not always calm. One 6 PM producer who did not want to be identified has been dating the graphics operator for two years now. "We work together—and fight together—in the control room. And we go home together after the show is over. I wouldn't have it any other way. No one else can understand the stress involved of a story that breaks minutes before you go on the air. But when the situation gets tense, it does make for some hellacious battles in the control room. The rest of the staff knows when to keep their mouths shut and duck for flying pencils!!!"

Whitmore and his fiancée handle the stress by commuting solo. "We drive to work separately and that seems to help after the newscast," he says. "We each head home alone and we've chilled out when we get there. After that, we'll talk about things that happened at work, but there are no critiques of one another's performance at home. That all stays at work. After a ten-hour day, the last thing either of really wants to talk about is work, but it usually helps us wind down. We spend about 22 hours a day together and that hasn't posed a problem yet. We just try to separate the 10 hours at work from the rest of the time we're together."

Most of the time, personal relationships can actually improve performance on the job. And many spouses feel the station benefits from that relationship. At WLWT-TV, Cincinnati, I produced an hour newscast from 5:30-6:30 PM while my husband produced the 11 PM. We had a healthy competition going that resulted in a better product for us and the station. Matt helped me out with nightside teases for my show and I could fill him in on the best shots from the early news. We even executive produced each other's Superbowl coverage which was all live remote from Miami. We were told by the news director we were a great team and those were some of the best shows the station had ever broadcast.

Ward Koppel worked overnight producing the morning show for KCRA-TV while wife Cindy was a dayside tape editor. "My wife told me about problems with tapes, feeds, etc. that happened during the day," says Koppel. "She'd also let me know if dayside reporters had cut undated tracks for their stories that I could use the next morning. I did the same for her regarding things that happened overnight. It gave both of us a foot up before we got to work."

JUGGLING SCHEDULES

Koppel and his wife worked opposite shifts for a couple of years until scheduling problems threw them together. Suddenly, Cindy was editing for Ward's morning show. "From 1984 until our son was born in 1987, we worked together," says Ward. "I used to joke that for at least 8 hours a day, my wife had to do what I told her!" "He still does—only in the past tense." adds Cindy.

Ward Koppel says their arrangement was good for the station as well as the marriage. "We worked well as a team, we both cared about the product, and when a story broke that needed cut-ins after 7 AM, they had a Producer-Editor team in place to get that handled. The only disadvantage I am aware of involved vacations. When we took our vacations, they had to cover for two people on graveyard shift at the same time."

Vacations are a sticky subject for everyone in TV news. Matt and I even had trouble finding time to get married. Of course, national sweeps months were out of the question. Then there the local ratings periods. All of which left us with only five months out of the year when we could get married, five months during which everyone at the station was competing for time off.

Then there's the matter of starting a family. To conceive a child without artificial insemination, you pretty much have to be in the same room at the same time, preferably without the entire newsroom watching. Once you've achieved a pregnancy, what happens next is of paramount concern to news management. How are they going to cover for the both of you while you have the baby? Will Mom be coming back? Will Dad?

All America is struggling with daycare and no one more than TV news people. Since newscasts are on the air when most people are not at work, most daycare centers are closed when news couples need them most. "We ALWAYS have to work holidays and have to farm the kids to Grandma's because the entire rest of the world is closed," says Koppel. Not everyone is lucky enough to work in TV in their hometown, though. And that may one reason the Koppels aren't going anywhere. "I have to admit we may not be typical news people. We have no intention of ever leaving Sacramento—we'd change careers first—and at this point, we don't even plan to do that."

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

Unfortunately, every news couple will face inevitably face that decision, forced by either management or circumstance. "Everyone knows that to move up in this business, you have to be willing to move. And a couple that works together has some serious decisions to make," says one 6 PM producer dating a co-worker. "This is his hometown and he doesn't want to leave. But his department has just been slashed and he's not sure he wants to stay in TV either. I want to stay with him, and stay in TV, but there aren't many opportunities for advancement or salary increases here. It makes for some interesting discussions."

Matt and I had been working together at WLWT-TV for almost a year when the recently-promoted news director called us in a month before our wedding and said one of us had to leave. And if one of us went to the competition, it would put the other's job in jeopardy. This was the same guy who told Matt, "We don't care if she's your grandmother," when the station hired me away from WEWS-TV in Cleveland to take on the hour show in Cincinnati.

We talked to a lawyer who told us we could fight it and no doubt win, since the station had already lost a similar anti-nepotism case and had other married couples in their employ. Sure, we could fight it, the lawyer said, if we didn't mind waiting ten years for a judgment and being labeled in the business as troublemakers.

Our decision was for both of us to quit WLWT. Matt took a job across the street at WKRC-TV developing and producing their new 5 PM show. And while I was offered a part-time position at the same station as special projects producer, we didn't ever want to be in that position again. So I went independent and started my own production company which is still going strong nearly 7 years later. Ironically, I've ended up doing a lot of freelance work for Matt's station but on my terms.

The Koppels came up against a similar situation thanks to new management, but they've handled it differently. "In 1989, a new news director wanted me to move to weekend graveyard shift to supervise news shows that were going to air from 2 AM to 1 PM on weekends (yes, 2 AM to 1 PM!). If I didn't take that job, he was pulling the option in my contract. My family is very important to me, and I found that to be an impossible work situation. Even if my wife had moved to weekends, it would have been impossible. Have you ever tried to find child care on the weekends? It just doesn't exist. After 12 years at KCRA, I found myself sending out resumes for the first time."

IN BED WITH THE COMPETITION

In these days of shrinking viewership and bloody ratings wars, a bigger concern than spouses working together is spouses working at competing stations. Ward and Cindy Koppel are working through that dilemma as well, since he landed a job at "The Competition," KOVR-TV, Sacramento.

"We were very concerned about potential problems working at competing stations," Ward says. "A most interesting pattern has developed though. I hear about my wife's station's big plans through the rumor mill at MY station before she hears about them at work, and she hears my station's big secrets at HER station before I hear about them at my work."

Koppel says they were puzzled until they figured out that many leaks happened when the sales department was courting sponsors as much as 90 days in advance. "Station A's salesman confides in a sponsor that they've just hired Stud Muffin the anchor away from Station B. Station B's salesman drops by later, makes his pitch, and the sponsor says, 'I'm going to wait until I see who you guy's hire to replace Stud Muffin. I really like him.' Station B's salesman goes back to the station, the info hits the rumor mill and Station A's big coup is old news by the time the news director gets around to announcing it."

As an independent producer, I work with all the stations in the market at some time or another, as well as most of the production companies and post houses. To avoid any appearance of impropriety, Matt and I often don't even discuss highly sensitive issues like personnel changes or news investigations. I don't even want to know.

MAKING THE MARRIAGE WORK

Some tips: Handle your relationship with discretion and professionalism. Coworkers will follow your lead. My husband and I dated for almost a year at WGAL-TV, Lancaster before management knew we had a relationship. Not that we wanted to hide anything; we just didn't think it was anyone else's business who we dated and we didn't want the relationship to change the way we were treated at work. The news director didn't find out until we told him, as I was leaving for another job in Cleveland. The fact that we were able to keep our private life private was a tribute to our professionalism on the job.

Most important: always, always, always get it in writing. Make station management put their policy in print, especially when they make an exception for you. Our mistake at WLWT was in accepting the word of the assistant news director when he hired me away from Cleveland. He had pointed to another married couple in the newsroom and said there would be no problem. What we found out later when he was promoted to news director was that that particular couple's case had been "grandfathered" and corporate policy had changed.

And finally, be flexible. When the chips are down, which one of your careers will you support? Inevitably, you will have to make that decision whether it's forced by practicality or station management. And one or both of you will have to make sacrifices. Recently, Matt and I decided he was ready for the next step in his career and we wanted to be with my family in Phoenix while he did it. So Matt left WKRC-TV after six very successful years during which he had moved his way up to assistant news director. And I left a great clientele I had built up in six years of freelancing.

Now Matt is executive producer, second-in-command at KNXV-TV. I'm building our house and re-building my independent production business here in Phoenix, while our two boys get to play with their cousins and swim in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. I know what Matt's going through when he has to stay late to babysit a breaking story. And he knows where I'm coming from when I have to pull an all night edit to get the hour special on the air. It's been a bumpy ride but it's been worth it.

Koppel agrees. "I can say without exception, being married to someone in the business has been great. My wife and I understand each other's work, our work problems and our work schedules."

The bottom line, says one producer: "If you can work out the challenges, it's exhilarating to pool your creativity and produce a great looking show with the person you plan to spend the rest of your life with—or crash and burn and go home with someone who had just as much at stake as you did."

Catherine Silverman is president of Silverman/Media Inc.

[7/99]

By Tim Feran

Ohio News Network meteorologist Eric Elwell, standing, compares notes with prime-time producer Ryan Griffin, a fellow 26-year-old.

Life ends at age 30, or so a visitor to many TV newsrooms might think.

Because of the proliferation of news channels on cable and the expansion of newsrooms in many markets, jobs have rarely seemed more plentiful—especially for broadcast journalists in their 20s.

John Sprugel, news director at Ohio News Network, called the glut of industry openings and the demand to fill them "unbelievable."

Tom Griesdorn, general manager of WBNS-TV (Channel 10), concurred, noting that CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Lifetime and Fox have drawn away many experienced employees.

"That's how they've gone about building their reputations and their shops," he said. "What that has done is allow for a more rapid migration" of younger TV journalists.

The advantages are obvious, according to Mike McCormick, assistant news director at Channel 10:

"There's a real chance to get ahead, and it's pushed salaries up a bit."

The work force in TV newsrooms has expanded by almost 40 percent from 1990 to '99, according to University of Missouri estimates.

Researcher Vernon Stone suggests merely the illusion of a younger work force.

"We're all getting older," he said.

On the other hand, Robert Papper, a telecommunications professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., does indeed see newsrooms becoming younger.

Papper is familiar with Columbus, having once worked as a newsroom manager at WSYX (Channel 6), and he is surprised at the number of relatively inexperienced reporters.

"There are a lot of young people with only one or two years of experience," he said. "It used to be you didn't get to Columbus unless you had five to seven years of experience."

One who doesn't seem ahead of her time is Shannon Harris, who, as executive producer at WCMH-TV (Channel 4), oversees all newscasts.

Coy about her age, she acknowledges being in her 20s—and slyly adds that she doesn't want her staff to know how soon she'll reach her 30s and how long ago she left her teen years.

Her age doesn't matter to Stan Sanders, Channel 4 news director.

"I've never looked at her as a talented young person but as a talented producer," he said.

News operations around the country have made no secret of their desire to employ Harris, but she might not be hired away easily.

"I really like Columbus," she said. "A lot of people come here and want to go to New York, but I've never wanted to do that.

"If you get much smaller, there's not as much to do or to cover. But I don't know that I'd want to do news in a much larger market. I think there's a lot more ambulance-chasing and sensationalism in the bigger markets. I'm a big fan of local news."

Success stories like hers encourage some veterans in the industry, but the lack of experience nationwide has others worried.

"The fact is, the major criterion for being a TV news producer today is the ability to breathe on your own," Papper said. "One of the critical things you need to add is producers, and that's not what a lot of kids coming out of school want to do."

Sprugel of ONN remembers a mid-20s reporter in Peoria, Ill., who moved up—first to West Palm Beach, Fla., then to Miami six months later—before Sprugel thought he had the talent.

"I said to myself, `What is wrong?' The writing skills were not there to be at that level."

"It does seem you don't spend much time in one place," said Eric Elwell, who at 26 serves as chief meteorologist at ONN.

He moved to Columbus, the 34th-largest market, from No. 65 Wichita, Kan.

Shannon Harris, executive producer of news at WCMH-TV (Channel 4) and one of a wave of 20-something employees in TV news

Economic factors, Elwell thinks, have helped fuel the youth movement in broadcast journalism: Managers think "they can hire younger for cheaper. That's why I think we've seen so many younger people, especially in larger markets."

In a city the size of Columbus, keeping good employees is tough, said Bill Berra, Channel 6 news director.

"I've found markets divide into three areas—smaller ones where, as soon as people hit the door, they're trying to get somewhere else; then the middle-size markets, where the pay is OK, the living is good and some people would like to stay but some land there as a steppingstone. Then there are the big markets, where people say, `You've made it,' and you make enough to live very nicely and really don't want to go anywhere else.

"I'd put Columbus in the middle."

"A lot of young people come here," said Ryan Griffin, 26-year-old producer of Primetime Ohio on ONN, "and maybe they're not 100 percent sure if this is what they want to do. They find out real fast this is not for them and move on—which leaves a lot more openings."

The quality of life in Columbus, some folks have said, helps insulate the market from the revolving-door syndrome.

The longtime competition among Columbus stations also prevents turnover, Griesdorn said, because it forces every station to hire wisely.

Nevertheless, McCormick said, filling behind-the-scenes jobs is difficult.

"It used to be you didn't have to go out and find people. They'd show up on your doorstep," he said. "Now you look at other markets; you keep your contacts up-to-date.

"It's tougher to find people. But we've been very lucky. . . . We take our time to hire people. This is the first station I've worked at where we didn't have to just fill a position with a body."

Griesdorn, a general manager who has witnessed the downside of the revolving door, sees an upside to the influx of young people.

At one time, he said, the technology was changing every decade.

"Now it changes every hour. . . . The younger producers, writers, directors, reporters, technicians `get it.' That's their world. They've known nothing other than this techno-rapid world."

Yet the fundamentals of news reporting include developing sources to call about breaking stories—and determining which sources are authoritative and which are apt to offer only spin control.

Given the fast pace of TV news, younger reporters can find themselves at a disadvantage.

"These aren't evil people, and they aren't stupid people," Papper said. "They simply don't have enough experience to be left on their own."

Modern broadcast journalism is "a whole different world," Griesdorn said. "It's going to present quite the challenge for us managers to maintain a good, diverse work force that doesn't become too young too quickly."

Feran is the TV-Radio Critic for this Columbus Dispatch, June 22, 1999; this article appeared in the Dispatch on June 22, 1999 and is reprinted with permission.

[11/97+]

Compiled by Alice Main (webdesign@mainhat.com)

Producers often are criticized for a perceived lack of "life experience." Here are some views from producers:

Response #1:

I hate to agree with the generalization that producers today don't have much experience, but I'm afraid, on the whole, the statement is correct.

As a news manager, I've had to hire producers with experience levels I would have never considered two or three years ago. The problem has been the explosion in local news programming and the introduction of new broadcasters, such as Fox.

I was offered an opportunity to start producing in '83 after four years as a general assignment reporter. I did both jobs for a couple of years. I wasn't able to break into a major market until I had several more years of solid producing experience. That's a total of nearly seven years of television journalism before being turned loose in a large newsroom. I spend nearly six years as a line producer in Tampa before I felt I was ready for news management, in '91.

I thought I rose through the producer ranks quickly, but that's nothing compared to most producers today. News managers are now forced to grow their own producers. I've had to do it. You take someone without a lot of experience, but potential, and throw them into the fire. You hope, with guidance and supervision, they'll develop into competent journalists.

That's the theory. In reality, many end up with little supervision. And since they've come up through the ranks so quickly, they start to believe their own press—they're hot and happening. Many producers equate aggression, high-energy, and obnoxious volume as leadership. Generally, if I hear a producer losing their mind in the middle of the newsroom, it demonstrates to me a lack of maturity and leadership.

Many producers today lack the depth of line producers five years ago. How many line producers do you know who spend six or nine years in the trenches covering news day-to-day? After two or three years, many feel it's time to become an EP and start directing the world.

As for newsrooms in general, there's too much ". . . you don't know how hard my job is . . ." finger-pointing going on.

Let me let everyone in on a little secret. Everyone's job is harder today. I hear these romantic ramblings of how much better the news was "way back when." Well, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. One thing is for sure, newsrooms back then produced about one-quarter of the programming news managers produce today.

The pressures today are greater, the demands are a major burden. Staff simply burn out. Managers are forced to hire less experienced people, and—if they're lucky—they'll be able to keep them two years. In the 70's, television stations produced news to inform and educate their viewers. General managers produce news today because it's a cash cow. In too many stations, news has become a profit center, not a place for serious journalism.

Television management itself is also to blame for a lack of the depth. They want the most amount of work possible for the least amount of pay. Producers are forced to jump from market to market to make greater gains in salary. My base salary tripled in less than seven years, but I had to move three times to get it.

The whole secret to being an effective journalist is your knowledge of the market and its history. When producers breeze in and out of a station every 18 months, you may be able to find a good show stacker, but you won't have anyone on staff who has any depth or a sense of perspective.

Back to producers. First of all, leave the ego at the door. The only thing you need to worry about is the quality of the news product. Second, listen to the needs of your staff. Whether you realize it or not, the rest of the newsroom looks to the producer as a leader. You need to take responsibility for the broadcast, make sure the crews talk to you, listen to their needs, and help coordinate the day with those over-worked assignment editors. Show empathy for those around you. Be aggressive and demanding without being insulting.

Personally, I found producing more rewarding than reporting. But when you get right down to it, they're both journalists. The skills it takes to be a good reporter are the same skills necessary to be an effective and creative producer. And you can't do either without education, experience, and knowing your audience and the market.

Bob Jacobs (bnjacobs@erols.com)

Response #2:

Outrageous suggestion. Claptrap. Certainly doesn't fit my profile nor of other producers I know. Me:

• Formerly married (17 years)
• Single parent of three children for the last 6 years
• Have worked in everything from selling cars, farming blueberries, distributing newspapers in a large city area, to working in radio and TV news, teaching, and freelance writing.
• I make a point of grooming friendships outside the business because that gives me a touchpoint with regular folks. In fact my best friends dig trenches and lay carpet. The bonus is you can enjoy the company of others without having to talk shop. I hang out at a coffee shop that attracts everyone from the unemployed to government workers.

Now that's how you stay in touch! I didn't catch the Shoptalk start-point of this, but if it smells like rubbish and feels like rubbish- bury the damn stuff.

Dave Biro, CHEK TV Victoria BC, Canada

Response #3:

I don't believe that producers are out of touch because we are 1) single 2) childless and 3) only worked in TV. I fit all three and believe that I am a better producer who is more in touch with what's going on in my community and the world than those that are 1) married 2) have children 3) have only worked in TV. I find that married producers with children are more wrapped up in their children's activities and husband's business or personal life. There is probably a reason I am successful and all of the above. It's because I am dedicated to my career. I spend my time keeping current on what's happening. I work the long hours. I don't take sick days because my kids are sick or in a school play. I get stuck working holidays because I'm single and management doesn't think I have family. Apparently parents and siblings and nieces and nephews don't count. Actually I have nieces and nephews and friends' children that keep me in touch with children's products, programs and illnesses, etc. I believe that most news watchers are single or divorced. Married people tell me all the time their children dominate the TV. They see cartoons instead of the news, they don't have time to read the paper. They don't have time to read the latest novels, catch the latest movies, or keep up with what's happening in the world. So I believe that single producers with no children make the best producers. We, as you all believe and some of us know, don't have lives and so we devote our time and energy to our career.

Anonymous

Response #4:

"News people, especially producers are out of touch with real life because we're 1)single, 2)childless, 3) probably have only worked in TV" annoyed the hell out of me. What an insult! Money problems, relationship problems, car problems—we all deal with them, no matter our marital status. Single or married, each have their own blessings, and curses. And, frankly, we all have our own concepts of what we think is real life. Steven Spielberg is married with children, but I imagine his concept of real life is quite a bit different from the rest of us eking out a living on 5-digit incomes. A much larger, and more crucial issue is employees (single or married) who are out of touch with our society as a whole. Their only exposure is work and home. Both are important, mind you. But, to be so tunnel-visioned is an easy trap and a huge mistake for someone in the "news" business. They don't read a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and are web illiterates. I have a real problem with employees unaware of certain mainstream pop culture facts that everyone should know, like current movies and hot chart-topping music acts. I still remember an anchor of mine who didn't know who Howdy Doody was, and pronounced Marlene Dietrich as Mar-leen instead of Marlayna. (She, of course, is now anchoring at one of the networks.) Bottom line: don't pigeon-hole people. Just because a fellow employee may not have a wife or husband to go home to, or children at daycare, doesn't somehow mean they live in a vacuum. Believe me, that full house can be a vacuum as easily as an empty apartment. It's important for all of us, no matter our marital status, to be aware of what's happening in our world.

Andrea Clenney (aclenney@ackerley.com)
Assistant News Director, WIXT-TV Syracuse, NY

Response #5:

Although I'm almost past qualifying for being younger than my anchors, I recently "crossed the line" from directing to producing, so feel I am quite the rookie producer. But, I think I am "in touch."

I guess I break the mold; while I am single and childless, and my only "profession" has been television, I actually have a LIFE. I volunteer two or three days a week at a homeless shelter where I work with children of families in the shelter system. I also have horses, cats and two dogs. (Responsibilities?!) I've held jobs in customer service, waitressing, ranching, and teaching. All seasonal or part-time, but all with valuable lessons for a producer.

As a director and freelancer I learned a lot about television— NOT news—which also helps to keep a perspective. I think every producer should spend time with each member of the production team, understanding their concept of the show.

It is only the hiring manager's fault if the producer has no grasp on what the real world is. We've moved away from the part of our resumes which highlights CURRENT volunteer work and/or outside activities—your high school counselor wasn't so wrong when they said your extra-curriculars made you a better prospect! This job is so consuming, it's a struggle to fit in anything else, but it's important. How do I judge what Joe Viewer will find interesting if I can't even relate to Joe Viewer?

Having said that, I'm pretty sure my reporters think I'm quirky at the least, a red-neck at the worst, but I have a life to go home too after the show!

Can't wait to hear what others have to say!

Jaeme Ahern
Producer, Channel 7 News, Bangor, ME

Response #6:

I'm afraid the above statement touched a nerve with me here when it listed the three things above as obstacles. Yes, I'm single (divorced, not by choice), childless (again not by choice) though I have worked outside TV. Because my lifestyle is different from others, or what society feels should be the norm DOES NOT mean I am out of touch or just now right weird. First of all I believe you need as many viewpoints as possible in a newsroom. This will help you keep in touch with the real world. The problem is, once the ND or whoever decides who the viewer is, all other views are ignored. I was told so to my face that no one cared about what people in my demographic are concerned about. I was pushing for a story on planning for your retirement (a story that could also apply to married people) and for a story about what to do with aging parents. (I guess us single people only have this problem.) I also had friends tell me they didn't watch my newscast because nothing in it applied to them. I understand focusing on the demo, but these people were talking about things that APPLY TO EVERYONE. That's where I think our newsroom sometimes got bogged down. We focused so much on "women's" stories we forgot there were other people out there. We should have focused on "people" stories. I do agree that TV people tend to flock together. It is a different world. But you keep in touch by reading, having friends outside the business, getting involved in your community, taking classes, joining a club, and just talking with people. Listen when you're in line at the grocery or on a bus. Strike up a conversation with the person next to you on the plane. Then you find out what the world is talking about. But I must confess I have met fellow journalists who think they do know better and that actually asking the common person (instead of a suit) is NOT the way to do a news story. I once had a fellow broadcast complain that her news director wanted her to be a journalist "24 hours a day." Yes, you are a journalist all the time. But that doesn't mean you can't have a real life. What it means is if you're off duty and you see a good story, mention it at the next day's meeting, if a disaster happens, head to the newsroom. What it doesn't mean is fill every waking moment of your life with scouring the streets for a news tidbit. Living the so called "real life" gives you the experience you need and will lead to insight that will lead to great stories that will affect and challenge your viewers.

Anonymous

Response #7:

My 2 cents on young producers and the news they churn out (that's me!).

My first full-time job out of j-school was as the overnight/ morning newscast producer, and I found it frustrating for a lot of reasons—most notably, that I had little to no idea what was going on in the world, because I was asleep when everyone else was awake, and vice versa—and I was single and living alone.

I think there is a bit of a "void" here, but it starts with the news directors. I've seen stations that staff the younger crowd on certain shifts—usually not dayside—and I think that means some newscasts have a very different take on the news of the day. Obviously, those of us who are just getting started are going to be a little green when it comes to knowing what our audience wants, but to balance that, there need to be veterans around on every shift, and they need to speak up! (rather than grumble about being at the station at off-hours, etc.).

As one Shoptalker said, it's not all the young crowd. Management still calls the shots. Until we start deciding "WHY" something is news, we'll keep getting zapped by people who say we're out of touch! I'd love to walk into a newsroom without a police scanner blaring out. We need to get back to beats and real sources for stories, and LESS of the latest crime scene.

Thanks for the soapbox!

John Myers
KVIE-TV, Sacramento CA

Response #8:

Dear In and Out of Touch Producers:

There is a recurring theme to many of the [responses]. Each person seems to feel they are in touch because they are doing what someone else is not doing: married, single, divorced, with and without children.

Isn't the meaning of "being in touch" having an understansding of all aspcets of your society . . . and other societies? If you are going to be in touch your interests need to encompass as large a slice of life as time and energy permit. For the married with children it means understanding the life of singles, and retirees, and alternate lifestyles. For each group it means taking in interest in people and events outside your chosen circle of life, keeping eyes and ears open (there are great stories everywhere), but knowing what's going on. The weakness of daily journalism is also its strength: a mile wide and an inch deep.

To the producer who gets upset by people who don't know the latest hits in music, TV, books, magazines: RIGHT ON. How long does it take to read a pop chart—or stick with that song that is so popular (but you can't stand) and try to understand why it's a hit? Drag yourself to the blockbuster movie—its three hours of your life door to door and you'll better understand what's taking people away from your newscast.

In these days of job-switching producers—particularly show producers—you all have the added responsibility of getting to know the city in which they may only spend a year. Your short stay doesn't lessen the need to know the local culture in all its diversity.

In regulatory days stations used to have to do what the FCC called: "ascertainment." That meant regular meetings with representatives from different interest groups in the community: labor, business, minority groups, social interest groups, educators, environmentalists, church and religious groups and on and on. Stations had to "ascertain" what the issues in the community were. Who had what agenda? Stations then had a responsibilty to cover those issues and represent different points of view in news and public affairs programs. How you reported was up to you. What the FCC wanted to know was: did a station devote air time to the issues they had "ascertained"? Ignoring important local issues could cost the station its license. The process always struck me as sensible, even if "regulation" has become a dirty word. Some stations took ascertainment a step further and turned gatherings into town meetings and broadcast them. Not a bad technique for new producers to find out who is out there and what are their concerns. Some of you do it, I know, the rest of you might give it a try.

Peter Herford (peter.herford@zg.tel.hr)

Response #9:

I wrote my first news story in August of 1959. It was a newspaper feature on a dozen of us going to the Philmont Scout Ranch near Raton, New Mexico from the hills of West Virginia. It was a two-part feature, with art.

Today I oversaw the production of several pieces on the resignation of a hometown mayor on corruption charges. We did a piece on the thwarting of the RICO laws that allow confiscation of personal property items of drug suspects. Suspects now use borrowed cars and rented houses (which is forcing law enforcement to cut their narcotics budgets, since their "take" of druggie assets is dwindling.). A third story was about a small Alabama town recovering after losing its main employer.

Am I a part of my community? Just because I don't have time to "smell the roses" doesn't mean I don't know and care about what goes on in my town. Would I want to be a laid off Wrangler Jeans worker? No. Do I care my narcotics units don't have the money they need to control drugs. Damn right. How about the mayor? Sure surprised the hell out of me. I didn't think the little wimp would jay-walk, let alone break some tax and mis-use of power codes.

I suppose, since I am not in the stories I write, edit and produce, some would say I have no life. But I do. I watch the noon news, executive produce the 5, 6 and ten, then go home and catch Nightline and the late night repeat of the ten, so I have a second shot at critiquing it.

Life is good. On the weekends, I allow myself to miss the late Saturday newscast so my wife and I can go to dinner or a movie or entertain . . . or just sit and read.

I made these choices at about 18 and they've been good to me. I talk with my neighbors,listen to what people are talking about at the barber shop and the grocery store. I know every hot spot in town and every good restaurant and visit one or more every month. I know the cop on the beat, the UPS guy and every day engage in some of the best discussions and conversations imaginable with some of the most intelligent, hyper-active, inquisitive people in the world . . . the people who work in television newsrooms.

I've lived in 12 cities, helped raise 5 kids, done a heap of homework and been at least a pretty good husband. I get bored after more than a long weekend.

Now what did I miss?

I work 55 to 60 hours a week, yet consider myself a part of the community my newscasts reflect.

I was raised to believe you work harder than you play. That you dedicate yourself to something other than you. News and my family are what I dedicated myself to, and I've not been disappointed.

People who want to dabble at their jobs and spend their real energies in their avocations usually don't succeed at either. Television news, especially local television news, suffers from too many people who don't want to get down and roll around in it, they want to put on a newscast and go home—all nice and tidy. Those who do more, get more . . . more raises, more promotions and more satisfaction.

I agree with one writer who said much television news doesn't touch his life. That's because the people at the station he watches take the easy way out, or HE is not in touch with his community. But generally speaking, there are too many people working in the business who would rather be somewhere else than producing, writing or editing a really good local newscast. Until that changes, there will be those who say local news is awful, and they'll be right.

But producing a good newscast means knowing your community, not going fishing, or puttering with your garden. It means listening to what people are saying, questioning them about their beliefs. It means poking your nose in the corner bar, or going to the flea market on Sunday. It means learning to feel your city.

"I'm a Detroiter now." "What does that mean?" Eat the local food, listen to the local music. Listen to the local radio stations. Read the local newspapers. Being part of a community doesn't mean joining the country club, or going to the yearly city festival, it means taking part in the DAILY LIFE of the community. Then you can qualify to produce that community's newscasts.

Me? I've got the world by the tail. I get to do the whole thing again tomorrow, right after I drop off the cleaning, see what that new building down the street is going to be and grab a bite to eat.

Al Volker

[9/97]

By Various Contributors

Original letter:

Could you please ask other producers to chime in on how to survive getting canned? While I am over the initial shock, grief, and indignation (how could they do that to me after all those unpaid ot hours I put in???) I'd like advice on how to handle it with prospective employers. Thanks for your help.

Response #1:

In response to getting canned, the producer should talk to some of her former news directors.

When ownerships, general managers, etc. change, or if the station isn't quite going in the right direction, it's the news director's head that is sacrificed. The GM, sales manager, marketing director, chief engineer, et al, all manage to hang on to their careers. We're the people out front, so we're the ones who get canned.

I faced dismissal after 16 years of success. I was a good reporter and an Emmy award-winning producer. My news department won more awards for excellence in journalism than the other television news departments in the market combined.

Bottom line, you have to realize that your termination may have nothing to do with your ability as a journalist, manager, or leader. Often, termination has everything to do with internal politics, corporate policy, jealousy, or egotistical executives who feel threatened at the thought of a strong lieutenant at the helm.

The average life span of a news director is about 18 months. You realize that when you step into those shoes and you accept the risk.

As a producer, you have to step outside your situation and look at the reasons you were fired. And I mean take a SERIOUS look at the reasons. Do you have a good idea where you fit in the food chain of the news department?

Sometimes there is nothing you can do to stop the axe. However, there are times when people are fired for good reasons.

Were you fired for performance issues? If so, take a hard look at those issues and make an honest attempt to address the concerns of management. Chances are you were warned several times for performance problems. How did you react?

You have two choices. You can either buck the department heads—or you can objectively look at the reasons for possible disciplinary action.

If your first reaction is to say, "They don't know what they're talking about. I'm fine just the way I am, and I'll show them." Go ahead and pack up your desk. It's over. You will not win. In a battle of program direction, management wins. Period.

For most managers, there's a good reason they acquired their position. If you take a look at their resume, chances are "they've been there and done that." They were promoted because they did their jobs better than those around them.

Regardless of how you personally feel about your supervisors, listen to their concerns. This is not a personality contest. Deal with actions and performance, not personality. Exactly what is the performance issue? What steps can you take to correct what your supervisors see as a problem? Make a list and develop a specific plan of action. Make an effort to compromise. If you don't, and you let your ego get in the way, you'll be looking for that next career opportunity.

Okay, despite your best efforts, it didn't work. You were fired. What next? First, you should be prepared. Keep an up-to-date resume ready at all times. You should always have a current resume at your fingertips. Keep the tapes of your good broadcasts on file. Yes, this will take extra effort on your part. You may have to come into the newsroom on a Sunday morning to dub the broadcasts—but you will be thankful you took the time when you discover you need to send a tape to a potential employer.

Don't be afraid to tell people you were dismissed. This is only television. People get fired daily. It's hardly a scarlet letter. However, don't go out of your way to broadcast the fact you were fired. Just face developments in your career with direct honesty. After all, you're a journalist. The core of your trade is objectivity and honesty. Believe me, that news director sitting across from you has faced the management firing squad once or twice.

Network. Call your friends. Call former co-workers. First of all, they'll be a good vent for your frustrations and hurt feelings. And they'll probably have some good ideas for that next career step.

Finally, get to work. Get busy! It can take about six to eight weeks to find a new job. Start looking for your next position the moment you leave your former employer. Don't get bogged down in the temptation to take a few days to roll around in self-pity. Use the Internet, check the trades, contact the agencies, call the job lines. As you know, producers are a hot commodity. There are plenty of producer jobs. You will be surprised at how much information is out there, and how quickly employers will be interested in you.

Getting fired is not fun. It's a serious blow to your self-esteem. I know from personal experience. You will carry that pain with you—always. Nothing is more of an eye-opener than standing in line at the unemployment office to apply for $200 a week in benefits.

But don't let it destroy your career. Success is sweet vengeance. There are days now when I can't decide if I want to slap my former GM or send him a note of thanks.

Good producers are hard to find. A little objectivity, patience, determination, and good timing will make all the difference in the world. There is life after the pink slip. (Bob Jacobs bnjacobs@erols.com)

Response #2:

This is a true story. Back in the fall of 1990, I was laid off in a 3rd wave of cutbacks at WHP-TV in Harrisburg, PA. I was a producer at the time. I not only survived, but through a series of events (resignations) I became News Director at WHP-TV five weeks after my 'last' day on the job. I didn't stay long, and accepted a ND position at a Fox startup on the fringes of the Washington, DC market. The reason I mention that is because, once again, through the TV station bankruptcy, I was laid off yet again, not once, but twice. Speaking from personal experience, when you get let go, you have to just pick yourself up (after the crying binge, and the latenight phone calls to former colleagues looking for openings) and move on. Don't be afraid to take transition jobs outside TV while you're looking. And definitely, take advantage of the break. And remember, as long as you're not mired in debt, unemployment puts food on the table. Lucky for me, my brother had an unused frequent flyer ticket which got me to California for a freebie vacation with my other brother. The week-long break was invaluable to get my thoughts together about my future. I tried to be a contestant on game shows, though I didn't even pass the test! During one layoff I even delivered phone books for Bell Atlantic! (The pay was LOUSY!) I wrote a free-lance article, served as a faculty advisor on a High School Journalism project, and eventually took a transition job outside TV with a radio-news related operation. If you love news, you'll eventually land on your feet in news where you want to be, but look for alternative routes on the career-path. No matter where you live, there's a newspaper in town. Ask the editor if he's looking for free-lance reporters. Or radio stations might need part-time or freelance help with news. It gets some money coming in and keeps your news mind busy and up-to-date on current events, etc. Hope this wasn't too much "personal" experience stuff to offer, but I hope it could help. In regards to handling getting canned with prospective employers, be completely honest. If you were fired, tell them why, i.e. personality clash with news director/manager, or you made a stupid mistake that the company considered a firing offense. If it's a negative, any good news manager is going to find out anyway somehow. And if you try to cover up the firing, you're just damaging your reputation further. (Jeff Hertrick DC1752@aol.com)

Response #3:

My old news director and I will probably always disagree on whether I quit or was fired. In any event, after starting out as a consultant in 1979 I was astonished to learn just how many successful newsies have been fired at some point in their careers. This industry is rife with managers who insist on having their "own" team: a new GM comes in and wants the news director from his old station, a new ND comes in and wants to hire one of his old producers. Somebody has to go. Contrary to how it may feel after it's just happened, being fired does not permanently mark your career unless it becomes a pattern. (Name Withheld)

Response #4:

First of all, welcome to the club! It is not an exclusive club, by any means. And you don't always have to earn your way in by being a total screw-up or lame-brain (if you don't believe that, think back to some of the people in your old newsroom who somehow still have a job there).

Without knowing the exact circumstances surrounding your dismissal, the best piece of advice I can give you is to be honest during your job interviews. You're not looking to accentuate your negatives, but don't try to cover up the firing with some excuse that can be checked for its accuracy. And as I mentioned before, this isn't an exclusive club. Don't be surprised to learn that the person on the other side of the interview may have been on the receiving end of the ax once or twice themselves. If that's the case, they'll be more understanding of your situation than you night imagine.

Finally, if this is a profession you want to remain in, don't lose confidence in your abilities and keep your chin up. I've been let go twice in 22 years of broadcasting and in both cases, I was able to find a new job within a month. It is possible to bounce back!

Best of luck. (Mike Green)

Response #5:

The first thing my troubled colleague should realize is that there is life after getting canned. I was fired once, and the first thing my sympathetic co-workers told me was that you haven't earned your stripes as a journalist until you are fired.

As for dealing with interviews: what were the circumstances of the firing? Was there a new ND or other manager who wanted to make changes, or were there budget cuts and layoffs? Those are reasons that any manager will understand. It happens everywhere, all the time. There's no stigma attached to this type of firing.

On the other hand, being fired for cause is tough. I was fired for making a mistake based on incorrect information. At the start of my job hunt, I was honest about what happened, because my coworkers and I felt the circumstances were pretty outrageous. Initially, that didn't seem to scare anyone off; one EP even asked me to come interview with him. But when I got to the station, he kept questioning me, and finally told me he didn't have a job for me. I wasn't getting very many other real bites. The up front approach wasn't helping me at all, so I began looking for another approach to answering the question of why I'd left my last job. I could honestly say that there was a new ND in my shop, and that he had decided to make some changes. That happens so frequently that it's generally not questioned. I could also honestly say that I had been looking for something new after spending a long time with no upward motion because no producers were leaving the station. That was obvious from my resume.

It sounds underhanded, but I was following advice from a career counselor at the Employment Development Department. EDD is a great resource for job seekers, and it's free! I got tons of great advice on dealing with my situation. The most important advice: what I'd done was more important than why I'd left.

Instead of focusing on how your employment ended, focus on what you accomplished. Hopefully you've always kept a good tape. When they fired you, were you able to get a severance agreement that allowed you to put together a new tape? (Sounds outrageous, but stations will agree to certain things to keep from being sued for wrongful termination.) Check with the human resources department to see what kind of a reference you'll get. It's generally illegal for them to say anything negative about you, especially regarding the circumstances of your leaving. You might even be able to ge a favorable letter. And if there were any managers who defended you, get them to be references. That's what I did. Having plenty of support and references from the lower-level managers of a station can mean a lot more than the fact that the ND canned you. After all, he may have been a real jerk.

Don't bring up the fact that you were fired, in your interviews or your cover letters. You may never be asked about it. Volunteering the information could be trouble.

After my hiring, I was interviewed and hired by a station that never asked me why I left my previous job. The job counselor was right; what I'd done and what I believed about news was more important than why I'd left. (Name Withheld)

Response #6:

First of all, who hasn't [been fired]? This is a volatile business, with a high turnover and burnout rate—mainly because everyone in the newsroom is being asked to do more and more, with less and less. Hey, I used to produce an hour newscast in a top-30 market with one writer!

The first thing to do when you get CANNED is assess what really went wrong and BE HONEST! Was it at least partly your fault? I find more people these days who can't accept the consequences of their actions—it's always someone else's fault. Did you running late, slacking off a bit? Possibly you were burnt to a crisp. Were your shows/stories the best they could be? (see above) Did you follow policy and/or directions? You don't have to agree with it, just do it or move along. Was your attitude bad—did you find yourself complaining to others, griping about management, policies? (see above) You'd be amazed at how quickly you can get a bad rep in the newsroom and upstairs.

On the flip side, don't be too quick to crawl under a rock. Some things are simply out of your control. When the station gets new management, cuts back on resources or implements new policies, sometimes even the best performance and go-get-em attitude can't save you—you were doomed. The trick is to see the writing on the wall before you're shown to the door.

Now that you've looked in the mirror and formulated a clear picture of what happened, how do you handle the F-word with prospective employers? I've always tried to be honest without sharing every single gory detail, yet tried to put a positive spin on it. You can explain in simple terms what went wrong and what you've learned from it. Hey, you've made progress and who can fault you for that? Besides, interviewers can always call your old boss and get his/her side, so lying won't help, and will definitely hurt.

I have never found that being fired ever kept me from getting another job in news. In fact, most employers respected my scars and my hard-won life experience. Remember, as Linda Ellerbee said, "You're nobody until you've been fired at least once in this business." The key is to get over it. (Catherine Silverman President Silverman/Media Inc. silvermedia@compuserve.com)

Response #7:

As a LONG time producer before becoming an EP, AND an ND—and now a propeller head—I thought I'd share two thoughts with your readers:

1. As to surviving being fired, in the 80's several of us News Directors who were at the time members of RTNDA's board of directors tried (only semi-facetiously) to have the by-laws changed so that only N.D.'s who'd been fired at least once could be full members. Everyone else would pay full dues but wouldn't be quite so honored. Everyone didn't think it nearly as humorous as we did. But it said a lot about the lifespan and lives of news managers and supervisors. I personally was demoted once and asked to leave once in my N.D. career.

2. As a producer in several markets during my formative years my all-time favorite definition of the animal known as a producer was: "A machine that converts sugar and caffeine into newscasts." (Skip Haley)