LEARNING THROUGH THE LIFE OF YOUR NEWS CAREER

“You need to do triple-team coverage on stories like that”, he said to me.

A blue producer (not quite green, not quite black belt), I said, “But, I only have one reporter.”

“STOP MAKING EXCUSES”, the consultant said back to me.

THIS is the type of experience that makes most people in news roll their eyes at the thought of a corporate visit or a consultant coming to town.

Even as the words rolled from his mouth I had 15 conversations in my head about what he meant. Never one to back down from something I don’t understand, I said, “How?”

And he explained it to me.

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WHEN “THE FIRM” COMES TO TOWN

I’ve always loved the rush of a visit from people outside of my bubble, smarter than me with more eyes on more stuff in the news world.

You need to know, back when I started in this business there weren’t 15,000,000 YouTube accounts I could look at to get ideas. I had nothing but the world in front of me, and I was always eyeing the “next great idea”.

So, when a corporate visitor or consultant came to town, I always tried to make my face one of the first they saw, ready to get any kind of feedback and learn something.

In the early years, we would have scheduled times with the higher-ups, and they would go through whatever was important at that time – weather, layering stories, better storytelling, producing techniques, etc. I even asked to be in the reporter sessions so I, as a producer, could better serve them in my role.

I would immediately apply what I had learned, hoping their eyes would pass my newscast on the way out of town, and see that I listened and applied what I had learned. I wanted my toolbox to get bigger every day and full of all the tools I needed.

While others around me would moan and groan about it, I would relish it.

The higher up I got in management the more time I got to spend with these educational people. Some were funny and nice, others were downright terrifying and blunt. Some discussions were way over my head and I either asked a million questions or wrote them down to ask later in private.

Once I had figured out that a “visit” and “mandatory” meeting was actually a new team coming in to tell us our station was being sold. You bet your ass I was front and center at the door in the pouring rain holding it open when they arrived. I wanted them to see my smiling face. I’m not sure to what end “holding a door in the rain” would benefit me, but I wasn’t going to hide from the inevitable.

I face challenges and don’t duck from them. I was the first to ask questions in the meeting and I asked the questions I knew everyone else was scared to ask, mostly about “Will we have jobs? Will you cut pay?” etc.

I was blessed to have some bosses who let me behind the curtain of many discussions that I might not have been *needed in. Those moments mean the world to me because I was able to hear about other departments. You see, nobody really teaches you about local sales, national sales, barters, EBITDA, BCF, or traffic management at the news level. You just kinda pick things up as you go along. When you work in news you find out able sales stuff usually in a battle of ethical lines or commercial lengths, not in a calm, educational environment. I’ve never had a desire to be a General Manager, knowing my heart, soul, and head would always be in the newsroom and I didn’t want to be “THAT” General Manager always trying to run the newsroom and undermining my News boss. I also knew I wouldn’t be able to resist.

I recently tanked an interview when I made a comment about this, making a statement about wanting to be more involved in the budgeting process. What I meant to say was “Salespeople come up in a world of spreadsheets and quarterly reports and entitlement meetings and ratings breakdowns meant to lure clients. News managers generally don’t see that spreadsheet until they are in a News Director role, and we are learning from the beginning what you’ve known for decades. And it doesn’t have a catchy headline or hot video or great sound. And I’d like to be more involved in that process.” I said something that was a horrible mix of that message and luckily had the chance to clarify.

As time went on, and you work for different companies, you realize there are some events you just aren’t invited to. I remember one night the sales team was going to a fancy event at the top of a building. I asked, “When does the news team get a fancy event like that?” and the answer was “When you make XXXXXX amount of dollars a year.” I told you, some were blunt.

I never lost the desire to be with the “higher-ups” as long as possible. So, I was always there to send them off as I could, asking if they needed water for the road, or offering up whatever swag I had available with our logo on it. But different companies have different priorities for their time. Half of my News Director life has been “You will plan every breakfast, lunch, and dinner around this visit for the rest of the week”, while others were clear “You will only be needed when we summons you.”

A recent rare corporate visit I thought we were all going our separate ways and we were saying our goodbyes when someone finally said “Meet you at the restaurant? I’m going to change clothes” over my head. I was so confused as to how I missed there was a dinner involved in this visit and was suddenly realizing I needed to change clothes too and let the dog out and timing it all in my head (as any good producer would do). Before I could mentally pair my dress with my necklace that I would quickly change into, one of the sales managers looked at me and said, “I’m sorry you weren’t invited to this.” I then realized they had all been talking hoping I would leave so they could go to dinner. I was embarrassed, but not hurt. I did have the words “Sorry you weren’t invited to this” echoing in my head the drive home.

My message to any journalist on this is – you are also an employee. You are dedicated to a company and its policies and procedures. God bless the companies with open-door policies that allow you to discuss concerns when they arise and honors that commitment. This forms good working relationship bonds. In the end, though, the decision doesn’t stop with you. In my opinion, you are entitled to the conversation, but not necessarily the resolution you want.

But if you are one of the people who avoids “the corporate people” or declines the invite to a ratings presentation or doesn’t read the handbook, you are missing out on a chance to understand. Every company has people who answer to people who answer to people. You need to realize where you are in that chain and learn what you can from how the chain works. You might find out that even though you disagree with a policy, you finally understand the method to the madness.

If I’ve learned anything on the way up, it’s that every decision I disagreed with usually had a reason that was beyond my scope of sight. You aren’t always going to be able to see this. Once I was adamant I needed a decent-sized raise and my boss, who knew the value I brought to the team, wouldn’t budge. Turns out, I found out years later, he couldn’t give me a raise that large because the person above me made that much and it wouldn’t be “fair” (Fair is such a subjective word). I didn’t like it, BUT I UNDERSTOOD IT AND COULD STOMACH IT. ?

NOTE: When it comes to violating FCC rules or sponsorship guidelines or closed captioning fails or harassment or discrimination, you need to speak up relentlessly. Don’t miss that message in my words.

But if you don’t get why sick time is XX amount and PTO is XX amount, or why this or that isn’t a holiday, or why you can’t get a raise but they just bought a whole new set of cameras ((see my post about “What your on air staff might not be telling you . Expense Budget (salaries) and Capital Budget (Stuff) are two different beasts.))

Don't be afraid to ask questions and don't hide from them. You are incredibly important to them. Show them they are important to you. Don't do this:

I once had a co-owner of a company come to town. An amazing, eccentric woman who meant business while loving her stations. She asked me point blank, “What’s one thing I could do for you at this station that would make work life better for the staff?”. Dear Lord, I know she didn’t me as a person – blunt and direct and never one to mince words – but I also knew I didn’t know her boundaries of what could be said or not said. So, I went for the first thing that came to mind and didn’t apply logic, reason, or rhetoric to it. “I wish we could flush the toilet and it would actually flush”, I said ready to dive under my desk and rot there.

Suffice it to say, the toilet caper was demonstrated and explained and was fixed within 3 days. Decades of a toilet not flushing right and employees dreading using the facilities and one comment from a bold News Director fixed it. They didn’t know at a corporate level the toilet pipes froze when it got cold, that even when warm it took 3-4 flushes to fully flush, that people hated going into a bathroom with a one-flushed toilet and seeing what still lingered.

Can I just tell you this amazing woman also had a fantastic habit of ordering every dessert on the menu, generally first before the rest of the meal, and didn’t care what diet you were on or how many carbs you had that day? I was not scared to tell her the one toilet we had didn’t work, but I was terrified to not take a bite of every dessert.

Get to know what you can about these people. Let them get to know you. Choose your words wisely. I made the mistake once of explaining to one of those “blunt and terrifying people” that I was “working really hard” and was “trying to do a lot but I needed help with X, Y and Z to make it happen” and this person said “All of our managers work hard. You are not unique.”, and I was asked to leave the room. One of the worst moments of my career, hands down. I said the wrong thing the wrong way and my message never fully got across. God bless the man for letting me explain via email and him assuring me we moved past it.

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE NEWSROOM

By my third job, I realized I could GO places to learn. Conventions, ongoing education sessions, great organizations like IRE, RTDNA, NPPA, NAB, State Broadcaster’s Associations, and the list goes on. I attended whatever I could afford and asked the station if they could own any part of the cost.

In 2002, as an Assistant News Director, I was accepted into The Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism , and I met a slew of people who would become part of my tribe. Just 27 years old, I was in a room of people who knew better, worked smarter, and learned things I still had on my education bucket list. I was blessed to go through once again in 2014 as a News Director.

I’ve attended workshops for reporters, because as a new Executive Producer in 2002 nobody really ever teaches you how to “proof” a reporter script. At 25 years old I was proofing the work of a 30-year veteran reporter. Who was I to tell them they needed to re-work the intro? Well, I was the EP. It was my job to protect the presentation and engagement in the story as it related to the rest of the rundown and branding as a whole. So I learned. I watched as Steve Hartman, one of my muse’s, explained how he tackles “everyone has a story” when stories might be hard to come by. I learned how to find the story in the event and how to look to the side, top, back, and underbelly to find the stories others were ignoring looking straight ahead at the speaker. I was better for myself, the reporting team, and the management team by learning something that wasn’t directly my work but still my oversight. ?

Allow me to share one of my favorite Steve Hartman stories, as I think the 2011 message is as important now than it was then.

I attended as many RTDNA conventions as my salary could afford. This time of year ring especially hard as 20 years ago I was preparing to attend RTNDA in Nashville and had a box of resume tapes to get critiqued and I was working hard perfecting the version that would be “the one”. As we all know that convention never happened on behalf of terrorists and the day we will “never forget”.

Looking at an agenda for a convention is one of the hardest things for me as I want to attend ALL of them. I’d work with my colleagues and friends to divide them up so we could all go to all of them and then discuss over dinner and a drink.

This year has been especially wonderful, and between my dad dying, the Pandemic and Pandemic II, learning the fate of my beloved Golden Retriever and having to give him daily medicine and carry him up and downstairs and onto the bed, and losing my job, that’s not an easy phrase for me to utter.

I say that it is “wonderful” in the educational context of IRE was all virtual, allowing me to be able to view ALL the sessions. Some live, some recorded, and get the supporting documents for an entire year. It was a week of learning I was so inspired by I offered my entire reporting staff the chance to join IRE or NABJ on the station’s dime. I was floored when nobody to me up on the offer. ?

Now this week as I am attending SPJ virtually, I have to say it comes with a pang of sadness. I know the SPJ crew and recently became friends with President-Elect Rebecca Aguilar through these articles I’ve been writing. The convention was set to be hybrid, half-virtual, and half on the scene in beautiful New Orleans. I know the excitement of going to somewhere, anywhere, much less a wonderful city like NOLA was top of mind for journalists wanting to expand their craft, actually see people face to face and network while blowing off steam on Bourbon Street.

The convention ended up going all-virtual due to rising COVID numbers, and the blessing-in-disguise of it was that NOLA would get hit by Ida just days before the convention was to start.

So, my attention and dedication to this were more important than ever. So, I didn’t show to the first session wearing beads, a name badge, hosting a buzz from the night before, I did show up to learn.

My first two sessions were engraved in the challenges of the past two years. One about how to be safe on sit of a controversial story, be it a protest for civil rights that went wrong, or a mask mandate at a school board meeting which in some recent cases has been just as caution-inducing. Discussions turned to preparing ahead of time, having a plan, and executing it relentlessly to the cost, sizing, and use of bullet-proof vests but then what kind of a message does that send to a crowd possibly on the edge when the journalists are in vests?

The second was about finding sources. I wish there was a great deal of “Oh Wow! Never thought of that!”, but sources are really one thing that can’t change with time or technology. You need to talk to people. Yes, speak to them on the phone, or in-person, or virtually. Talking builds trust. Not chatting or texting, and who really wants a paper trail of some things they ask on the fly that might be used against them in a court of law? It takes consistency, reaching out to them regularly but not too often. It’s finding the people “close to the important people” who can take the time to talk or explain the message. It’s not just asking “Do you want to talk about the charges against you” and assuming the answer is no and walking away thinking “at least I tried!”. It’s about “This is your chance to say your side. This might be the only opportunity you get. I am simply collecting facts and information. I am not judging you and do not wish to. I know there are many elements of this accusation and I’d like to get the facts straight and your input is critical to that.” It’s vetting your sources. You might all be excited about the Facebook message you get with a story idea, but did you vet that person? How often do you do that? (Be honest). How do you get the contact information of a citizen speaking up in a virtual meeting who wasn’t required to give their full name or address? How hard has it been to even get your regular sources to speak as we all “got a little slower” during the pandemic and might not call back as quickly as usual, whether we were figuring out the kids' school or assigning work from home gear or had bad internet that day?

Now I’m up, showered, ready for another day of sessions that don’t start for a few more hours (and it’s virtual so nobody sees me, but hey – look good, feel good, right?).

There’s another learning opportunity coming up in September at RTDNA in Denver. I won’t be able to attend that one, and it breaks my heart a little, but I’ve learned so much this year.

Never stop learning and growing. Try not to see it as “Your Personal Time vs Your Work Time”. Try to see it as growing and learning in your craft and the stuff that benefits you for years to come. You could meet that person who will help you get the dream job someday. You could see someone from earlier years who maybe wasn’t your favorite person then but has grown as a human and a journalist.

I’ve had people ask me “How do you find time to write these articles with such a busy job?”. Writing for me is a hobby. It’s a catharsis. It’s an outlet. It’s my time. As I worked in management I started seeing a divide between working groups and management groups and competition and “us vs. them” and I wanted to bridge that gap a little bit. I also desperately missed writing that wasn’t a timesheet reminder or yet another “Please don’t forget to charge the batteries” memo.

I know, you have a busy job too. You are tired of masks and Zooms and washing your damn hands to the point of chafing. You are either dreading the work from home or fighting to keep it. You are considering if this is really what you want as it seems the public turns against us. This isn’t a time to relent. It’s a time to dig into the things that matter most to you. Go back to your social profiles and find your “new job” announcement for the one you are in now. Talk to THAT version of yourself. What did you want to learn? What didn’t you know that you know now? Share that information. That’s why I am trying to do.

As your personal and professional toolbox grows, you’ll be able to better balance your work/life balance because you have what you need to succeed and you are eyeing the next chance to grow.

You will be producing Triple Team Coverage with NO reporters before you know it! Trust me.