How to blow up your career

Gently tucked away in the fine print of just about every television news contract in America is something known as a "morals clause." It's an all-encompassing term that basically says if you embarrass the station, you're outta there.

Lately, that clause is getting a workout in our industry. From drunk driving to public marital infidelity to videos on the Internet, we're seeing some striking examples of how you can shoot yourself in the foot and find yourself without a job, and, in some cases, without a career.

You need to play close attention to two recent examples and file them under, "Don't let this happen to you."

Let's start with former Giants running back Tiki Barber. A terrific football player who seemed to have the world by the tail. And when you're a Giants hero in New York, you can pretty much spend the rest of your life having some fan pick up the check in a restaurant or bar.

So here's a smart, good looking household name who gets a network gig and immediately alienates Giant fans by ripping his former teammates the minute he retires. It didn't help that the team went on to win the Super Bowl the first year he was gone.

Then he has a public affair while his wife is eight months pregnant. Not a good thing when you're on a show that has women as its target demographic.

The result? See ya. Who's gonna hire this guy? Chances are, he'll be back playing football in a few months.

Example number two is that jaw dropping video produced by some news staffers in Arkansas. Apparently they thought it would be funny to produce a profanity-laden piece detailing the fact that one guy hates his job and the people in the community he covers. (They also hadn't heard an old comedy club rule; comedians who have to resort to profanity aren't really funny.) Apparently they hadn't figured out that anything posted on the Internet never goes away.

The result? See ya. Chances are this incident will follow these people for a long, long time.

The public eye never blinks. With the Internet and cell phone cameras, you have to be ever-so-vigilant about behaving in public. And if you think you're being cute by posting something outrageous on the internet, chances are your boss will have something even more outrageous waiting for you; a pink slip.

Sure, years ago we produced funny spoof tapes, but we only played them at the Christmas party, and they never contained anything that would offend anyone. We've all hated our job at one time or another, but we didn't broadcast our feelings to the whole world. People have always behaved badly off the clock, but society is different now; privacy no longer exists when you walk out the front door. We're held to a higher standard, because we are supposed to have the public trust.

I was once writing a script for a story that had a lot of legal implications. I took it to the News Director for script approval, pointed to a particular line, and said, "I wasn't sure if this would get us sued." He took his pen and crossed it out. "If you have to think about it," he said, "don't do it."

That's great advice for anything relating to this business. If you're considering something that could come back to bite you, and you have to think about it, don't do it.