We all know the most talented person often doesn't get the job. Same with the most experienced, the best looking, yadda, yadda, yadda.
But there's one factor we've not talked about here over the years when it comes to anchor jobs...and that's chemistry.
During my career I co-anchored with a lot of people. Some were great friends with whom I had a lot in common, others were people who I couldn't stand that made me leave skid marks on the set at 6:31 pm. Some seemed to be on the same wavelength when it came to cross talk and ad-libs, while others would hand you a dead fish coming out of a break.
Which brings us to the "chemistry interview."
Awhile back I was working at a station and we lost our female co-anchor. So we did the usual; ran an ad, went through the tapes, held a gong show, and narrowed things down to the three finalists. Had this been a solo anchor job we would have offered it to the person at the top of the list, but because the woman we hired would have to work with a co-anchor, we had to see if there was a spark of chemistry. Viewers love on-air "couples" with chemistry.
So we arranged to bring all three women in to do a mock newscast with the guy who would be their co-anchor. In effect, we needed his opinion before picking, as one anchor once put it, "My on-air wife." But first, we sent each one to lunch with the guy. No management, just the two of them. We couldn't just pull people off the street, throw them on the set and expect chemistry. We needed to at least let them get to know each other for an hour or two in a casual setting. Then we brought them back to the newsroom, let the woman sit next to the guy as he prepared his newscast.
When the newscast was done we simply re-loaded the prompter and let the two of them do a mock show.
When we were done with all three, we watched each tape to see if there was chemistry. Then we brought the anchor in to ask who he'd like to work with. You might think management had all the power in such decisions, but this is one occasion where an anchor's opinion carries a good deal of weight. The anchor told us who he liked, who he felt comfortable with, who he had the most in common with. Then we made our decision. It was as important for him to be comfortable with the hire as we were.
So, how can you improve your chances in this scenario? You really can't. You can't fake chemistry, and you can't snap your fingers and produce it. It's either there or it's not. And it may be the reason the person most deserving of the job didn't get it.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
In national stories, money and/or fame are often motivating factors
About five years ago we were hot on the trail of a suspected murderer in one of the country's highest profile cases. A bunch of reporters were staying in the same hotel, and we had just scored an interview with someone who knew the suspect years ago. The woman said very nice things about the guy, what a good person he was, couldn't imagine him killing anyone, etc.
The next morning I was talking to a reporter from a national tabloid who told me she'd seen our interview. "I'm talking to her today," the reporter said. "She looked like a good interview."
"She was," I said. We all went our separate ways that day, looking for more sidebars and clues.
A few days later the tabloid hit the stands, and the woman I'd interviewed had changed her story 180 degrees. The photog was so incensed we went back to the woman's home and asked her how she could have changed her story so drastically.
"I just remembered a few other things," she said, smiling like she'd just won the lottery.
Right.
Checkbook journalism? Fifteen minutes of fame? Both? You make the call.
Which is why you need to be very careful if you end up covering a story like Penn State or the allegations against Herman Cain. While much of what you hear may be true, there are always people out there looking for money, fame or both.
And when I see someone give an interview accompanied by one of those high profile victim attorneys, the red flags go up.
But really, how do you know? In a he-said-she-said story, how can you tell who's telling the truth? And who's just looking for a payday? (Check out the recent Justin Bieber paternity suit for an example.)
The Penn State story is beyond creepy and sad, but you know there will be some people jumping on the lawsuit bandwagon who don't have a legitimate claim. Herman Cain's story reminds me of Bill Clinton's first run for President, when his "bimbo eruptions" made headlines. It seemed he'd had affairs with every woman in Arkansas. Who was telling the truth and who was looking for a payday? Impossible to tell.
But when covering allegations, it helps to look into the background of the person making the accusations before convicting the accused in the media. Is the accuser someone who has a history of being litigious, who's looking for a big check? Does the accuser have a motive beyond a financial one? And what's the history of any attorney involved? Dig a little deeper before jumping to conclusions. And in the Penn State case, the most interesting part of that story is the District Attorney who disappeared. Solve that mystery and you might find the truth in the whole story.
In many cases, accusations imply guilt. It's like the classic no-win question to a politician. "When did you stop beating your wife?" Guilty before answering, because the question offers a no-win scenario. In sexual harassment accusations, there is no real definition of sexual harassment when it comes to spoken word. What's funny to one woman might be offensive to another.
So be careful before jumping to any conclusions. While the "where there's smoke, there's fire" line is often true, sometimes the people feeding the fire are doing so for self-serving reasons.
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The next morning I was talking to a reporter from a national tabloid who told me she'd seen our interview. "I'm talking to her today," the reporter said. "She looked like a good interview."
"She was," I said. We all went our separate ways that day, looking for more sidebars and clues.
A few days later the tabloid hit the stands, and the woman I'd interviewed had changed her story 180 degrees. The photog was so incensed we went back to the woman's home and asked her how she could have changed her story so drastically.
"I just remembered a few other things," she said, smiling like she'd just won the lottery.
Right.
Checkbook journalism? Fifteen minutes of fame? Both? You make the call.
Which is why you need to be very careful if you end up covering a story like Penn State or the allegations against Herman Cain. While much of what you hear may be true, there are always people out there looking for money, fame or both.
And when I see someone give an interview accompanied by one of those high profile victim attorneys, the red flags go up.
But really, how do you know? In a he-said-she-said story, how can you tell who's telling the truth? And who's just looking for a payday? (Check out the recent Justin Bieber paternity suit for an example.)
The Penn State story is beyond creepy and sad, but you know there will be some people jumping on the lawsuit bandwagon who don't have a legitimate claim. Herman Cain's story reminds me of Bill Clinton's first run for President, when his "bimbo eruptions" made headlines. It seemed he'd had affairs with every woman in Arkansas. Who was telling the truth and who was looking for a payday? Impossible to tell.
But when covering allegations, it helps to look into the background of the person making the accusations before convicting the accused in the media. Is the accuser someone who has a history of being litigious, who's looking for a big check? Does the accuser have a motive beyond a financial one? And what's the history of any attorney involved? Dig a little deeper before jumping to conclusions. And in the Penn State case, the most interesting part of that story is the District Attorney who disappeared. Solve that mystery and you might find the truth in the whole story.
In many cases, accusations imply guilt. It's like the classic no-win question to a politician. "When did you stop beating your wife?" Guilty before answering, because the question offers a no-win scenario. In sexual harassment accusations, there is no real definition of sexual harassment when it comes to spoken word. What's funny to one woman might be offensive to another.
So be careful before jumping to any conclusions. While the "where there's smoke, there's fire" line is often true, sometimes the people feeding the fire are doing so for self-serving reasons.
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Monday, November 7, 2011
Welcome to Palookaville, and if you don't like it here, get the hell out
Let's face it, the people in the television news business make up one massive fish-out-of-water story. You rarely get to work in your hometown, and very often find yourself moving to places you last mentioned in fifth grade geography class.
That first job can be an emotional killer. You might be a five hour plane flight from home, don't know a soul, dealing with weather you've never experienced, and a general public that seems foreign. The things you took for granted, the style of life, doesn't exist anymore.
Welcome to Palookaville.
Oh, and don't think I'm generalizing by saying all small markets are in Palookaville. The concept of Palookaville is different things to different people. To people who grew up in small towns, big cities can be as distasteful as small towns are to big city people.
Fish out of water. Doesn't matter where the fish is from, or the size of the pond. If you're out of your element, you're stressed.
I've often said that reporters who grew up in big cities have an advantage coming out of college, since they've grown up watching the best people. But in this fish story, it's the people who grew up in that one-traffic-light town who get the upper hand.
Why? Because it is harder for a big city person to slow down than a small town person to speed up.
Example: Grocery store in a big city. You put your stuff on the conveyor belt, cashier scans it, says nothing. You swipe your card, say nothing, and wheel your cart outta there.
Grocery store in a small town. You put your stuff on the conveyor belt, then begin to read the Hollywood tabloids because either the cashier has to have an extended conversation with the customer in front of you about Lindsay Lohan, or the customer in front of you fails to grasp the concept that she will have to actually pay for groceries. You know what I mean. Cashier rings up the total; then, and only then, does said customer open her purse, fumble through it, pull out a checkbook, ask if she can write a check for an extra twenty bucks, waits till the cashier gets approval from the manager. She couldn't have that checkbook ready when the cashier hit the total button? Noooooooo. Meanwhile, your Haagen-Dazs has now turned into a very expensive milkshake and you're heading to the pharmacy aisle looking for the equivalent of over-the-counter valium.
But reverse the process, and the small town person probably just thinks the cashier who said nothing is having a bad day and politely goes on his way.
Meanwhile, there's the stuff that's available. A big city person who can't get a sandwich after eight p.m. will go nuts while a small town person will marvel at the fact that you can roll out of bed at three in the morning and order a lobster.
Finally, the biggest factor of all. The people who live in your new home. If you don't have an accent that matches the locals, you're either an outsider who will never be accepted, or a novelty that invites attention. And every town is different. Some accept everyone, some hate all outsiders. (And all you have to do is mispronounce one local town and you've got the outsider label.)
Learning and polishing reporting skills is one thing, but dealing with a new environment can be the toughest aspect of this career. Just realize that if you're feeling lost and hopelessly out of place, you're not alone. The best thing you can do is adopt a "When in Rome" policy, get involved with a local charity, and think of it as a stop along the road trip of life.
TVNEWSGRAPEVINE, copyright 2011 © Randy Tatano
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That first job can be an emotional killer. You might be a five hour plane flight from home, don't know a soul, dealing with weather you've never experienced, and a general public that seems foreign. The things you took for granted, the style of life, doesn't exist anymore.
Welcome to Palookaville.
Oh, and don't think I'm generalizing by saying all small markets are in Palookaville. The concept of Palookaville is different things to different people. To people who grew up in small towns, big cities can be as distasteful as small towns are to big city people.
Fish out of water. Doesn't matter where the fish is from, or the size of the pond. If you're out of your element, you're stressed.
I've often said that reporters who grew up in big cities have an advantage coming out of college, since they've grown up watching the best people. But in this fish story, it's the people who grew up in that one-traffic-light town who get the upper hand.
Why? Because it is harder for a big city person to slow down than a small town person to speed up.
Example: Grocery store in a big city. You put your stuff on the conveyor belt, cashier scans it, says nothing. You swipe your card, say nothing, and wheel your cart outta there.
Grocery store in a small town. You put your stuff on the conveyor belt, then begin to read the Hollywood tabloids because either the cashier has to have an extended conversation with the customer in front of you about Lindsay Lohan, or the customer in front of you fails to grasp the concept that she will have to actually pay for groceries. You know what I mean. Cashier rings up the total; then, and only then, does said customer open her purse, fumble through it, pull out a checkbook, ask if she can write a check for an extra twenty bucks, waits till the cashier gets approval from the manager. She couldn't have that checkbook ready when the cashier hit the total button? Noooooooo. Meanwhile, your Haagen-Dazs has now turned into a very expensive milkshake and you're heading to the pharmacy aisle looking for the equivalent of over-the-counter valium.
But reverse the process, and the small town person probably just thinks the cashier who said nothing is having a bad day and politely goes on his way.
Meanwhile, there's the stuff that's available. A big city person who can't get a sandwich after eight p.m. will go nuts while a small town person will marvel at the fact that you can roll out of bed at three in the morning and order a lobster.
Finally, the biggest factor of all. The people who live in your new home. If you don't have an accent that matches the locals, you're either an outsider who will never be accepted, or a novelty that invites attention. And every town is different. Some accept everyone, some hate all outsiders. (And all you have to do is mispronounce one local town and you've got the outsider label.)
Learning and polishing reporting skills is one thing, but dealing with a new environment can be the toughest aspect of this career. Just realize that if you're feeling lost and hopelessly out of place, you're not alone. The best thing you can do is adopt a "When in Rome" policy, get involved with a local charity, and think of it as a stop along the road trip of life.
TVNEWSGRAPEVINE, copyright 2011 © Randy Tatano
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Sunday, November 6, 2011
Another side of the story
Interesting piece of reporting from a newspaper on the Occupy story. Shows a different angle of the story when the cameras are not around:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/my_in_tents_night_amid_anarchy_of_ush5s5NscUZincUN0tF0yO
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http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/my_in_tents_night_amid_anarchy_of_ush5s5NscUZincUN0tF0yO
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
It takes a village to raise an idiot
And we're the village.
Yep, us. Wanna know why the public is so uninformed? Take a look at the garbage in many local newscasts.
I say this now because the media seems to be falling over itself over the marriage/quickie divorce of a certain woman who is famous for being famous. We won't mention her name because that's what she wants; people in the media to keep talking about her.
Yet stories about this person creep into local newscasts all the time. And if it is not her, it's the ditsy hotel heiress or the actress who keeps her train wreck in a constant state of derailment. They're front page news. Why? I have no idea. What these people do doesn't affect anyone.
And when we feed the public a steady diet of fake news, we're raising idiots. Oh, don't tell me this quickie divorce is entertainment news either; the woman is not an entertainer. She simply exists. She lives for two things: money and fame. And we're stupid enough to give it to her.
I've seen a few network talk shows the past few days talk about her, one host asking, "Why is America fascinated by her?" My answer: Because you keep talking about her. If the media stopped, we could move on to more important issues.
Stuff like this never would have been news years ago. But now a local newscast often offers viewers a steady diet of faux entertainment news, YouTube clips and convenience store crime videos.
Then, inevitably, Jay Leno goes out and asks people to identify the Vice President, showing how stupid the general public can be. And you wonder why people can't answer correctly?
It used to be every village had an idiot. Now the village is overrun with them. They can't be informed if we don't provide real information.
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Yep, us. Wanna know why the public is so uninformed? Take a look at the garbage in many local newscasts.
I say this now because the media seems to be falling over itself over the marriage/quickie divorce of a certain woman who is famous for being famous. We won't mention her name because that's what she wants; people in the media to keep talking about her.
Yet stories about this person creep into local newscasts all the time. And if it is not her, it's the ditsy hotel heiress or the actress who keeps her train wreck in a constant state of derailment. They're front page news. Why? I have no idea. What these people do doesn't affect anyone.
And when we feed the public a steady diet of fake news, we're raising idiots. Oh, don't tell me this quickie divorce is entertainment news either; the woman is not an entertainer. She simply exists. She lives for two things: money and fame. And we're stupid enough to give it to her.
I've seen a few network talk shows the past few days talk about her, one host asking, "Why is America fascinated by her?" My answer: Because you keep talking about her. If the media stopped, we could move on to more important issues.
Stuff like this never would have been news years ago. But now a local newscast often offers viewers a steady diet of faux entertainment news, YouTube clips and convenience store crime videos.
Then, inevitably, Jay Leno goes out and asks people to identify the Vice President, showing how stupid the general public can be. And you wonder why people can't answer correctly?
It used to be every village had an idiot. Now the village is overrun with them. They can't be informed if we don't provide real information.
--
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