RMHH Blogs

that a city of 1.5 million can't?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071123/ap_on_re_us/new_york_city_murders

I am not talking about today in Philadelphia, I am referring to tomorrow, 44 years ago. On that day, a great man died. A unique President was assassinated. I was watching some 60 minutes clips on yahoo commemorating the 44th anniversary. I realized that being 31, I missed out on alot of television moments, although I did capture some key ones also. Those days were crazy. TV was different then. It meant something. It was before breaking news happened every 10 minutes between 4 and 6:30pm, before 24 hour news channels, before satellite trucks and the internet. Watching the 60 minutes clips, I see great reporters like Bob Schieffer, Mike Wallace, and Walter Cornkite, break the story of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. And then, only days later, watching live as Lee Harvey Oswald is shot by Jack Ruby. I can only imagine who unnerving it must have been. There was a reason the Kennedy administration was called Camelot. But to have King Arthur assassinated. It was probably as devastating as watching the Twin Towers fall on live TV.

Much is said about the business in which I now make my living. Local news is criticized for sensationalizing stories, reporting only death and depravity, and not really serving the public interest. But for all that is said, for all the struggle that this medium has endured to stay alive in the information age, amidst layoffs, job cuts, automation, and increasing choices for news sources, it is times such as Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War, Ronald Reagan being shot, the Challenger exploding, the Berlin Wall being torn down, the first Gulf War, Watergate, Lewisnky-gate, the 2000 Presidential election, September 11, Iraq, Afghanistan, London, Madrid-- these are what keep television relevant. Barring a massive overhaul in technology, no other medium can offer you instantaneous, constant video (and journalistic commentary) in a crisis. As much as we all turned to the Internet on September 11, more of us were glued to our TV sets. More of us logged on to sites like CBS.com, MSNBC.com, CNN.com, etc.

I'll endure the criticism of my business. I'll take the despise and disdain for carbon copy reporters and anchors. I'll take the hit for animatronic figures reading a teleprompter. But when it comes to news you need in times of crisis, I'm looking for my peeps, or the folks at channel 3, or the guys down at 29, and at worst, I'll check those cats across the street at channel 6. These are the guys who can get to scene, establish a microwave link with the antennae, and be on the air in minutes.

As an undergrad, we debated TV as an artform. The debate continues. But at the very least, we have not given up on a medium that is desperately fighting for survival.

Posted by me on myspace earlier this week:

ust stop it! All you cats out there who might be online and you have an illegal gun. Stop. All you out there who might be involved in some illegal stuff where you might have to pull out your strap on someone. Just pause. ANYONE out there who has no regard for LIFE at all– mine, yours, your moms, your wife’s, your kids. Just stop doing stupid isht.

Don’t you see? Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it? You are decimating a population. YOU. Yes, you with the gat. Yes you with the piece. uh-huh, you who wants to be a thug. Yeah, you who is already a thug. Yeah, nucca, you! If you don’t care about yoursel, fine… no. That’s not fine either. IF you don’t care about yourself, you dern sure aren’t going to care about me, my wife, my moms, my kids, my friends. So, yeah son, you! Start caring about someone other than yourself. Start caring about yourself. No one else is going to do it for you if you don’t do it first. Know that the rest of the world reacts to how you see yourself first so care!