Recently, on a Phoenix station, I watched a local reporter cover a story on a proposed gun ban. I lived in Tucson last year, less than a mile from the Safeway, the site of the tragic shootings that wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, so I am personally sympathetic to ideas that might prevent events like this in the future. But I was professionally appalled at what took place in this news report.
All of the anti-gun people interviewed were attractive, articulate and well-credentialed. One, Dr. Peter Rhee, University Medical Center's surgeon in charge of the Trauma unit, became well-recognized during the press conferences held starting on the day of the January 8 shootings.
At least the reporter attempted to get the other side of the story. Representing the Second Amendment argument was a dishelved, dirty man wearing an NRA cap. He had missing teeth and used poor grammar. C'mon, was this the best you could find in conservative Arizona? His credibility was no match for the anti-gun side.
This may be a lesson as much to reporters as to those trying to get coverage. And it's a lesson for those of us who watch news. Analyze reports carefully. Are you swayed because one spokeswoman is prettier than another? Do you consider one side's argument "better" for reasons that don't make sense?
It's stories like these that begin to convince me that perhaps all reporters are not fair and balanced after all.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Still More Soundbite Coach Tweet Tips
1. If you are short of breath while being interviewed, could be nerves. Ramp up your cardio exercise to help lungs: jogging is a great tool.
2. Clients asking more + more how to publicize on social media. Newspapers may by dying, but not dead yet! Headline ink still great promotion for your websites and packets.
3. A pet peeve: guest didn't even look to see what time our show started + kept calling to get "prepped" while we were already on air.
4. Twice already this week, 2 guests asked for ongoing segments on our show. Awkward spot-If a network wants you to be a regular, it will ask.
5. If you are on a media tour or a regular, consider having your own IFB (ear piece) made... it's not too expensive + you'll always know whose ear it's been in!
6. If your interview is bumped by breaking news, be gracious and you may get rescheduled on a slower news cycle.
7. For laryngitis before an interview, take Ricola-no alcohol-or Fisherman's Friend. Don't whisper, do drink warm water, and do consider a cortisone shot.
These are concise tips, since Twitter only gives you 140 characters. I've added some information to some of these, but if you have questions, please post them.
2. Clients asking more + more how to publicize on social media. Newspapers may by dying, but not dead yet! Headline ink still great promotion for your websites and packets.
3. A pet peeve: guest didn't even look to see what time our show started + kept calling to get "prepped" while we were already on air.
4. Twice already this week, 2 guests asked for ongoing segments on our show. Awkward spot-If a network wants you to be a regular, it will ask.
5. If you are on a media tour or a regular, consider having your own IFB (ear piece) made... it's not too expensive + you'll always know whose ear it's been in!
6. If your interview is bumped by breaking news, be gracious and you may get rescheduled on a slower news cycle.
7. For laryngitis before an interview, take Ricola-no alcohol-or Fisherman's Friend. Don't whisper, do drink warm water, and do consider a cortisone shot.
These are concise tips, since Twitter only gives you 140 characters. I've added some information to some of these, but if you have questions, please post them.
More Soundbite Coach Tweet Tips
1. A guest for tomorrow's show called to check in, let me know he's in town + see if there were any last minute details to discuss. Nice touch!
2. A publicist called for Kevin. No Kevin at our station. She said, "So sorry. Let me pitch my client anyway." Not a good 1st impression.
3. When you send "10 Suggested Questions" to interviewer, include meaty questions. Lightweight questions include, "Where can we get your book?"
4. Always be nice to the makeup artist. He or she not only can make you look better, producers ask how newsmakers acted in the makeup room.
5. If you're an author, watch saying "in my book" repeatedly in your interviews. For those who haven't caught the title, it doesn't help much.
6. If you're a novelist, beware of interviewers who give your plot or surprise ending away! Have a response that makes people still want to buy!
7. A good interviewee has equal parts energy or passion and interesting content. Great information without energy puts listeners to sleep.
8. "News is what somebody somewhere doesn't want you to know. All the rest is advertising." Dan Rather
9. Make sure a host really, really loves you before you ask for a recommendation. And don't ask for it on letterhead. To do so is asking a lot.
10. Reporters are using Twitter to find news sources. What messages do your photo and profile send to the news media? You might want 2 accounts.
11. Reporters hate to talk on the phone. Be friendly, but be quick when you call. Don't avoid calls-they're a great way to stand out from email.
12. We had 2 no-show guests this week because publicists gave us the wrong phone numbers. Make sure shows have your correct number + get a back up for the studio.
2. A publicist called for Kevin. No Kevin at our station. She said, "So sorry. Let me pitch my client anyway." Not a good 1st impression.
3. When you send "10 Suggested Questions" to interviewer, include meaty questions. Lightweight questions include, "Where can we get your book?"
4. Always be nice to the makeup artist. He or she not only can make you look better, producers ask how newsmakers acted in the makeup room.
5. If you're an author, watch saying "in my book" repeatedly in your interviews. For those who haven't caught the title, it doesn't help much.
6. If you're a novelist, beware of interviewers who give your plot or surprise ending away! Have a response that makes people still want to buy!
7. A good interviewee has equal parts energy or passion and interesting content. Great information without energy puts listeners to sleep.
8. "News is what somebody somewhere doesn't want you to know. All the rest is advertising." Dan Rather
9. Make sure a host really, really loves you before you ask for a recommendation. And don't ask for it on letterhead. To do so is asking a lot.
10. Reporters are using Twitter to find news sources. What messages do your photo and profile send to the news media? You might want 2 accounts.
11. Reporters hate to talk on the phone. Be friendly, but be quick when you call. Don't avoid calls-they're a great way to stand out from email.
12. We had 2 no-show guests this week because publicists gave us the wrong phone numbers. Make sure shows have your correct number + get a back up for the studio.
Ten Soundbite Coach Tweets
If you're not tweeting, you may be missing a chance to reach some in your prospective audience. I've shared some good stuff, personal stuff and now-dated tweets on my account @soundbitecoach.
Here is a compilation of helpful hints. And remember you always get new and different advice when you subscribe to the Media Savvy eTips. Just send an email to Lorri -at sign- Soundbite Coach - dot- com and put "subscribe Media Savvy" in the subject line.
1. Tension, stress + fatigue can be heard in your voice. Go get a massage.
2. Authors-always take a copy or 2 of your book to the studio. The director may want to shoot it for your interview or you can give it away!
3. Soundbite advice for coaches: take the blame for problems, but give credit for success to the players. Do the opposite + you look like a jerk.
4. Research the reporters/hosts who are going to interview you. You will impress them with conversation starters and commonalities.
5. Imagine your company's worst nightmare happens. What do you say to the press? Did you have safeguards? Could you have prevented it?
6. Practice interviewing. Get a friend to ask you questions about your topic. Chances are the questions from a reporter will be similar!
7. Take a camera when you are an in-studio guest. Then email the photo with hosts to them. They will be flattered + may put you on website.
8. When a reporter asks you a question that can be answered "yes" or "no," he or she wants more. Say yes or no "and this is the reason why..."
9. Appearance tip: No matter your skin tone or coloring, you look professional on TV in navy blue.
10. What is the biggest mistake newsmakers commit? Saying "no comment." Get your side of the story out there!
Here is a compilation of helpful hints. And remember you always get new and different advice when you subscribe to the Media Savvy eTips. Just send an email to Lorri -at sign- Soundbite Coach - dot- com and put "subscribe Media Savvy" in the subject line.
1. Tension, stress + fatigue can be heard in your voice. Go get a massage.
2. Authors-always take a copy or 2 of your book to the studio. The director may want to shoot it for your interview or you can give it away!
3. Soundbite advice for coaches: take the blame for problems, but give credit for success to the players. Do the opposite + you look like a jerk.
4. Research the reporters/hosts who are going to interview you. You will impress them with conversation starters and commonalities.
5. Imagine your company's worst nightmare happens. What do you say to the press? Did you have safeguards? Could you have prevented it?
6. Practice interviewing. Get a friend to ask you questions about your topic. Chances are the questions from a reporter will be similar!
7. Take a camera when you are an in-studio guest. Then email the photo with hosts to them. They will be flattered + may put you on website.
8. When a reporter asks you a question that can be answered "yes" or "no," he or she wants more. Say yes or no "and this is the reason why..."
9. Appearance tip: No matter your skin tone or coloring, you look professional on TV in navy blue.
10. What is the biggest mistake newsmakers commit? Saying "no comment." Get your side of the story out there!
Walter Cronkite on Liberal Journalists
"I believe that most of us reporters are liberal, but not because we consciously have chosen that particular color in the political spectrum. More likely it is because most of us served our journalistic apprenticeships as reporters covering the seamier side of our cities -- the crimes, the tenement fires, the homeless and the hungry, the underclothed and undereducated.
"We reached our intellectual adulthood with daily close-ups of the inequality in a nation that was founded on the commitment to equality for all. So we are inclined to side with the powerless rather than the powerful. If that is what makes us liberals so be it, just as long as in reporting the news we adhere to the first ideals of good journalism -- that news reports must be fair, accurate and unbiased. That clearly doesn't apply when one deserts the front page for the editorial page and the columns to which opinion should be isolated.
"The perceived liberalism of television reporters, I am convinced, is a product of the limited time given for any particular item. The reporter desperately tries to get all the important facts and essential viewpoints into his or her piece but, against a fast-approaching deadline, he or she must summarize in a sentence the complicated story. That is where the slippage occurs, and the summary too frequently, without intention, seems to emphasize one side or the other.
"(The answer to that problem, as with much else in television news, is in more time for the dominant evening newscasts. In our ever more complicated and confusing world, those newscasts need an hour.) Incidentally, I looked up the definition of 'liberal' in a Random House dictionary. It gave the synonyms for 'liberal' as 'progressive,' 'broad-minded,' 'unprejudiced,' 'beneficent.' The antonyms it offered: 'reactionary' and 'intolerant.' I have always suspected those fine folks at Random House of being liberals. You just can't trust anybody these days."
Walter Cronkite
"We reached our intellectual adulthood with daily close-ups of the inequality in a nation that was founded on the commitment to equality for all. So we are inclined to side with the powerless rather than the powerful. If that is what makes us liberals so be it, just as long as in reporting the news we adhere to the first ideals of good journalism -- that news reports must be fair, accurate and unbiased. That clearly doesn't apply when one deserts the front page for the editorial page and the columns to which opinion should be isolated.
"The perceived liberalism of television reporters, I am convinced, is a product of the limited time given for any particular item. The reporter desperately tries to get all the important facts and essential viewpoints into his or her piece but, against a fast-approaching deadline, he or she must summarize in a sentence the complicated story. That is where the slippage occurs, and the summary too frequently, without intention, seems to emphasize one side or the other.
"(The answer to that problem, as with much else in television news, is in more time for the dominant evening newscasts. In our ever more complicated and confusing world, those newscasts need an hour.) Incidentally, I looked up the definition of 'liberal' in a Random House dictionary. It gave the synonyms for 'liberal' as 'progressive,' 'broad-minded,' 'unprejudiced,' 'beneficent.' The antonyms it offered: 'reactionary' and 'intolerant.' I have always suspected those fine folks at Random House of being liberals. You just can't trust anybody these days."
Walter Cronkite
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Real Reality Show
From the Chicago Tribune...
One of the most powerful things about television is the illusion it lends viewers of being somewhere else — in the midst of the action — effortlessly, comfortably, safely. From our living rooms, we can go into space, under the sea and anywhere in between under any conditions while others dutifully accept the dangers of taking us there. So there is a certain level of detachment as we siphon their adrenaline rush from our living rooms, whether watching a football game played in weather better suited for the Iditarod sled-dog race or getting dropped into the heart of a revolution.
But you had to feel it in the pit of your stomach when CBS said Tuesday that "60 Minutes" correspondent Lara Logan was in a hospital, recovering from a beating and sexual assault she suffered at the hands of a mob while covering the Tahrir Square celebrations in Egypt the day that Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president last week.The media, like politicians, have drawn a lot of criticism of late, not all of it unjustified. You may not be a fan of a particular organization or individual. You may question who gets sent where and when and why. You can scrutinize the work they do. But never question the dedication of those who put themselves at risk. Never underestimate the difficulties and dangers. Never forget the cost, not just for the organizations that send newspeople into the middle of a situation like Cairo, but for those who get sent and the others in their lives. "You have the Middle East in complete turmoil," NBC News boss Steve Capus said in an interview the other day. "These are incredibly important times. Perhaps it's a quaint notion, but investing in news at a time like this, to me, makes sense. The audience is hungry for it." It's only when you pause to think of it that you recognize the potential danger they and their crew were in, even while taking precautions. So pause.
Chicago Tribune
One of the most powerful things about television is the illusion it lends viewers of being somewhere else — in the midst of the action — effortlessly, comfortably, safely. From our living rooms, we can go into space, under the sea and anywhere in between under any conditions while others dutifully accept the dangers of taking us there. So there is a certain level of detachment as we siphon their adrenaline rush from our living rooms, whether watching a football game played in weather better suited for the Iditarod sled-dog race or getting dropped into the heart of a revolution.
But you had to feel it in the pit of your stomach when CBS said Tuesday that "60 Minutes" correspondent Lara Logan was in a hospital, recovering from a beating and sexual assault she suffered at the hands of a mob while covering the Tahrir Square celebrations in Egypt the day that Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president last week.The media, like politicians, have drawn a lot of criticism of late, not all of it unjustified. You may not be a fan of a particular organization or individual. You may question who gets sent where and when and why. You can scrutinize the work they do. But never question the dedication of those who put themselves at risk. Never underestimate the difficulties and dangers. Never forget the cost, not just for the organizations that send newspeople into the middle of a situation like Cairo, but for those who get sent and the others in their lives. "You have the Middle East in complete turmoil," NBC News boss Steve Capus said in an interview the other day. "These are incredibly important times. Perhaps it's a quaint notion, but investing in news at a time like this, to me, makes sense. The audience is hungry for it." It's only when you pause to think of it that you recognize the potential danger they and their crew were in, even while taking precautions. So pause.
Chicago Tribune
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Time Zones
In the last four years, I've worked in four time zones. So consider me an expert on this. I bring it up because I have been working for networks which book authors, entertainers and newsmakers on national shows, and some people say the most stupid things about time zones. Here are a few pointers to keep you from looking dumb:
1. "EST" is not an acronym for "Eastern Time." It stands for Eastern Standard Time, as opposed to "EDT" which stands for Eastern Daylight Time.
2. When parts of the country fall back or spring forward, refer to it correctly as "Daylight Saving" time, not "Savings."
3. Arizona (and parts of Indiana) do not fall back or spring forward. If you are working with a scheduler based in Arizona, it may help to understand that when the rest of the country is in "Daylight Saving" time, Arizona is like Pacific Daylight Time. When most of the rest of the nation is in Standard Time, Arizona is like Mountain Standard Time.
4. To help avoid confusion, when you are confirming an interview time, write out both the interview's local time and the interviewee's local time. For instance, that might look like this:
Host time: 9:00 am Mountain Standard
Author time: 10:00 am Central Standard
Here is a resource for you that might help with other questions you have: http://www.timeanddate.com/
1. "EST" is not an acronym for "Eastern Time." It stands for Eastern Standard Time, as opposed to "EDT" which stands for Eastern Daylight Time.
2. When parts of the country fall back or spring forward, refer to it correctly as "Daylight Saving" time, not "Savings."
3. Arizona (and parts of Indiana) do not fall back or spring forward. If you are working with a scheduler based in Arizona, it may help to understand that when the rest of the country is in "Daylight Saving" time, Arizona is like Pacific Daylight Time. When most of the rest of the nation is in Standard Time, Arizona is like Mountain Standard Time.
4. To help avoid confusion, when you are confirming an interview time, write out both the interview's local time and the interviewee's local time. For instance, that might look like this:
Host time: 9:00 am Mountain Standard
Author time: 10:00 am Central Standard
Here is a resource for you that might help with other questions you have: http://www.timeanddate.com/
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