Hey! TV Folks! Ask A Question!

Nah, I like and respect the man. I'm not offended by anything directed at me on this board.

 

Ageed. But we were told no access beyond the presser. Period. And to my knowlege there wasn't. I hung around long after, because I also had to take photos of something else at the site.

 

So, which board's directives to you would be offensive, then?

 

Unfortunate. Call me an asshole, but I'm the kind of person who, when in situations like this, lobs a series of really, really stupid questions to the target for the camera people to have the sound bites, then head over to talk to them later on to get the real stuff and explain why I was a moron earlier.

They usually smile and laugh and besides, a one-on-one is better anyway.

 

Throw me in with the We Should All Be So Lucky crowd. On my beat, 60 percent of every press conference is spent with TV reporters asking for cliche answers to banal questions. When I see the 10 seconds of boring sound they use on air that night, I'm always perplexed as to what they were digging for.

I'll allow for the possibility that I have no idea what I'm talking about, since I don't work in TV, but it seems to me they could just roll their cameras for almost any 10-second piece of any press conference, leave, and use that sound for the newscast.

The majority of the time, this isn't that big of a deal, but (especially in breakout-type interviews) when I'm in the middle of an interview about a wide receiver's baby being born during practice and some TV guy pops in and goes, "So, you're from Oklahoma City. You gonna show the Sooners what they missed out on this week?" I become homicidal.

 

I don't blame the TV people on my beat for not asking questions. Every time they do, some print guys who evidently think their queries are Pulitzer level roll their eyes and/or mutter. Most of the time the questions from the TV people aren't much different from theirs, but especially if it's the female anchor you'd think she asked the coach "What is a football?". The act gets really old.

 

Thing is, I have worked along side some very good TV reporters — some who have kicked my ass (not physically!) at times.

I don't mean to lump them all together.

Today was just one of those days.

 

Rained here.

 

The criticism may be hyperbolic but that doesn't mean there's not an element of truth to it.

In more than a few markets, I suspect, the criticism is probably understated.

 

Pete, though quiet TV people are usually the best kind, I understand your point at least to a degree. On my beat, it's the Internet folks (not all, but some). They'll just sit back with their handheld cameras and piggyback off whatever questions myself or the other newspaper guys ask. I guess it's good that we're getting our questions in, but sometimes you wonder if any of those guys ever has an original thought.

 

As long as we're venting about pressers, don't you love the ones where the team or organization packs the back of the room and sometimes the sides, too, with staffers, who provide the freaking applause when the main newsperson is introduced or whatever?

Yeah, we're just dancing bears there to entertain them with our questions. And they're just suck-ups worried about their paychecks if they don't come out of their cubicles for the big moment.

Kudos to the teams that don't let the civilians, even on the payroll, in the room for pressers (beyond the media/PR folks).