ELECTION NIGHT INSIGHT & A PROPER RESPECT

EXERCISING THE FRANCHISE

THE LONGEST NIGHT

    Election night broadcasts were my favorite.  It was all "in the moment," unscripted, spontaneous and adrenalin ripped. 

      Starting out I covered campaign or party headquarters, grabbing interviews and reporting on the numbers as received by the partisans.  Later I would be at the anchor desk, cutting back and forth between field reporters, network feeds, interviewing candidates, moderating our analysts and reporting the numbers.  Hundreds of people worked behind the scenes in a kind of full court press involving satellites, trucks, remotes, control rooms, computers, results and always the story was changing.   

      Some good journalists faltered in that kind of rapid fire circus, but I loved it.  Ad libbing was no problem, and as long as the technology did what it was supposed to be, it was thrilling.  

       As a senior news executive I directed those hundreds of 

people in that army of journalists and technology.  I'd pace on the top tier of our multi leveled central control room, roam into the studios and work with our anchors and analysts or stand in my office watching 4 television sets and a computer screen.  It was an ultimate adrenaline pump.

      There was a time when I was brought back as the "senior analyst" meaning the old guy on the set who "had been there and done that."  Think Tom Brokaw, today.

       This evening I'll probably drive Lana crazy with my channel hopping, computer searching, texting, and phone calls with people around the country.  It will be fun, with

no pressure, but I think perhaps the greatest thrill was my very first election night, covering a mayors race.  At the end of a long night, our radio anchor had us all looped together in a "talk back" debrief where we shared our impressions.  I remember driving home that night thinking, "Man, I've arrived in the big time!"

    

A GREAT CITY 
AND HOTEL

Yesteday's post was a bit of slap dash, iphone based view 

of the Fairmont. Both it and San Francisco deserve a more deliberate treatment.

 GREAT VISUALS

creative window designs

See you down the trail.

WHEN LIFE IMITATES ART

IT HAPPENS

      Around America there are running conversations about Aaron Sorkin's new HBO drama The Newsroom.  

     I posted earlier about the superb "ballistic monologue" by Jeff Daniels as a cable net news anchor in responding to a question about America's "greatness." The truth was withering. 

      Episode 2 provided its great moment when the same 

character opened a broadcast and apologized for the failure of American journalism.  Again Sorkin speaks truth.

      Lana asked if seeing the drama made me miss my days as a news executive or news anchor.  It did fire those synapses that John Chancellor, the late NBC anchor, used to call "the fire horse instinct,"  answering the bell.  Seeing the election night scenarios brought back memories of many such nights.  Election night was always the most "fun" and it required a decompressing that only those who have been there can fully understand.

      There were other memories, however.  The battle between the head of the news division and the network president over the network's need to curry favors with congressmen because their votes were vital to the network's business interests. It was a scene familiar to me. Been there and done that. Stood my ground on ethics and common sense.  Further comment would do no one any good, except a few lawyers. Some things I don't miss.

     Sorkin wrote of something conscientious broadcast journalists have said for years.  The news should be void of sponsors, it should be provided as a public service.  That would help remove it from the tyranny of playing to the ratings. Networks and television stations make plenty of money, even in recessions and they can afford to staff and air news without selling out.  Oh, the budget battles! There's another memory.  Something else I am happy to live without.

      It is merely a drama and an entertainment show, but there is truth in this fiction.

DAY FILE

THE ROCKER IN SHADOWS

      As the afternoon light was beginning its transition to 

that magic "golden hour" I noticed how the oak rocker in

my study was being lit and how it was caught in and cast shadows.  A perfect lightbreeze moment.

See you down the trail.