Feeling Stifled

[On Air]

I just realized last night, after a long phone call with my best friend who's not in TV news, that I'm feeling and have been feeling stifled for quite a while at my current shop.

I'm a female anchor, and I haven't been allowed to do any hard news reporting since May, I think, and that was field anchoring. I get to do a feature piece or two every book and maybe one or two a year outside of the book -- but most of my reporting is relegated to Monday's Child, which makes me want to hurl. It is, quite honestly, insulting to my intelligence and my ability. I don't think I have a puffed-up ego about my reporting ability; I think I'm decent.

I realized last night that I have long since given up in that department. I got pigeonholed early. I had to fight with my ND about being assigned to any hard news special events, and I think I just wore him down. That's why every so often I get thrown a field anchoring bone.

I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender. (Yes, other M-F female anchors are in the same content predicament I am.)If I pitch stories, they're either shot down or assigned to someone else, so that's not the answer.

I need to move on.

I'm beginning to send out tapes (I have outs)and all of a sudden, I want a new job to happen yesterday.

But what I want to know is this: if I move on as an anchor, how likely is it that I will be prevented from reporting on everything except the fluffiest of features?

[ November 12, 2006, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: On Air ]

[east coast producer]

Negotiate it in your talks before signing a contract -- and have it inserted in your contract. It would seem to me that WANTING to do hard news reporting -- as opposed to just sitting at an anchor desk and reading the glass -- would be a POSITIVE attribute when a ND considers you.

[PVA_NVA]

"I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender."

This is a long shot, but might it have something to do with your news director?

[DVC]

I'm sorry, but you lost me with:

“I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender.”

In 2006, that excuse no longer flies. Are all the female reporters in your shop only assigned to cover fluff while the male reporters get all the meaty stories? Come on.

This is NOT meant as an insult, but could it have something to do with your reporting ability? If your news director does not want to send you out in the field to report, maybe he does not have a high opinion of your skill in the field. He obviously does have a high opinion of your anchoring ability, or you would not have your current position. A lot of people would happily trade places with you.

So here, for what it's worth, is my advice: prove your news director wrong. Take it as a challenge. Go out on your own time, develop contacts and find a big story. Get a photographer to work with you outside of his or her regular schedule, and put together a well-crafted, well-written, hard-hitting, visual story. Then show it to your news director so he can see that you do have the chops to report. If he still does not let you report, then you have a good story for your resume tape.

Just my opinion. Good luck!

[On Air]

Originally posted by DVC:
I'm sorry, but you lost me with:

“I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender.”

In 2006, that excuse no longer flies. Are all the female reporters in your shop only assigned to cover fluff while the male reporters get all the meaty stories? Come on.

This is NOT meant as an insult, but could it have something to do with your reporting ability? If your news director does not want to send you out in the field to report, maybe he does not have a high opinion of your skill in the field. He obviously does have a high opinion of your anchoring ability, or you would not have your current position. A lot of people would happily trade places with you.

So here, for what it's worth, is my advice: prove your news director wrong. Take it as a challenge. Go out on your own time, develop contacts and find a big story. Get a photographer to work with you outside of his or her regular schedule, and put together a well-crafted, well-written, hard-hitting, visual story. Then show it to your news director so he can see that you do have the chops to report. If he still does not let you report, then you have a good story for your resume tape.

Just my opinion. Good luck!Let's put it this way: it's well known in my shop that our ND doesn't see male talent and female talent the same way. This ND also has power and control issues in a major way.

I just edited a chunk of this post out, because I don't want to give away too much information.

But I can tell you honestly and without ego that I do not believe the issue is my ability. I think the best answer to my growing frustrations -- this is only one -- is to get to another market.

[ November 12, 2006, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: On Air ]

[adam & doctor drew]

Originally posted by On Air:


But I can tell you honestly and without ego that I do not believe the issue is my ability. no one in the history of television has ever believed that to be the issue.

[ November 12, 2006, 02:56 PM: Message edited by: adam & doctor drew ]

[foxravens]

Originally posted by On Air:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by DVC:
I'm sorry, but you lost me with:

“I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender.”

In 2006, that excuse no longer flies. Are all the female reporters in your shop only assigned to cover fluff while the male reporters get all the meaty stories? Come on.

This is NOT meant as an insult, but could it have something to do with your reporting ability? If your news director does not want to send you out in the field to report, maybe he does not have a high opinion of your skill in the field. He obviously does have a high opinion of your anchoring ability, or you would not have your current position. A lot of people would happily trade places with you.

So here, for what it's worth, is my advice: prove your news director wrong. Take it as a challenge. Go out on your own time, develop contacts and find a big story. Get a photographer to work with you outside of his or her regular schedule, and put together a well-crafted, well-written, hard-hitting, visual story. Then show it to your news director so he can see that you do have the chops to report. If he still does not let you report, then you have a good story for your resume tape.

Just my opinion. Good luck!Let's put it this way: it's well known in my shop that our ND doesn't see male talent and female talent the same way. This ND also has power and control issues in a major way.

I just edited a chunk of this post out, because I don't want to give away too much information.

But I can tell you honestly and without ego that I do not believe the issue is my ability. I think the best answer to my growing frustrations -- this is only one -- is to get to another market.</font>[/QUOTE]I'm really not trying to be cruel here, but quit whining about it on a website and go...just go.
You're not in the military, it's not like you're stationed there.
Tighten up your tape and put the place in the rearview mirror.
Be an adult, and stop whining.

[ November 12, 2006, 03:05 PM: Message edited by: foxravens ]

[Chief]

Originally posted by DVC:
I'm sorry, but you lost me with:

“I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender.”

In 2006, that excuse no longer flies. Are all the female reporters in your shop only assigned to cover fluff while the male reporters get all the meaty stories? Come on.How many male anchors do you see assigned to franchises like "Monday's Child"?

I'd say, off hand, zero. She's a woman, so she gets stuck with the fluff. Probably does well at it, so she gets stuck with more fluff.

The endless cycle makes sense to me. And I could see how it certainly would suck.

[adam &amp; doctor drew]

she answered her own question:

I think the best answer to my growing frustrations -- this is only one -- is to get to another market.

[adam &amp; doctor drew]

Originally posted by Chief:
How many male anchors do you see assigned to franchises like "Monday's Child"?

I'd say, off hand, zero. I've seen male anchors do it.
Jack Williams did it for years in Boston.

[Roy Hobbs]

One of my favorite reporter/anchors I've seen repeat the success she had with medium-market fluff features in a major market.

I think the key to good hard and soft stories, whether you're doing "Razorback Remarkables" or "Gotham Greats" is either 1) make it part of your contract and/or a personal favorite of mine, 2) Be a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing...do the franchise or type of story they think you're doing and then turn it into what you want...something of quality either that day or over time.

Usually if an ND or producer is clueless enough you can get something of quality or news value on the air without them knowing it.

Did I just write that? Yes. And it felt very good.

Use your position as a Anchor Who Commands Ratings Power (if any) to get decent stories and photogs if possible.

One other thing. Who on earth have you been hanging out with that has put all these troubling ideas about quality reporting and working in better markets in your head?! Must be a hell of a journalist! graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif

[ November 12, 2006, 03:31 PM: Message edited by: Roy Hobbs ]

[On Air]

Originally posted by foxravens:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by On Air:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by DVC:
I'm sorry, but you lost me with:

“I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender.”

In 2006, that excuse no longer flies. Are all the female reporters in your shop only assigned to cover fluff while the male reporters get all the meaty stories? Come on.

This is NOT meant as an insult, but could it have something to do with your reporting ability? If your news director does not want to send you out in the field to report, maybe he does not have a high opinion of your skill in the field. He obviously does have a high opinion of your anchoring ability, or you would not have your current position. A lot of people would happily trade places with you.

So here, for what it's worth, is my advice: prove your news director wrong. Take it as a challenge. Go out on your own time, develop contacts and find a big story. Get a photographer to work with you outside of his or her regular schedule, and put together a well-crafted, well-written, hard-hitting, visual story. Then show it to your news director so he can see that you do have the chops to report. If he still does not let you report, then you have a good story for your resume tape.

Just my opinion. Good luck!Let's put it this way: it's well known in my shop that our ND doesn't see male talent and female talent the same way. This ND also has power and control issues in a major way.

I just edited a chunk of this post out, because I don't want to give away too much information.

But I can tell you honestly and without ego that I do not believe the issue is my ability. I think the best answer to my growing frustrations -- this is only one -- is to get to another market.</font>[/QUOTE]I'm really not trying to be cruel here, but quit whining about it on a website and go...just go.
You're not in the military, it's not like you're stationed there.
Tighten up your tape and put the place in the rearview mirror.
Be an adult, and stop whining.</font>[/QUOTE]Um, yeah, you missed that part. I *am* trying to go. I *just* put a tape together. Now, like everyone else, I send out and wait and send out some more.

Here's the point people: a.)I am whining on a website because I want to -- but I didn't really ask for your sympathy. I asked if IT'S LIKE THIS EVERYWHERE???; b.)My reporting is fine. If was having some ego about it, I'd be saying crap like, "I'm the best reporter ever," which I am most decidedly not the best reporter ever. I'm a fine reporter with some stuff that I'm proud of and some war stories and the odd award or two -- like probably the majority of reporters; and c.)I'm not dumb enough to openly blow the whistle on the sexism, but it's really really gotten to me and I've shut up about it for YEARS and now I don't want to. But I pretty much have to continue holding my tongue in the newsroom for political reasons -- thus the online semi-anonymous rant.

If you don't want to read my whining, don't. Click onto another thread.

[On Air]

Originally posted by adam & doctor drew:
she answered her own question:

I think the best answer to my growing frustrations -- this is only one -- is to get to another market.
No, my question is this: Is it like this everywhere?

"This," meaning being sidelined for a politically incorrect reason.

[On Air]

Originally posted by Roy Hobbs:
One of my favorite reporter/anchors I've seen repeat the success she had with medium-market fluff features in a major market.

I think the key to good hard and soft stories, whether you're doing "Razorback Remarkables" or "Gotham Greats" is either 1) make it part of your contract and/or a personal favorite of mine, 2) Be a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing...do the franchise or type of story they think you're doing and then turn it into what you want...something of quality either that day or over time.

Usually if an ND or producer is clueless enough you can get something of quality or news value on the air without them knowing it.

Did I just write that? Yes. And it felt very good.

Use your position as a Anchor Who Commands Ratings Power (if any) to get decent stories and photogs if possible.

One other thing. Who on earth have you been hanging out with that has put all these troubling ideas about quality reporting and working in better markets in your head?! Must be a hell of a journalist! graemlins/eusa_whistle.gif Hey Roy!

You know I'm pulling rank and getting the good photogs! AE hates me some days, but I gotta do what I gotta do, esp. for the tape now.

But yeah, Roy you reintroduced the "quality reporting" questions I haven't bothered with since 1998. But the job hunt? Hey, that was my idea! :cool:

[Tripe Face]

Originally posted by On Air:
I just realized last night, after a long phone call with my best friend who's not in TV news, that I'm feeling and have been feeling stifled for quite a while at my current shop.

I'm a female anchor, and I haven't been allowed to do any hard news reporting since May, I think, and that was field anchoring. I get to do a feature piece or two every book and maybe one or two a year outside of the book -- but most of my reporting is relegated to Monday's Child, which makes me want to hurl. It is, quite honestly, insulting to my intelligence and my ability. I don't think I have a puffed-up ego about my reporting ability; I think I'm decent.

I realized last night that I have long since given up in that department. I got pigeonholed early. I had to fight with my ND about being assigned to any hard news special events, and I think I just wore him down. That's why every so often I get thrown a field anchoring bone.

I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender. (Yes, other M-F female anchors are in the same content predicament I am.)If I pitch stories, they're either shot down or assigned to someone else, so that's not the answer.

I need to move on.

I'm beginning to send out tapes (I have outs)and all of a sudden, I want a new job to happen yesterday.

But what I want to know is this: if I move on as an anchor, how likely is it that I will be prevented from reporting on everything except the fluffiest of features?Look anchors anchor, reporters report. You should have known when you accepted that bigger paycheck that you'd be giving up covering hard news stories.

Right now proper diction and nice hairstyles are a higher priority for you than developing sources and digging for exclusives.

It was your choice, now live with it.

[adam &amp; doctor drew]

Originally posted by On Air:
if I move on as an anchor, how likely is it that I will be prevented from reporting on everything except the fluffiest of features?sorry, not buying the sexism angle.
I've yet to see a news director who stops a fantastic reporter from reporting, male or female.
it sounds to me like your boss doesn't think you're as good a reporter as YOU think you are.

[Crash Davis]

I love how everyone can conclude there is no sexism at the OP's shop without knowing anything about it. This is 2006, there can't possibly a sexist ND, it must be the OP's just a whiner.

Well, maybe. But maybe not. Maybe the OP is just getting shut out of hard news because women in her shop are supposed to do fluff, according to that ND.

OP, f the haters on this thread. Put together a good tape, send it out, and when you get interviews, be upfront about wanting to do hard news, either reporting or anchoring. Make sure you get to a better situation.

Good luck.

[Wxguy52]

I realized last night that I have long since given up in that department. I got pigeonholed early. I had to fight with my ND about being assigned to any hard news special events, and I think I just wore him down. That's why every so often I get thrown a field anchoring bone.

I think the problem is you just can't use "wore him down" and "bone" in the same paragraph.

[Banned]

Originally posted by On Air:
I just realized last night, after a long phone call with my best friend who's not in TV news, that I'm feeling and have been feeling stifled for quite a while at my current shop.

I'm a female anchor, and I haven't been allowed to do any hard news reporting since May, I think, and that was field anchoring. I get to do a feature piece or two every book and maybe one or two a year outside of the book -- but most of my reporting is relegated to Monday's Child, which makes me want to hurl. It is, quite honestly, insulting to my intelligence and my ability. I don't think I have a puffed-up ego about my reporting ability; I think I'm decent.

I realized last night that I have long since given up in that department. I got pigeonholed early. I had to fight with my ND about being assigned to any hard news special events, and I think I just wore him down. That's why every so often I get thrown a field anchoring bone.

I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender. (Yes, other M-F female anchors are in the same content predicament I am.)If I pitch stories, they're either shot down or assigned to someone else, so that's not the answer.

I need to move on.

I'm beginning to send out tapes (I have outs)and all of a sudden, I want a new job to happen yesterday.

But what I want to know is this: if I move on as an anchor, how likely is it that I will be prevented from reporting on everything except the fluffiest of features?Maybe you just aren't very good at it so they give the hard stories to reporters that can hack it. Oh, wait, that can be it...must be the female thing.

[jrat33]

Originally posted by DVC:
I'm sorry, but you lost me with:

“I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender.”

In 2006, that excuse no longer flies. Are all the female reporters in your shop only assigned to cover fluff while the male reporters get all the meaty stories? Come on.

Ms. Corningstone, ma'am, you will do the stories to which you are assigned!

[foxravens]

Originally posted by On Air:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by foxravens:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by On Air:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by DVC:
I'm sorry, but you lost me with:

“I honestly believe that it has everything to do with my gender.”

In 2006, that excuse no longer flies. Are all the female reporters in your shop only assigned to cover fluff while the male reporters get all the meaty stories? Come on.

This is NOT meant as an insult, but could it have something to do with your reporting ability? If your news director does not want to send you out in the field to report, maybe he does not have a high opinion of your skill in the field. He obviously does have a high opinion of your anchoring ability, or you would not have your current position. A lot of people would happily trade places with you.

So here, for what it's worth, is my advice: prove your news director wrong. Take it as a challenge. Go out on your own time, develop contacts and find a big story. Get a photographer to work with you outside of his or her regular schedule, and put together a well-crafted, well-written, hard-hitting, visual story. Then show it to your news director so he can see that you do have the chops to report. If he still does not let you report, then you have a good story for your resume tape.

Just my opinion. Good luck!Let's put it this way: it's well known in my shop that our ND doesn't see male talent and female talent the same way. This ND also has power and control issues in a major way.

I just edited a chunk of this post out, because I don't want to give away too much information.

But I can tell you honestly and without ego that I do not believe the issue is my ability. I think the best answer to my growing frustrations -- this is only one -- is to get to another market.</font>[/QUOTE]I'm really not trying to be cruel here, but quit whining about it on a website and go...just go.
You're not in the military, it's not like you're stationed there.
Tighten up your tape and put the place in the rearview mirror.
Be an adult, and stop whining.</font>[/QUOTE]Um, yeah, you missed that part. I *am* trying to go. I *just* put a tape together. Now, like everyone else, I send out and wait and send out some more.

Here's the point people: a.)I am whining on a website because I want to -- but I didn't really ask for your sympathy. I asked if IT'S LIKE THIS EVERYWHERE???; b.)My reporting is fine. If was having some ego about it, I'd be saying crap like, "I'm the best reporter ever," which I am most decidedly not the best reporter ever. I'm a fine reporter with some stuff that I'm proud of and some war stories and the odd award or two -- like probably the majority of reporters; and c.)I'm not dumb enough to openly blow the whistle on the sexism, but it's really really gotten to me and I've shut up about it for YEARS and now I don't want to. But I pretty much have to continue holding my tongue in the newsroom for political reasons -- thus the online semi-anonymous rant.

If you don't want to read my whining, don't. Click onto another thread.</font>[/QUOTE]I have offended you and that was NOT my intention.
I apologize.

[Sultanosurf]

Agree with Crash. Hey, the lady was just venting here. None of us know all her workplace details.

Yeah, On-Air, look for another gig, but be careful what you wish for. The kind of place where you might get the hard-news reporting ON TOP of anchoring could mean a whole new world.

Of course, you could always chuck the anchoring thing and go back to full-on reporting...

[John M.]

It's good to hear any anchor say he or she wants to be more than a prompter-jockey. I obviously don't know the dynamics of your newsroom or how short-sighted or sexist your ND might be so my thoughts might not apply to you. But here they are anyway.

Keep pressing your news director. Frame the issue not in terms of what you want but what is good for him. Stress how it helps his newscasts' credibility for their anchors to be seen reporting hard news. Keep pitching story ideas. Better: Make yourself the most convenient option when big news happens. If you go out to dinner, tell the assignment editor where you are and instruct him or her to call you if something happens in the area. It might ruin some good meals for no good reason but it gets the desk in the habit of calling you. If you eat in the building, tell the AE where he or she can find you.

Yes, I know. The shooting, the fire or the gas leak is not the real hard news you have in mind. Those stories don't go on your resume tape; they train people in the newsroom to view you a certain way. I've always thought that half the reason stations send people to report breathlessly from some street corner as police lights flash in the background is to subconsciously tell viewers, "This wasn't a big deal but had this been an actual emergency, we would have been on top of it." You can debate whether that's true or not but I do believe that if you demonstrate that you'll take the gritty assignments, you'll get more of the glory ones. If you're really committed, tell the weekend AE or producer (maybe the same person) that if the excrement hits the ventilating system you're available.

[Banned]

Try selling Mary-Kay instead. Hell, you'll get one of those pink cadillacs.

[Banned]

My ND told he didn't like my live shot the other night..I'm fairly certain it really had something to do with the fact that I am black.

[Another side]

Originally posted by John M.:
It's good to hear any anchor say he or she wants to be more than a prompter-jockey. I obviously don't know the dynamics of your newsroom or how short-sighted or sexist your ND might be so my thoughts might not apply to you. But here they are anyway.

Keep pressing your news director. Frame the issue not in terms of what you want but what is good for him. Stress how it helps his newscasts' credibility for their anchors to be seen reporting hard news. Keep pitching story ideas. Better: Make yourself the most convenient option when big news happens. If you go out to dinner, tell the assignment editor where you are and instruct him or her to call you if something happens in the area. It might ruin some good meals for no good reason but it gets the desk in the habit of calling you. If you eat in the building, tell the AE where he or she can find you.

Yes, I know. The shooting, the fire or the gas leak is not the real hard news you have in mind. Those stories don't go on your resume tape; they train people in the newsroom to view you a certain way. I've always thought that half the reason stations send people to report breathlessly from some street corner as police lights flash in the background is to subconsciously tell viewers, "This wasn't a big deal but had this been an actual emergency, we would have been on top of it." You can debate whether that's true or not but I do believe that if you demonstrate that you'll take the gritty assignments, you'll get more of the glory ones. If you're really committed, tell the weekend AE or producer (maybe the same person) that if the excrement hits the ventilating system you're available.Good post, and reasonable. But for the ND, the question becomes when the Story of the Year comes down, do you want your anchor on the desk or on the scene. If it's me, I want the anchor in the chair -- that's why he or she is the anchor.

[John M.]

Originally posted by Another side:

When the Story of the Year comes down, do you want your anchor on the desk or on the scene. If it's me, I want the anchor in the chair -- that's why he or she is the anchor.Depending on the circumstances and the skills of the anchor involved I might disagree but we're talking about someone who apparently not only doesn't get to report hard news stories live, she doesn't get to report them at all.

My suggestion was geared toward getting people throughout her newsroom, including its management, to see her as someone besides as a softball tossing anchorette who can coo over Monday's Child, which she says is how her current ND views her now.

[On Air]

Originally posted by Another side:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by John M.:
It's good to hear any anchor say he or she wants to be more than a prompter-jockey. I obviously don't know the dynamics of your newsroom or how short-sighted or sexist your ND might be so my thoughts might not apply to you. But here they are anyway.

Keep pressing your news director. Frame the issue not in terms of what you want but what is good for him. Stress how it helps his newscasts' credibility for their anchors to be seen reporting hard news. Keep pitching story ideas. Better: Make yourself the most convenient option when big news happens. If you go out to dinner, tell the assignment editor where you are and instruct him or her to call you if something happens in the area. It might ruin some good meals for no good reason but it gets the desk in the habit of calling you. If you eat in the building, tell the AE where he or she can find you.

Yes, I know. The shooting, the fire or the gas leak is not the real hard news you have in mind. Those stories don't go on your resume tape; they train people in the newsroom to view you a certain way. I've always thought that half the reason stations send people to report breathlessly from some street corner as police lights flash in the background is to subconsciously tell viewers, "This wasn't a big deal but had this been an actual emergency, we would have been on top of it." You can debate whether that's true or not but I do believe that if you demonstrate that you'll take the gritty assignments, you'll get more of the glory ones. If you're really committed, tell the weekend AE or producer (maybe the same person) that if the excrement hits the ventilating system you're available.Good post, and reasonable. But for the ND, the question becomes when the Story of the Year comes down, do you want your anchor on the desk or on the scene. If it's me, I want the anchor in the chair -- that's why he or she is the anchor.</font>[/QUOTE]I'm not asking to do them live; I am an anchor and when the sh** hits the fan, I'm supposed to be on set.

I chose it; I like it; I get the paycheck for it.

But that doesn't mean that I should be doomed to be a brainless anchorette who covers fluffy kittens and ice cream sundaes. There is hard news out there that doesn't require a live component. There are such a thing as hard sweeps pieces.

I'm just really hating being pigeonholed. Apparently some of you (not the above posters, BTW) think I'm pigeonholed because I suck. And if I say I don't suck, then I have an ego. Yet I bet some of these same people turn around and complain about dumb anchors who don't do anything but read the glass.

Why try, then? Why not just take two- or three-hour dinner breaks and bring home the paychecks? Is that the entirety of my role, then?

It is possible to like both anchoring and hard news reporting, and have chosen to spend most of my professional hours doing the thing that pays more. Does that mean I have to give up the reporting entirely? I'm not asking to be the lead reporter -- that's just impossible. I just want something meatier than feature franchises.

[ November 14, 2006, 10:12 AM: Message edited by: On Air ]

[TVMattNYC]

Boo hoo.

You've got the cushiest (and likely the highest-paying) job in your shop.

Sorry, no sympathy here.

[foxravens]

Spoken like a true resentful non-anchor.
Pretty tiresome, and oh so familiar.

On Air...take the big paycheck and the long dinner breaks...there are worse things, you know....

[ November 14, 2006, 11:23 AM: Message edited by: foxravens ]

[Poo(h)]

After enough depression doing yellow crime-scene tape and politicians who could care less about the electorate...

FLUFFY KITTENS AND ICE CREAM SUNDAES HAVE THEIR APPEAL, YA KNOW????

There are trade-offs to everything. Hey, if you wanna go back to doing standups in the snow, you can. But you probably won't get to have it both ways -- consultants have deemed that anchors should do franchise pieces and fluffy kittens and ice cream, and so say they all. Not to mention that the fluffy kittens and ice cream come with a bigger paycheck.

All the gravy, none of the gristle. Sweet life you got compared to some of the other people in your very same shop.

God grant you the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

In today's TV news structure, a hint. Your situation falls into the first category.

So, in a few months after you go to some other market to do hard news, will we see you back here b*tching that you miss the nice cozy studio and the fluffy kittens?

Just askin'.

[ November 14, 2006, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Turkey Poo ]

[On Air]

Originally posted by Turkey Poo:
After enough depression doing yellow crime-scene tape and politicians who could care less about the electorate...

FLUFFY KITTENS AND ICE CREAM SUNDAES HAVE THEIR APPEAL, YA KNOW????

There are trade-offs to everything. Hey, if you wanna go back to doing standups in the snow, you can. But you probably won't get to have it both ways -- consultants have deemed that anchors should do franchise pieces and fluffy kittens and ice cream, and so say they all. Not to mention that the fluffy kittens and ice cream come with a bigger paycheck.

All the gravy, none of the gristle. Sweet life you got compared to some of the other people in your very same shop.

God grant you the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

In today's TV news structure, a hint. Your situation falls into the first category.

So, in a few months after you go to some other market to do hard news, will we see you back here b*tching that you miss the nice cozy studio and the fluffy kittens?

Just askin'.I suppose I want it both ways, don't I? That's the original question, before this turned into serious drama -- can I have it both ways at another station in another market?

Or at least, can I have the best of both? Somewhere?

Nothing wrong with asking, is there?

BTW, I believe I've seen TVMatt make reference to being an anchor.

[Poo(h)]

There is nothing wrong with WANTING to have it both ways.

I don't think you'll be allowed to have it both ways, however.

And I'm not knocking you here. I wish I saw more "anchorettes" show a desire to tackle the hard stuff. Last one I saw try to do it that way was Carol Marin in Chicago, a brass-b*lled hard news woman if ever there was one.

Granted, Marin is good company. You'd do well to have her as a role model. Except for one problem -- after a short stint where she was anchor and big-nutz reporter, management decided it didn't work, and it was right back to anchorettes doing kittens and ice cream.

Ask away. And may you find the shop that bucks the trend.

But I don't think it will happen.

Until then, the majority on this board are seemingly saying do the cute kitties and ice cream sundaes and take the big paycheck. And after years of busting my a$$ in the snow for a story I couldn't convince the management was important, I honestly LONGED for some cute kittens and ice cream. Still do.

But if you ever get to have your cake and eat it, too, let us know what shop it is!

[adam &amp; doctor drew]

it still sounds to me like your ND, for whatever reason, doesn't think you're GOOD enough to do serious field reporting.

and that is the ND's call to make.

if you are good enough, prove the ND wrong.
volunteer to report on your days off, or overnights, or weekends, or holidays.
and don't just wait for the desk to hand you a good story.
FIND one yourself.
then do it.

[ November 14, 2006, 02:56 PM: Message edited by: adam & doctor drew ]

[Clever Login Name]

Originally posted by On Air:
Or at least, can I have the best of both? Somewhere?

Nothing wrong with asking, is there?

BTW, I believe I've seen TVMatt make reference to being an anchor.[/QB]Mattie's a producer, at the NETWORK level, and don't you dare forget it. :D

If I understand you correctly, you simply want the opportunity to occasionally field report on things more serious than Tuesday's Child or Adopt-a-Pet fluff. My suggestion would be don't wait for a hard news assignment to come up and ask that it be given to you: generate your OWN hard-hitting story ideas and push them through the assignment desk. Develop sources in an area that especially interests you (courts? education? etc.) that doesn't necessarily tread on any of the other reporters' toes, but where you become the go-to person for that kind of story. How any nx director can object to their anchor building credibility through hard-nosed reporting is beyond me. If you run into continued resistance, then you may indeed have a case for a sexism claim. Don't give up.

[Clubbeat]

Hey On Air...I thinks a lot of us who have been doing this for a while know how you feel but unfortunately its the nature of the beast now.

It sounds to me like you're really not happy where you are. How long have you been at that station, in the market? How strong are your ties to that market/region? Do you have kids in school there...a spouse with a good job there etc?

If you do not have any of those and other crucial committments to the community and you have legal outs in your deal AND you are working for a ND who is a power hungry control freak type of tyrant, then maybe its time you do leave.

Just keep in mind that it's not much better around the rest of this biz. Wherever you go you're gonna run into one issue or another where you feel your talent and skills aren't being fully untilized.

It sucks, I know.

It's part of the reason I work for myself, do a little freelance and at train students at a J-school here. I just got tired of the BS with news organizations that pass off entertainment as hard news and where the looks and sound of the talent are more important than whether they can write, anchor report etc. Like others on this thread I have watched the news product around the country slowly sink into the silliness that it is today.

Whatever you decide...Good Luck! smile.gif

[Another side]

Originally posted by On Air:
I'm not asking to do them live; I am an anchor and when the sh** hits the fan, I'm supposed to be on set.

I chose it; I like it; I get the paycheck for it.

But that doesn't mean that I should be doomed to be a brainless anchorette who covers fluffy kittens and ice cream sundaes. There is hard news out there that doesn't require a live component. There are such a thing as hard sweeps pieces.

I'm just really hating being pigeonholed. Apparently some of you (not the above posters, BTW) think I'm pigeonholed because I suck. And if I say I don't suck, then I have an ego. Yet I bet some of these same people turn around and complain about dumb anchors who don't do anything but read the glass.

Why try, then? Why not just take two- or three-hour dinner breaks and bring home the paychecks? Is that the entirety of my role, then?

It is possible to like both anchoring and hard news reporting, and have chosen to spend most of my professional hours doing the thing that pays more. Does that mean I have to give up the reporting entirely? I'm not asking to be the lead reporter -- that's just impossible. I just want something meatier than feature franchises.Fair enough. I wish you luck.

[On Air]

Originally posted by Clever Login Name:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by On Air:
Or at least, can I have the best of both? Somewhere?

Nothing wrong with asking, is there?

BTW, I believe I've seen TVMatt make reference to being an anchor.Mattie's a producer, at the NETWORK level, and don't you dare forget it. :D

.[/QB]</font>[/QUOTE]I am corrected. smile.gif

[Poo(h)]

Then, there's the other argument.

How much hard news is TV news really doing, anyway?

Before you throw away those fluffy kittens and ice cream sundaes (I'm just hung up on that image, I admit), watch what your station leads with. And ask yourself .. is it really news? Is it the kind of hard news YOU want to be doing?

The answer could easily be a big HELL no, Sergeant!

Meaning you have to find yourself a new station.

Is the issue your ND? Maybe, but maybe only partially. I think you'd find the same formulae in many shops -- anchors are relegated to Monday's Child, appearances, and the like.

I'm assuming you have a non-compete, but if you want to scare the hell outta your ND, and your Q ratings are good enough, uhh .. "quietly" open up talks with another shop in your market about anchoring AND hard-news reporting. It's gutsy, and somewhat dangerous, but it might get you the effect you want.

Or it might get you a new job.

[Lazlo Toth]

http://timstvshowcase.com/aif.jpg

Stifle yourself, meathead.

(Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

[The Mockingbird]

Is it just me, or is Archie Bunker photoshopped in that picture? His right arm doesn't look right.