And Now, It's My Story to Tell As Well
My Last Liveshot for WPLG
Last night, toward the end of WPLG/Miami's 6:00 newscast, I did a live package on Twitter, the hot social media platform, and how the station intends to use it to engage viewers.
I'd been pushing to make Twitter a bigger part of the newsroom's daily life for a few months, after seeing the power of the site to connect with people in Miami and around the world; many with excellent connections, ideas, and stories. I also believe that getting up to speed with Twitter makes local tv newsers more competitive in an increasingly difficult economic environment that's putting so many talented people out of work.
Fittingly, my story on Twitter was my last as a reporter at WPLG. I wasn't laid off, and I wasn't fired. Last fall, I approached my news director, Bill Pohovey to ask out of the remaining two years of my contract. I had no new job, and no issues with the station. I've been proud to be associated with WPLG and Post-Newsweek, and have benefitted from working alongside some of the most amazing journalists in the business, both in front of, and behind the camera. My decision was personal: I'm getting married.
My fiancee, Tiffanie Wong, also has a TV job she loves, as a technical director at CNN in New York. That's home for both of us, and despite months of trying to sell a Brooklyn girl on the South Florida lifestyle, it became clear I would be moving. And so, on Friday, I will. I'm packing up and heading North, two dogs and a cat in tow, and becoming one of the many reporters, anchors, writers, producers and managers who never imagined a climate like this--more stations firing than hiring--but facing the cold reality of it. I don't know if yesterday's story will be my last, not just at WPLG, but period.
Getting a Taste of Multiplatform Reporting on a Bus to the Obama Inauguration in DC, with WPLG Photographer Mario Alonso
New York's going through a horrific period of layoffs and cutbacks, and as my fantastic agent has put it to me bluntly, there isn't any work, and there is a phenomenal amount of talent sitting on the sidelines ready to jump at anything that opens up.
My friend and former WNYW colleague Jodi Applegate jumped at a job anchoring the news at News 12 on Long Island. Asa Aarons, forever a consumer reporter at WNBC, has hired on at NY1. Jobs that once would have been "beneath" us are now seen as life rafts in seas that threaten to swallow us up.
It's scary. My agent calls to "check on me" and tell me that no, nothing much is happening. (Other than clients being laid off and let go) I troll the job listings and send resumes, and find lots of not much. I send resumes anyway, sometimes sending applications to listings that sound digital and interesting, even if I don't fully understand what it is that the job entails.
And at the same time, I'm excited. The business is changing. I can stay in my comfortable, well-compensated job, wait for the wave to hit in Miami, and lose the woman I want to marry, or--I can take the leap. And the net, as they say, will appear.
WTNH's Ann Nyberg: One of the Smart People
I am so damn curious where I will land. I don't think it will be at a television station. I don't know that I'll even be on camera. Fortunately, I've never been one of those get-a-reversal-and-a-two-shot-walking-down-the-hallway-and-make-sure-I-get-my-facetime reporters. I'm a storyteller. I just love telling good stories. And more than ever before, I believe storytelling's not in danger. Local tv news the way I've always known it is. For years I've had the job of my dreams, meeting people, crafting packages, and getting to air them on TV. Every day a different challenge. Now, I think my dream is evolving, as much as my life is.
Will I end up in PR? If I can't find a paycheck, I'll definitely look into it. Will I try to shoot my own stories and find an audience for them? You bet I will. Will I keep a close watch on the smart people I'm meeting on Twitter and elsewhere--people like Ann Nyberg in Connecticut and Matthew Roberts in Denver--to see which way they think the wind is blowing? Oh you can bet your life on it.
And I'll still be right here. I'm loving writing about this career I've had--and one way or another, will continue to have--and how it's changing, at times so painfully. The blog (oh Lord, if only I could get paid to write all day!) will grow and be a place to share not just how others are responding to being out of work, but now, how I am, too.
I hope you'll be here with me. I know this is going to be interesting. And hey, no matter what happens: I got the girl!
Life Calls--Even at the Worst Time to Leave a Job in Local TV History (Photo of Tiffanie and Me by Anna Kuperberg/See more of Anna's amazing work at www.kuperberg.com)
The Rocky's "Final Edition" and What it Means to the Future of Local News
Telling Their Own Sad Story with Style: "Final Edition"
Maybe you won't ever take my advice and try Twitter, and that's cool. I can keep making great connections and digging up unique stories there without you. I won't force you to cross that social media bridge if you're not ready. But I will insist that you watch the short film, "Final Edition," a moving account of the final days of the proud and storied Rocky Mountain News.
The Rocky's Matthew Roberts
The film is the work of Matthew Roberts and a gifted team of video storytellers who were, until Friday, working at the very cutting edge of local news. The irony that this short film now serves as an epitaph for a once-mighty newspaper is sad to the point of nausea. But it captures perfectly where we are right now: some historically print-based local newsrooms are moving fast and furious into imaginative, different video storytelling, and threaten to beat local tv newsers at their own game. Watch the film and decide for yourself if you've seen anything like that on your nearest "Action News" lately. It's a lot closer to documentary than to 1:15 local news packages. And it's a lot more powerful.
Sure, it wasn't banged out in an afternoon. But then again, local tv newsers don't produce that kind of stuff when given the time either. It's usually something more along the lines of dirty motel room sheet investigations. "Final Edition" has no flashy graphics (just some damn creative ones, like softly floating photographs of the many Rocky headquarters buildings over the years, and the memorable history captured on the tab's front pages), and no short bites. It combines on the street interviews that breathe... with true documentary camera work that makes every second of the film visually arresting as its content rips your heart out.
There are currently newspapers shooting video in cities all over the country. Some are trying to copy the local tv model, others are taking the Rocky's route, including the Washington Post, which calls its stories "documentary videos." And they're good, too. Scary good, in this tv newser's opinion. I watched a Post story on iTunes and tried to track down the filmmaker without luck. Today, after watching "Final Edition," I looked up Matthew on Twitter, sent him a note and heard right back. He's a talented guy, and somebody's going to snatch him up. (Oh, sorry, did I mention Twitter again?)
The Rocky's Video Team at Work on Election Night
Here's my point: I feel like I could learn a lot about visual storytelling from this "newspaper" guy. And that gives me a hint as to where we could take the concept of local news past the old models into something new, different, creative, and sucessful. As you watch the film, you feel Denver. You feel the paper. You feel the people. It takes you there. And just as someone says in the film, it takes a local journalist to do that kind of work. Local news is essential and people will always crave it. It's up to us to take a page out of the book of a print guy who just lost his job to find our way.
Maybe Matthew Roberts will show us, because let me tell you, wherever he ends up, whether it's a print newsroom, a television newsroom, or something else entirely, that's where I want to be, too, doing something fresh, creative, and important.
standupkid on twitter
- Annual beach bocce event; Joyellas, Carrozzas in a fight to the death. Well, there's beer and food. (@ Tod's Point) http://t.co/cMgnTMI
- RT @TelegraphNews: American congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords told who died in massacre http://t.co/qn6LYGs
- @Sunil__Kamath We absolutely have the makings of a brilliant team. What's missing... we can buy. If we will just do it.
- The Professor's best defense against the inevitable torrent of criticism will be liberal use of the signing pen. #Arsenal
Recent Comments
- Sasha Cohen on Former KSTP Newsers Set to Battle in Court
- Stephen on Larry Mendte: “I Wish I Never Met Alycia Lane”
- Jen B on Larry Mendte: “I Wish I Never Met Alycia Lane”
- TBD - WJLA - Hyperlocal - Poynter | LocalNewser on The Ticket to Web Heaven? Use Your Call Letters
- Tweets that mention Larry Mendte - Wish I'd Never Met Alycia Lane - Philadelphia | LocalNewser -- Topsy.com on Larry Mendte: “I Wish I Never Met Alycia Lane”