Most of you know my day job is that of a broadcast journalist. I write and produce newscasts for my local radio station. Charged with gathering local news and reporting it for my three radio stations and their respective websites is a pretty big job.
And it's important to get it right. I get chastised in an email or by phone from a dissenting listener if I get it wrong. Fortunately, I'm successful about 97 percent of the time, not that I'm keeping track, mind you.
If I do get it wrong, it's usually by transposing names, getting a gender wrong, or the plea information in a court case is missing a key detail.
But how do you correct a real doozy? Like reporting someone is dead when in fact they're still quite alive.
In the waning hours of Saturday, January 21st, 2012, CBS did just this.
As you'll recall, CBS has a history of overzealous reporting to score another blip in the ratings war between it, ABC and NBC.
No, Fox News doesn't count. If you have to say 'fair and balanced' in your marketing statements, you're not kidding anyone but yourself. Sorry.
You'll recall the Killian Documents Controversy, where four of six documents criticizing former President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard were produced in a 2004 CBS News special. They were 'verified' to be authentic when in fact they were not.
And Dan Rather took the fall for this.
CBS' latest blunder was the incorrect report on the death of former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, who had come under intense media scrutiny in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving his former assistant, Jerry Sandusky.
CBS pulled the information from of all things, a third-party website without confirming the information.
Though the coach would die less than 12 hours later, the damage had already been done. Its editor resigned in the wake of it all.
Oops.
This isn't to say that mistakes are never made in the world of journalism, but the caliber of these mistakes makes one wonder who to believe.
Why are ratings given priority over integrity? Ratings numbers over accuracy?
It's inaccuracies like these that allow web-based news agencies gain momentum...especially in rural markets.
Despite the growing number of people who turn on Comedy Central rather than CNN for their information, we still need our networks.
If we can't get them to turn on the TV, we can still get them to download the app or log onto the website.
And we need to get it right.
The first time.
Because it should be the ONLY time.
Walter, Peter, and John wouldn't have it any other way.
And they're watching.
NEXT WEEK: Pennies From Heaven
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Mall Madness
No, I'm not talking about the Christmas shopping season nor any other multi-store sales going on under one roof.
I'm talking about the activity before all the activity.
It usually starts well before 8 o'clock in the morning Monday through Thursday at the Clearview Mall, on Route 8 just north of Butler, Pennsylvania; my main base of operations.
First the backstory. At my most recent checkup last year, my doctor told me that he wanted to see ten pounds less of me by the time we met again.
Growing up, I've always been a skinny kid. Even at 6'3", I barely tipped the scales at 150 pounds by my high school graduation.
Over the years, the metabolism slowed down, and eating whatever I wanted became supplanted by eating healthy, especially after my then-44-year-old boss from my last radio job suffered two heart attacks more than seven years ago. One after the other.
He was lucky and has since made better choices with his second chance at life.
Back then, I wasn't worried. That was 2004. I wasn't married, childless, and had no real serious prospects at the time.
Then the following year I met the woman I would marry a year later, followed by the birth of our daughter almost three years after our wedding.
I've got a lot more to live for now. Plus my wife says I'm not allowed to die.
And my wife means what she says.
Between work, and trying to give time to my family as well, who has the time to exercise? What to do, what to do.
After taking my daughter to daycare, I have about an hour before I have to go into work that's my time alone.
I decided to start walking. There's a roadway in the industrial park next to the radio station where I work. I discarded this idea after contracting an upper respiratory infection in the cold days of November of last year.
So, after some thinking, I revisited the idea of walking again.
But this time in a more climate-controlled environment, because I didn't want to get sick again, have to go to the doctor, and then be chastised over my weight.
Why not the mall? I had eschewed the idea as lame and for old people. But then I thought, why not give them a run for the money? Pun intended.
I have a Nike pedometer app on my iPhone. That, with about 1100 songs on my iTunes, my headphones and some good shoes, and I'm in business.
So four days a week, I walk about 3 1/2 miles on average, Monday through Friday, burning anywhere from 500 to 575 calories each time.
Burn 2,000 extra calories per week? Sure, I can do this!
And I walk circles around them.
Most of the mallwalkers do so as a social means, as opposed to fitness, and usually walk together with friends. I'm the only one who walks alone.
I stand out with my iPhone and headphones, brisk arm-swinging pace, and I hear the whispers as I pass each one:
"What's that thing he's holding"
"I can't keep up with that guy"
"He's new"
"You can tell he's serious about it"
Yes, I am.
My wife gets up at 3:45 each morning to work out herself before she hits the shower and is off to work by 5:15.
Last week on Martin Luther King Jr. day, a day off for her, she asked if she could join me up at the mall.
I told her "hope you can keep up".
And she did.
NEXT WEEK: Getting it right...the first time
I'm talking about the activity before all the activity.
It usually starts well before 8 o'clock in the morning Monday through Thursday at the Clearview Mall, on Route 8 just north of Butler, Pennsylvania; my main base of operations.
First the backstory. At my most recent checkup last year, my doctor told me that he wanted to see ten pounds less of me by the time we met again.
Growing up, I've always been a skinny kid. Even at 6'3", I barely tipped the scales at 150 pounds by my high school graduation.
Over the years, the metabolism slowed down, and eating whatever I wanted became supplanted by eating healthy, especially after my then-44-year-old boss from my last radio job suffered two heart attacks more than seven years ago. One after the other.
He was lucky and has since made better choices with his second chance at life.
Back then, I wasn't worried. That was 2004. I wasn't married, childless, and had no real serious prospects at the time.
Then the following year I met the woman I would marry a year later, followed by the birth of our daughter almost three years after our wedding.
I've got a lot more to live for now. Plus my wife says I'm not allowed to die.
And my wife means what she says.
Between work, and trying to give time to my family as well, who has the time to exercise? What to do, what to do.
After taking my daughter to daycare, I have about an hour before I have to go into work that's my time alone.
I decided to start walking. There's a roadway in the industrial park next to the radio station where I work. I discarded this idea after contracting an upper respiratory infection in the cold days of November of last year.
So, after some thinking, I revisited the idea of walking again.
But this time in a more climate-controlled environment, because I didn't want to get sick again, have to go to the doctor, and then be chastised over my weight.
Why not the mall? I had eschewed the idea as lame and for old people. But then I thought, why not give them a run for the money? Pun intended.
I have a Nike pedometer app on my iPhone. That, with about 1100 songs on my iTunes, my headphones and some good shoes, and I'm in business.
So four days a week, I walk about 3 1/2 miles on average, Monday through Friday, burning anywhere from 500 to 575 calories each time.
Burn 2,000 extra calories per week? Sure, I can do this!
And I walk circles around them.
Most of the mallwalkers do so as a social means, as opposed to fitness, and usually walk together with friends. I'm the only one who walks alone.
I stand out with my iPhone and headphones, brisk arm-swinging pace, and I hear the whispers as I pass each one:
"What's that thing he's holding"
"I can't keep up with that guy"
"He's new"
"You can tell he's serious about it"
Yes, I am.
My wife gets up at 3:45 each morning to work out herself before she hits the shower and is off to work by 5:15.
Last week on Martin Luther King Jr. day, a day off for her, she asked if she could join me up at the mall.
I told her "hope you can keep up".
And she did.
NEXT WEEK: Getting it right...the first time
Sunday, January 15, 2012
What We Leave Behind
Someone once said "Don't take this life too seriously...you'll never get out of it alive".
But ultimately, we must leave this world and face our fears of what's on the other side.
What happens when we leave this world?
Aside from the obvious, of course. We leave behind a piece of hazardous waste that centuries-old customs choose to dress up, revere and preserve in what looks like an oversized and overdecorated jewelry box, which we choose to bury in the earth for an indefinite period of time.
They say the body is the home of the spirit. Personally, compared to spending eternity in a box six feet beneath the soil, I'd rather have my spirit permanently nomadic. Thus I chose cremation.
I always did like to travel. But I digress.
What we leave behind is not always contained in the "Last Will and Testament".
What you receive in that is material and will eventually fade away.
Even paupers have left behind legacies.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a great example of this. His career success was maybe mediocre at best during his lifetime, with no true notariety until after his passing, though he was exiting poverty shortly before his death at 35.
Nonetheless, one doesn't have to invent or philanthropize to leave behind a legacy. A blue-collar laborer, tradesman, or even a lifetime homemaker has something to contribute.
Family values. A love for children and interest in their growth and well-being. Thriftiness...the value of a dollar and never to take anything for granted. Faith...the notion that one does not need physical evidence of a Supreme Being or Higher Power to believe there's something better on the other side.
Even those who grow up in homes of physical and emotional abuse, poverty, lack of opportunity and other negative environmental factors can take away from their experiences a great legacy for the future that they never knew.
How not to live. How not to act.
Thus, even the worst in society can bring about the best in people.
How that information is chosen to be used is entirely up to those left behind.
NEXT WEEK: Silver Sneakers
But ultimately, we must leave this world and face our fears of what's on the other side.
What happens when we leave this world?
Aside from the obvious, of course. We leave behind a piece of hazardous waste that centuries-old customs choose to dress up, revere and preserve in what looks like an oversized and overdecorated jewelry box, which we choose to bury in the earth for an indefinite period of time.
They say the body is the home of the spirit. Personally, compared to spending eternity in a box six feet beneath the soil, I'd rather have my spirit permanently nomadic. Thus I chose cremation.
I always did like to travel. But I digress.
What we leave behind is not always contained in the "Last Will and Testament".
What you receive in that is material and will eventually fade away.
Even paupers have left behind legacies.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a great example of this. His career success was maybe mediocre at best during his lifetime, with no true notariety until after his passing, though he was exiting poverty shortly before his death at 35.
Nonetheless, one doesn't have to invent or philanthropize to leave behind a legacy. A blue-collar laborer, tradesman, or even a lifetime homemaker has something to contribute.
Family values. A love for children and interest in their growth and well-being. Thriftiness...the value of a dollar and never to take anything for granted. Faith...the notion that one does not need physical evidence of a Supreme Being or Higher Power to believe there's something better on the other side.
Even those who grow up in homes of physical and emotional abuse, poverty, lack of opportunity and other negative environmental factors can take away from their experiences a great legacy for the future that they never knew.
How not to live. How not to act.
Thus, even the worst in society can bring about the best in people.
How that information is chosen to be used is entirely up to those left behind.
NEXT WEEK: Silver Sneakers
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Building a Better World...it Starts Here
In last week's column, I addressed the attitudes of today's youth towards work, and how work is viewed as a whole.
I'm not a fan of Michael Moore's work. However, I own copies of both "Roger and Me" and "Bowling for Columbine", his two best-known box office documentaries. That's largely because I'm a native of metro Detroit, and I enjoy seeing movies shot in geographic regions that are familiar to me, even if they are 'turkeys'.
"Bowling for Columbine", though mostly concentrated in the Littleton, Colorado area, did have some aspects of the Motor City in it. Namely, the attitudes of Canadians towards those less fortunate, apparently in direct contrast to those of Americans.
We as Americans have a tendency to look down on others who appear to be able-bodied people, yet are buying infant supplies with WIC checks, groceries with EBT cards, standing in line at the county assistance office, you name it.
We feel anger, resentment, possibly even hatred. Why should we work hard to have our tax money 'carry' these people, yet they seem to live no differently than we do?
I hear a lot of this now...especially when it comes to a celebrity or corporate executive earning excesses of a million dollars..."hey, how about spreading a couple thousand of that my way?"
It's only natural to feel that way. You do the best you can with the means you have, and you don't seem to get ahead.
Welcome to the real world.
It's up to us to build a better society. That's not done by 'shunning' or cold-cutting off assistance.
Strong families build strong societies. Yes, it all starts at home.
If the parents are strong, in character and their bond with one another, the children will be likewise.
Setting a positive example for their children that work is good, and the obligations we have towards society towards those who are genuinely less fortunate than ourselves.
"Wealthy" people in this country give plenty of their earnings to charity. In my native Detroit, the Ford Foundation has an average annual endowment of $13 billion. When my mother had open-heart surgery at age 17, what my maternal grandfather's insurance didn't pay for, the Ford Foundation picked up the tab.
There are others. The Carnegie and Mellon families, who became infamous for horrible working conditions at their steel and coal facilities in western Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century, have redeemed themselves in giving billions back to Pittsburgh, and were responsible for a great deal of the activity during the two "Renaissance" periods that all but reinvented the city from its smoky industrial roots into a major corporate and cultural center by the end of the century.
The Heinzes, Mellons, and Carnegies gave money. You don't need that to make a difference.
What you can give is a greater natural resource precious than any dollar.
Your time. Your vision. Your future.
And after you're gone, you still live on.
Your legacy.
NEXT WEEK: What we leave behind
I'm not a fan of Michael Moore's work. However, I own copies of both "Roger and Me" and "Bowling for Columbine", his two best-known box office documentaries. That's largely because I'm a native of metro Detroit, and I enjoy seeing movies shot in geographic regions that are familiar to me, even if they are 'turkeys'.
"Bowling for Columbine", though mostly concentrated in the Littleton, Colorado area, did have some aspects of the Motor City in it. Namely, the attitudes of Canadians towards those less fortunate, apparently in direct contrast to those of Americans.
We as Americans have a tendency to look down on others who appear to be able-bodied people, yet are buying infant supplies with WIC checks, groceries with EBT cards, standing in line at the county assistance office, you name it.
We feel anger, resentment, possibly even hatred. Why should we work hard to have our tax money 'carry' these people, yet they seem to live no differently than we do?
I hear a lot of this now...especially when it comes to a celebrity or corporate executive earning excesses of a million dollars..."hey, how about spreading a couple thousand of that my way?"
It's only natural to feel that way. You do the best you can with the means you have, and you don't seem to get ahead.
Welcome to the real world.
It's up to us to build a better society. That's not done by 'shunning' or cold-cutting off assistance.
Strong families build strong societies. Yes, it all starts at home.
If the parents are strong, in character and their bond with one another, the children will be likewise.
Setting a positive example for their children that work is good, and the obligations we have towards society towards those who are genuinely less fortunate than ourselves.
"Wealthy" people in this country give plenty of their earnings to charity. In my native Detroit, the Ford Foundation has an average annual endowment of $13 billion. When my mother had open-heart surgery at age 17, what my maternal grandfather's insurance didn't pay for, the Ford Foundation picked up the tab.
There are others. The Carnegie and Mellon families, who became infamous for horrible working conditions at their steel and coal facilities in western Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century, have redeemed themselves in giving billions back to Pittsburgh, and were responsible for a great deal of the activity during the two "Renaissance" periods that all but reinvented the city from its smoky industrial roots into a major corporate and cultural center by the end of the century.
The Heinzes, Mellons, and Carnegies gave money. You don't need that to make a difference.
What you can give is a greater natural resource precious than any dollar.
Your time. Your vision. Your future.
And after you're gone, you still live on.
Your legacy.
NEXT WEEK: What we leave behind
Sunday, January 1, 2012
How's That Workin' For Ya?
Yeah, I guess you can call me a slacker.
No column Christmas Day. Or New Year's Day, for that matter.
And some of you notified me personally to say "hey, what the (heck)?"
Cut me a break, OK? On the rare instances I do slack, it's usually for good reason...the observances of the holiday falling on a Sunday should be enough to not burn me at the stake.
But in my own defense, I slack far less than others. Thus the basis for this week's column.
Just a few weeks ago, I covered welfare reform, and its need to start now here in Pennsylvania.
Now the companion piece, which I'm sure is awaited with the same eagerness of a prostate exam.
Which I've already been through. Not fun.
You'll note that I stole a line from Dr. Phil McGraw to head up this week's column. He actually does play a role in this, but only to a small degree.
Dr. Phil, in early 2009, had a segment called "Applying to College", where he interviewed overzealous parents pressuring their kids into reliving their own lives in younger bodies. Then there were those who were pressuring their children into picking a career at the beginning of their high school years. And then there was a young girl who wanted some free time to explore options before committing to an institution of higher learning.
We have a larger pool than ever before of jobless young people, either turning to crime or public assistance to sustain themselves.
Even at 15, when I started high school, I was still vascillating about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Pharmacist, mortician, attorney, air traffic controller and broadcaster all ran the gamut.
And you already know the least lucrative of all those is what ultimately won out.
It made me think, though. Have we put so much pressure on the younger generation that they're totally turned off by the experience of work?
Or not enough pressure by submitting to everything your kid supposedly 'needs'?
It's a toughie.
Lance Morrow, best known for his journalistic contributions to Time magazine once wrote "To work for mere survival is desperate. To work for a better life for one's children and grandchildren lends the labor a fierce dignity. That dignity, an unconquerably hopeful energy and aspiration - driving, persisting like a life force - is the American quality that many find missing now."
Mr. Morrow wrote this in 1981 at the height of the so-called 'yuppie' movement. It was eventually published in my English I college text "The Little, Brown Handbook" during my freshman year. Now apply it to today.
And my question is why. What has happened with the Greatest Generation and the one that preceded it? Where have we gone wrong with the once-prevalent thought that work is good for you? And for your offspring?
Here's one thought...what are we working for?
Are we working to live, or are we living to work?
Right back to what I quoted from Mr. Morrow.
It all comes down to our attitudes concerning work.
It's not just about a paycheck. It's much more than that.
You've given to society. Not just taken from it.
You've gotten out of bed and done something with the day of life that you've been given. Whether you're self-employed, work for someone else, whatever.
It's not even about the 'good-tired', 'bad-tired' thing.
You've proven your capable of more than converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. You provide for yourself and those who depend on you.
And if you're smart, you plan for the future.
If you're not smart, you become painfully aware of it as your body begins to lack the endurance it once had in youth. Work becomes tiring and painful when you have to do it to stay alive, rather than do it simply for something to do as an option during your sunset years.
An accounting firm across the street from where I once lived had on its marquee a quote (changed monthly) that I will never forget:
"The secret to happiness is to find something you truly enjoy doing...then find someone to pay you for doing it."
I heard something similar..."love what you do, and you will never work a day in your life".
The problem is, what we may love to do, even if we get paid to do it, may not pay the financial rewards we want. Thus we make a choice. What matters to us most? Loving our job, or taking another one, but loving the security and hating the job?
Some call it "selling out".
Good example of this...the baby-boom generation. The hippies at Berkeley became the Yuppies on Wall Street.
In the beginning, they sang "Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together...try to love one another right now!"
Then came the first paychecks after landing their first 'real' job after college. Then they sang a different tune.
"Money...it's a hit...don't give me that 'do goody-good' bulls**t."
Of course not. That would get in the way of the payments on the Mercedes.
The truth of it all is this...if our civilization is to survive, we need to take a greater responsibility in how the next generation turns out. We can't expect them to fly blind in the wind and learn on their own.
It all comes down to building a better society.
And we need to know how to do it.
More than that, we need how to do it well.
NEXT WEEK: Building a Better Society
No column Christmas Day. Or New Year's Day, for that matter.
And some of you notified me personally to say "hey, what the (heck)?"
Cut me a break, OK? On the rare instances I do slack, it's usually for good reason...the observances of the holiday falling on a Sunday should be enough to not burn me at the stake.
But in my own defense, I slack far less than others. Thus the basis for this week's column.
Just a few weeks ago, I covered welfare reform, and its need to start now here in Pennsylvania.
Now the companion piece, which I'm sure is awaited with the same eagerness of a prostate exam.
Which I've already been through. Not fun.
You'll note that I stole a line from Dr. Phil McGraw to head up this week's column. He actually does play a role in this, but only to a small degree.
Dr. Phil, in early 2009, had a segment called "Applying to College", where he interviewed overzealous parents pressuring their kids into reliving their own lives in younger bodies. Then there were those who were pressuring their children into picking a career at the beginning of their high school years. And then there was a young girl who wanted some free time to explore options before committing to an institution of higher learning.
We have a larger pool than ever before of jobless young people, either turning to crime or public assistance to sustain themselves.
Even at 15, when I started high school, I was still vascillating about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Pharmacist, mortician, attorney, air traffic controller and broadcaster all ran the gamut.
And you already know the least lucrative of all those is what ultimately won out.
It made me think, though. Have we put so much pressure on the younger generation that they're totally turned off by the experience of work?
Or not enough pressure by submitting to everything your kid supposedly 'needs'?
It's a toughie.
Lance Morrow, best known for his journalistic contributions to Time magazine once wrote "To work for mere survival is desperate. To work for a better life for one's children and grandchildren lends the labor a fierce dignity. That dignity, an unconquerably hopeful energy and aspiration - driving, persisting like a life force - is the American quality that many find missing now."
Mr. Morrow wrote this in 1981 at the height of the so-called 'yuppie' movement. It was eventually published in my English I college text "The Little, Brown Handbook" during my freshman year. Now apply it to today.
And my question is why. What has happened with the Greatest Generation and the one that preceded it? Where have we gone wrong with the once-prevalent thought that work is good for you? And for your offspring?
Here's one thought...what are we working for?
Are we working to live, or are we living to work?
Right back to what I quoted from Mr. Morrow.
It all comes down to our attitudes concerning work.
It's not just about a paycheck. It's much more than that.
You've given to society. Not just taken from it.
You've gotten out of bed and done something with the day of life that you've been given. Whether you're self-employed, work for someone else, whatever.
It's not even about the 'good-tired', 'bad-tired' thing.
You've proven your capable of more than converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. You provide for yourself and those who depend on you.
And if you're smart, you plan for the future.
If you're not smart, you become painfully aware of it as your body begins to lack the endurance it once had in youth. Work becomes tiring and painful when you have to do it to stay alive, rather than do it simply for something to do as an option during your sunset years.
An accounting firm across the street from where I once lived had on its marquee a quote (changed monthly) that I will never forget:
"The secret to happiness is to find something you truly enjoy doing...then find someone to pay you for doing it."
I heard something similar..."love what you do, and you will never work a day in your life".
The problem is, what we may love to do, even if we get paid to do it, may not pay the financial rewards we want. Thus we make a choice. What matters to us most? Loving our job, or taking another one, but loving the security and hating the job?
Some call it "selling out".
Good example of this...the baby-boom generation. The hippies at Berkeley became the Yuppies on Wall Street.
In the beginning, they sang "Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together...try to love one another right now!"
Then came the first paychecks after landing their first 'real' job after college. Then they sang a different tune.
"Money...it's a hit...don't give me that 'do goody-good' bulls**t."
Of course not. That would get in the way of the payments on the Mercedes.
The truth of it all is this...if our civilization is to survive, we need to take a greater responsibility in how the next generation turns out. We can't expect them to fly blind in the wind and learn on their own.
It all comes down to building a better society.
And we need to know how to do it.
More than that, we need how to do it well.
NEXT WEEK: Building a Better Society
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