The Media Layoff

They say manufacturing is the backbone of this country, but as we all know (or should) by now, that backbone is disintegrating. I spent almost 10 years living and/or reporting in the so-called rust belt: Detroit. Buffalo. Rochester. Syracuse. You know what I spent most of my time telling people? The number of people getting laid off....laid off at Kodak, laid off at Carrier....laid off at GM.

And then there were the stories on how the unions were working to save jobs, the strikes, the walk-outs. I remember one Christmas, spending time with a family who's children volunteered to forego more than one present and ask for something the 'needed' rather than 'wanted' just so the family could continue paying the bills. Their father's eyes filled with tears as he told me how proud and yet how ashamed he was at how his children sacrificed.

Now, I'm one of them.

Yeah 'them.' The growing number of people who've been laid off from a job. I won't pretend it's exactly the same. That would be dishonest. I am single, have no dependents, and am a freelance journalist, so my work is inherently less stable. Still. In one year, I've been laid off from steady work twice. And I think I share some of the same concerns, like: How am I going to pay the bills? How am I going to maintain health insurance? What if my health insurance runs out and something terrible happens to me? Will I have to retrain so I can get a new job? Am I even qualified to do anything else than I'm already doing? And then there's, how did I just become a number? I'm a person, and this company isn't treating me like one? Where was the union? Was it too strong? too weak? What about retirement planning? Why me?

After years of being strict observers of downsizing industries, the media is now in a financial crunch of its own. Gone are the days of high circulation, lots of eyeballs, and two newspaper towns. As a television journalist, I've benefitted from TV being the last ones to succumb. By now, print and radio outlets are already consolidated. Now, it's our turn. Where once we had 20% profit margins in local television news, advertisers are now fleeing to the web, or, since a large number of them are local car dealers, are fleeing period. Cutbacks and forced retooling are rampant. More and more larger market stations are "encouraging" reporters to shoot and edit their own video, employees are required to write stories for a variety of platforms, and retiring photographers are going unreplaced. But when the economic collapse happened, our industry like so many others, had the bottom drop out. The fact is, we sell information. If people don't care that they're uninformed, they won't buy a paper; they won't subscribe to an Internet service; they won't pay for cable; they'll drop their satellite radio. It's discretionary income. And advertisers know it.

So on some level, I understand what led us here, but what will lead us out? The answer seems to be technology. Trouble is, there are thousands who will have to relearn their jobs in order to be able to deliver news in these new formats. Is there time to catch up? And even though we alone are the only profession with Constitutional protection and legitimacy, where's the offer of help from government now?

I just wonder what the response would be if the presidents of ABC, CBS, CNN, and FOX News Channel were to testify in front of congress, asking for a bailout.

I suppose as long as they don't fly to Washington in corporate jets, we might have a shot.

Organic Election Night '08

History. Historic. Momentous.
Can we really capture election ’08 with words? A 21 month emotional roller coaster of drama and intrigue; of revived candidacies and the reinvention of campaigning - all on display at such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history? As a television journalist based in Washington, DC, I was both observer and participant for the campaigns. My vantage point – a glossy studio; outfitted with shiny lips, big hair; surrounded by and often consulting analytical egos. But on election night for the Associated Press, American voters drove the story line.

The format: a live Internet broadcast. 5 hours uninterrupted. Myself. A cohost. A handful of respected political analysts. But the stars: 10 diverse and passionate voters from all across the country.

And they gave this historic moment the warmth and humanity that we and viewers could not have experienced any other way. Let me show you what I mean.

In one evening, I saw the personal cost of a contentious political campaign in the mother who’s daughter was so passionate about electing Senator Barack Obama she threatened to disown her mother if she voted for Senator John McCain. The two had become somewhat estranged during the campaign. This mother had remained undecided until the day before her absentee ballot was due, even tearing up the first draft and picking up a second.

I experienced the Republican anger and uncompromising candor of the Texas man who peppered our Republican strategist with questions about how the party that was ‘supposed to own’ the economy as a political issue, lost its way. That question eventually made its way to Senator John McCain’s senior economic strategist – Douglas Holtz Eakin.

I witnessed the military mom’s passion for supporting a former POW in the White House succumb to the economic concerns of other voters….showing in stark relief how much the electorate itself switched its focus from the War in Iraq to energy costs to economic survival during the campaign.

I observed the purple state split between Virginia voters. One holding loosely to the red-state promises of lower taxes and conservative family values. The other, convinced by rising energy costs and a teetering economy that this country did indeed ‘need change’ and what better face for it than a man who is both black and white.

Then it came time to call the races for each major state. First Pennsylvania. Then Ohio. Then Florida. Then Virginia. And finally, the winner. I watched, as we not only shared information, but emotion.

All the while, two African American women were turning from strangers into sisters, holding hands in solidarity as they watched a black man beat a white man in a free and fair American election.
One of those women – a 70 year old brought up in a segregated south - recalled black and white water fountains, separate school buses, and discrimination. She literally beamed at the progress this country demonstrated on November 4, 2008.
The other woman – a 40-year-old computer programmer and pastor – began to weep as we announced Barack Obama – the next president of the United States, the meaning of the moment sweeping over her like a tidal wave.

And in those final moments, a small business owner who’d vocally advocated for John McCain, believing a Democratic president would guarantee him higher taxes and threaten his family’s livelihood, graciously congratulated those who supported President-elect Barack Obama. He disagreed with the outcome, he said, but he was proud that America had elected its first African American president.

As a journalist. As an American. As a human being, it was truly a proud moment, and it didn’t come from strategy, quotable quips, or brilliant political analysis. It came from the hearts and minds of passionate, engaged, involved American voters.

That’s democracy. That’s history. That’s transparency. That…..is cool.