Wednesday, January 02, 2008

A Naked Feeling. A Lost Sense Of Faith.

A recent overseas vacation has left me with a naked feeling.

The airline carrier lost my luggage and everything I had packed, and now 10 days later I am still separated from my clothes. This is the first time this has ever happened to me but the whole ordeal has shattered my faith in the airline industry and got me thinking….

A reputation is something that takes a long time to earn…sometimes years and yet it can be wiped away in a matter of mere seconds. As a frequent traveler, I became so accustomed to always walking off the plane and getting my bags that when ever I heard my bags were M-I-A, I just couldn’t believe it. As I was stewing over my lost bags, I started wondering if this theory is the same for TV news viewers. Does one bad experience with a TV news organization shatter your trust in all main stream media? What is it that would make that happen?

Heck…Today there was a Greyhound Bus that overturned on a local highway. I wonder if this one bad situation will shatter people’s faith about the safety of motor coach transportation despite whatever past positive experiences they may have had on motor coaches.

Let me know your thoughts….Meanwhile, I’m going looking for my bags

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Election night is finally over…now we prepare to do it again

I cannot tell you how happy I am about election day being over, but for the reasons you might think…Election night takes weeks of preparation for us. Sitting at home watching the names and numbers scroll across the screen or clicking on a race on the web you would never know but I am the person who sat here for hours typing every name, every race, getting them organized.

Then you have all candidates’ profiles, debates, commercials, victory speeches and the fun leading up to and including election night. It takes a team of people to keep everything straight and to sit in a newsroom on election night…you have never known such chaos. You might think we were crazy people but it does all make sense to us that’s why sitting at home you don’t notice.

So goodbye to Election Night 2007 give me a few days and I will start to unhappily say hello to Election Year 2008. Happy voting!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Can You Capture A Smile In A Bag?

As a child my mother always told me to never look directly into the sun. Yet the other day I found myself staring directly at it.

This sun had a smiley face and was printed on the side of a small purple bag. One of our reporters, Liza Weidle had approached my desk the other day and handed me this small gift. She smiled and walked away. It was not something expensive but rather a small and simple gift. The day before I was having a difficult day, and she knew it. You know, those days when nothing seems to go right? Well she gave me this small bag as a way of shining a little light on my day (and of course getting me to smile). Inside the bag was an assortment of candy, luquid to blow bubbles and a few of those rubber bouncy balls.

The newsroom is a stressful place to work. We are always under deadlines and looking for the latest news. We often spend more time with each of our co-workers than we do with our families, friends or loved ones. As a result, we are tight knit group. And, since her small gift brought a smile to my face….the answer is yes—you can capture a smile in a bag.

Have you done something nice for a co-worker? If so, what was it?
Share your thoughts in the comments section.

-Jason Clough

Friday, September 28, 2007

Going Between the Lines

I am a person who enters the world of blogging selectively. I read what others point out to me or community blogs when I can find them and of course writing this blog. (I have to say since writing these it seems more like a journal entry but in the new world it is called blogging because that sounds so much cooler. A man had to come up with “blog” so he wouldn’t have to admit he wrote in a journal on the internet.) 

Blogging has become a bigger part of what I do and where I get information these days. I have to say blogging is very new to me but I am enjoying it. Today I just wanted to share another blog in the NBC 17 family.

Reporter Steve Sbraccia loves to talk back and is doing just that in his blog. It takes a look at the funnier things in life and gives you a pretty good idea of what Steve is like behind the cameras. He always has the best stories and after working as a reporter all these years has seen some of the funniest things. Take a look, drop him a line and enjoy as you go “Between the Lines” with Steve.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Our GM Wants To Talk To You…Personally

Our General Manager, Barry Leffler, would like to talk to you and he’s putting his face on TV to prove it.

You may have seen our General Manager asking you for your feedback at the end of our newscasts recently. We began to air these short video messages this week in an effort to stay connected to the community we serve.

Barry wants to know if we have delivered on what we promised you in our newscasts. Did our stories live up to your expectations? Are we delivering on the promise of being accurate, balanced and to the point with our coverage? If we met or exceeded your expectations…great, we’d love to hear that from you. If not, where did we fall short?

We can’t promise perfection although we strive for it everyday. We will make mistakes along the way, and when we do we will own up to it. What Barry is promising is that we will listen to your feedback, comments and thoughts, and that we will personally respond to you.

To make it easier on you, Barry has set up an email address for you to use:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
BTW: Those of you that have met or know Barry will attest to the fact that he is camera shy. I’m sure getting him to appear on TV was no easy task to accomplish. shhhhh…don’t tell Barry I told the world that he’s camera shy.