BUY BUY OR IS IT BYE BYE

It's all we are talking about in our business these days. Buyouts and Layoffs. No one is immune. CBS has had widespread layoffs. Recently we saw a smaller round of layoffs at the Gannett stations. The fact of the matter is the economy is in bad shape, and we are now feeling the ripple effects of it all.


At one of the most esteemed newspapers in the country it is a drip, drip, drip phenomenon. Every day there is a new name added to the roster of big names leaving the Washington Post. They are not being laid off, they are taking buy outs. All are accepting the newspapers generous early retirement package. The roster includes names like Tony Kornheiser, David Broder, and Bob Woodward. Those are the names that jump off the page, but there are so many others who are leaving. All of them take away years of reporting experience, wisdom, contacts, and a Rolodex to die for. So who loses? I think we all do.


I have good reason to feel that way. I had a lunch a week or so ago with a good friend. He was a reporter who spent decades covering the White House. I bumped into him at the Correspondents dinner a few weeks back. I suggested lunch, and that's when he told me he wasn't at the paper anymore. He's the communications director at a non profit in Georgetown.


So we got together for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Potomac. We had great food, and a great conversation. He had wonderful stories, from his time covering Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush. He was covering President Bush's re-election effort when the editor called him into his office to suggest he take a buyout. As he put it, he strongly encouraged him to take the buyout. There were just a few people targeted for the buyout at this newspaper. It was all very hush, hush. My friend was one of them. All of the candidates had something in common. They were some of the best and brightest, and therefore some of the highest paid journalists on the payroll.


So now a new generation of journalists is emerging. The only problem is the cagey veterans like my friend are leaving. Those are the people you learn from. I wouldn't be who I am, if I hadn't spent time in my first newsroom in Southern California learning from Howard Culver, Ed Ziel, and Dick Spangler. I can remember Howard coming over to me with copy and dropping it on the desk.

"This doesn't cut it, try again!"


That's all he would say. When he stopped dropping the copy on the desk I felt like I had hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth in the final game of the World Series. Howard was a throw back to another time. He was a grizzled veteran finishing up a storied career. He worked in the golden age of radio. He loved broadcasting, and wanted nothing but the best for it. He passed away in 1984. Now days it seems lots of bosses are criss-crossing newsrooms looking for the Howard Culver's. They are looking to thank them, but to say Buy-Buy or in other words Bye, Bye!

Speaking of Bye, my blog is moving! Here is the new link:

http://beta.wusa9.com/life/community/persona.aspx?plckPersonaPage=PersonaBlog&plckUserId=40b08e30fd3f4cfdbc23c8e7d12c6d07&U=40b08e30fd3f4cfdbc23c8e7d12c6d07&sid=sitelife.wusa9.com

If that doesn't work...try this one:

http://www.wusa9.com/life/community/persona.aspx?plckPersonaPage=PersonaBlog&plckUserId=40b08e30fd3f4cfdbc23c8e7d12c6d07&U=40b08e30fd3f4cfdbc23c8e7d12c6d07

I hope you'll keep reading!

THE KEYS

It's something I fumble around doing on occasion in the early morning hours. Let's face it we all misplace our keys from time to time. I do it, I freely admit it. But this morning was different. I got up groggy, and staggered downstairs to begin my usual morning routine. Pretty much every morning I down a yogurt drink, and then eat a bowl of cereal. I did that. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something on the kitchen table. It was a note from my daughter addressed to me.

Dear Dad,

Trevor and I searched high and low for the keys to my car last night. We couldn't find them, so I hope you don't mind but I figured you wouldn't care if I took your car and you can take mine today.

The note went on, but the rest of it isn't all that important. After reading it I went back to the den, brushed back the curtain and looked outside. My car was gone. Courtney's car was still parked at the curb out in front. Now Courtney's problem was my problem.

Why would my daughter do something like this? Well Trevor and I took her car to the movie theater on Saturday night. So she and Trevor figured I must have the car keys in my room. They didn't want to wake me up to ask me about them. How kind of them don't you think? So what did this mean for me? Well it meant that I was going to have to hunt for the keys now.

There was only one problem with their presumtion that I had the keys. I didn't drive to the movie, Trevor did. So I woke up Trevor and told him he was going to have to find the keys. He had them last! He began hunting for them. It didn't take long for me to realize there was no way a dead tired 17 year old was going to find these keys. So I woke up my wife and pleaded with her to drive me into work. So right now I'm stranded. I can take the metro home, but it will only deposit me near my home. They haven't installed a metro station stop at my home.

Of course there is a good chance that I won't take the metro. I plan to get off the air this morning and call my daughter. I think she'll understand when I insist in a kind fashion that she pick me up and take me home. By the way Trevor was able to eventually find the keys. He found them, and then decided to take the car to school. So even when I get home I'm going to be out a car. Oh the joys of parenthood!

TRAVELING OVERSEAS?

I just spent the weekend in Miami. I have the sunburn to prove it. Miami is a fun city. There is so much to see and do. South Beach is like a magnet for tourists. I love the fact that just about every place you pass has cut their prices by 50 percent. We walked until we came to a place that didn't offer a 50 percent discount. We all figured that meant their prices were more realistic.

I was struck by this city the first time I visited it in the late 1990's. But there was something that surprised me. We were at a Marlins game watching them play the Devil Rays. It was the first time I had ever heard an announcer introducing the players in both English and Spanish. This time around I wondered if the announcer felt it was a waste of time to do the introductions in English. Everywhere I turned all I heard was Spanish. I wondered what Joe Vento would do if he was doing business in Miami.

Joe of course it the guy in Philly who made headlines a few years back when he pasted up a sign that read, "This is America. When ordering speak in English." Joe is to Philly Cheese steaks what Laurence Olivier was to acting. In 2006 he was quoted as saying, "Your loyalty should be to America and America only," Vento said. Of course he gave credit where credit was do. "All I did was quote Theodore Roosevelt, 1907."

In 1907 immigration spiked to a record 1,285,000, and President Roosevelt said: "There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room but for one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality; we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people." I'm guessing Teddy would be troubled by what you see in Miami these days.

I was in a long line at the Airport trying to buy some food before boarding my flight heading back to Washington. Two women in front of me were purchasing a salad, some water, and a sandwich. The cashier was new to the job. He didn't get it right. So he called over another guy to help him. Not one word of English was uttered. All the while the two women customers kept talking in English. Finally the cashier handed over about 4 dollars and some change to the women. That's when it happened. The one woman looked at the other and the fight began. The woman argued, not in English, that would have been pointless. She had a command of Spanish. Before long the guy who was helping the new cashier went in search of the manager. She arrived, again no English. It was a heated dispute. Finally the manager pulled out her cell phone. It had a calculator. In the end the customers were right. Instead of getting four dollars back and some change, it was now 10 dollars and some change. I was a little nervous, I never developed a real command of Spanish. I tapped the woman on the arm and asked, "Do you think you can stick around just in case I need you?"

SUCCESS AND SADNESS

They are the kind of people that you might just be envious of. She's won an Academy Award, then came the Emmys, and the Golden Globe award. She was once the president of the Screen Actors Guild. She has had so much success. But if you were around her during that period of time you'd never know it, because she was miserable. So were the people who loved her. Patty Duke always had a smile on screen in the Patty Duke show, but off screen it was a different story. There were suicide attempts. This pint size star sits across from me and talks about how for years she ran from Psychiatrists. Now they sit in rapt attention listening to her. She addressed the APA earlier this week. That's the American Psychiatric Association.

http://www.psych.org/

Duke talks openly about Bipolar Disorder. She said her kids would wake up not knowing what they would get each day. In the morning she might be all smiles, but by the time they got home from school they were greeted with Rage. Duke said just before she was diagonsed it was almost rage all the time. She's spending a lot of time these days doing Mental Health advocacy. She's also written a book about her life with manic depressive illness.

http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553560725

Herschel Walker is sitting on this same set just a few minutes before talking about his bout with mental illness. Walker can't remember much of his Heisman trophy season, or the moment when he actually received the prestigious award. For Walker it isn't Bi-Polar disorder that has gripped his life, it is Dissociative Identity Disorder. He's written a book about his life, "Breaking Free: My Life With Dissociative Identity Disorder." http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=2&pid=624584&er=9781416537489 He puts it simply, "I'm doing this to help someone."

Duke and Walker had it all, and yet it took them years to get help. Now both are happy and healthy and trying to get their message out. Illness is illness, but here in America it seems people are far more likely to go see a doctor for a minor cut then a major mental illness. I spent some time this weekend at the APA because I have friends associated with the orginization. I had a chance to many of the Pschiatrists there. So many of them will tell you this is a great time in our history when it comes to treating mental illness. There have been major strides in treatment in recent years. But unfortunately there haven't been as many strides when it comes to making easier for people to seek treatment. There is still seems to be a stigma associated with this form of illness. With more and more stars stepping forward, like Brooke Shields, Kitty Dukakis, Mike Wallace, Patty Duke and Herschel Walker hopefully that will change. If it does then Duke and Walker will have achieved something even more important than a Heisman or an Oscar.

Watching TV

If you are in this business long enough then when you flip on the TV, you suddenly take a stroll down memory lane. So many faces bring back memories of my stops along the way.

Take for example the CBS Evening News. When Correspondent Mark Strassman appears on the air I think back to my time in Columbus Ohio. Mark worked at the ABC station there in the mid 80's. I worked at the CBS station WBNS. We worked night side chasing stories and trying desperately to beat one another.

When I watch the Early Show it takes me back to my time in St. Louis. I worked at KTVI. One of the guys who worked across the street at KMOV was Russ Mitchell. We tried desperately to beat one another on stories too.

Recently I was doing a little channel surfing and came across a guy on air that made think back to my time in Tampa. It was Glenn Beck. I was in Tampa when Glenn arrived. I was working at WFLA TV and he was at WFLA Radio. It was the late 90's. I ran into Glenn on his first day of work. It's a day I'll never forget.

I was working on the Brage Sassin story. Many of you might remember Brage. he had a tree house in his backyard that was his refuge. A place where he could go to play and forget about his leukemia. The 6 year old was battling the disease and his homes association. His father Omar and mother Tammy were fuming because the Home's association wanted the tree house torn down. It was a great story.

The only problem was Brage. Brage didn't want anything to do with the press. I ended up at the home and interviewed Tammy. But Brage didn't want to talk. His mother attempted to bribe him, but he kept violently shaking his head when she asked if he would answer a few of my questions. He simply refused to talk to me. He also refused to talk to the folks from Hard Copy, Inside Edition and all the others lined up at the home.

In fact he retreated from the home and went outside. Everyone lined up to talk to his mom, after all she was the only talking at this point. I decided to go outside. Not to hound the kid but to get a look at the tree house. But before I knew it I was playing Frisbee with him, hanging out and chatting. Finally I suggested leaving the photographer down on the ground, while the two of us climbed the ladder into his tree house. Before long he was willing to talk, and he was talking up a storm.

Since I'm a father I knew how to play with a little kid. Something the other reporters apparently did not. I made Brage the king of the fort, and I was his foot soldier. It was easy to see the little boy felt like he had n control. No control over the disease. No control over all of these strangers roaming around. No control over the Home's Association. I gave him some control and he gave me a great interview. We were pals now, and he was willing to talk. We had a great time and I had a great story. As we climbed down the ladder there was a mob of photographers and reporters waiting to do the same exact thing with Brage. He would have none of it. He went screaming into the home, entered his bedroom and sealed himself off from the outside world.

The parents were dealing with an angry son, and a swarm of journalists from television and print. They were at their wits end. That's when Glenn entered the scene. We were leaving this zoo when we ran into Glenn Beck. He asked me where Brage lived. We talked for a little bit. He had just arrived in town from Connecticut. He planned to move into the tree house and broadcast from there. He was defiant! "If they tear down this tree house, they'll take me with it!" The only problem was the Sassin's didn't know who he was, and didn't want him anywhere near their home. So he was banished to the sidewalk outside. Not nearly as dramatic.

But you have to hand it to him. He's moved from the sidewalk to CNN. He's broadcasting from a much larger tree house now.

HOLDING BACK

I wrote last week about holding back on key information so that I wouldn't become this incredible bore. That produced responses from viewers and family members alike. Don't do it! That was the resounding cry. My sister Janet weighed in. Here is her email.

Hi How am I going to know what is going on with you and yours if you stop blogging about what's going on? By the way you could never be boring to us. Love you!
Janet

She may not love me after I post this picture. That's a picture of my sister on the left. She in the center of this picture dancing. Yes she is blessed with the same absence of rhythm that I have. By the way as long as I am posting pictures, this is a picture of my brother in law Fred and right behind him is Janet's son, and my nephew Jeff. Jeff is planning a trip out here next month. His plan is to come to Washington to see the Angels take on the Nats. He also plans to drive up to Philadelphia to see the Angels play the Phillies. I guess if he isn't the Angels biggest fan, he has to be one of the biggest. His brother John is coming in July to go to Baltimore to see the Angels play the Orioles. Angels fever runs in the family.

Speaking of journeys my daughters is coming to a close. Courtney is on her way back home. My wife Kate is sky high, because her family will be back intact. I know I have a spot in her heart, but the rest is occupied by my daughter, my son and of course little ole Chester. They are all pictured to the right.

We plan to fly down to Miami this weekend to greet her as her ship comes back into port. She has spent this semester at sea...learning about the world. The lessons have sunk in. She shared her final paper with us last week. I've edited it, but it's still a bit of a read. But it's full of wisdom you might not expect to find in a 21 year old woman.

"Every night before arriving in each port, Semester at Sea students poured into the union and satellite rooms to attend the mandatory logistical pre-port. Before Brazil we were warned that walking in the streets was "like swimming with sharks." Before South Africa we were told to diligently watch our purses and pocketbooks. Before India we were told to be sure not to eat their food. Each of these meetings made sure to drill into the mind of every student that the places and people of the world are dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. The world is certainly not a land of simply milk and honey, but these speeches went beyond the necessary recommendation of caution. In fact, the world was constructed in a very Western way, by creating persuasive categories of "us" and "the other." The most powerful book I’ve read in this class, even in this whole semester, is the ancient Hindu philosophy text, The Upanishads. The main message of the text is the exact antithesis of the categories constructed in our logistical pre-ports. The Upanishads poetically argues that we must rise above our prideful individuality, which is glorified in the idea of "us" and search for unity and oneness among a common humanity. With this idea of oneness and connectedness a person can overcome the selfish idea of desire and find peace.
This amazing opportunity to travel the world with Semester at Sea has truly opened my eyes to a lot of things I didn’t understand before, but it hasn’t quite been what I expected. Before embarking on this sea adventure my anthropological optimism filled me with hopes of learning all about the differences and similarities between the cultures of the world. I feel like I haven’t been able to spend enough time in one place to learn anything too concrete about the way other people live, but I have certainly learned quite a bit about how the people on this ship interact with the world. I had hoped to find a ship full of people with similar excitement for learning about the way humanity operates around the world, but instead I encountered a group of people with a dynamic I have never felt before. Wealth, pride and beauty seem to be the most important thing on this ship. Glorified individuals basking in the sun in bathing suits that cost more money than I’ve ever had in my wallet at one time are the norm. As we traveled from port to port the juxtaposition of the ship board attitude and the situations of the people in each place has become more and more intriguing. In each place, with the exception of perhaps Malaysia and Japan, I have encountered people with next to nothing, or simply nothing at all. I’ve lived in many places in the United States, but with this trip alone I have seen more poverty than I have ever come across before. The day to day struggle that many people around the world live with, specifically in Brazil and India, was impossible to ignore. I know that my shipmates who have so much witnessed many people who have very little.
So it would seem that attitudes would change with encounter after encounter with people who can’t even comprehend the magnitude of wealth on this ship. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that attitudes have changed for many people.

When I think about the breakdown of the types of people described in The Upanishads, it seems pretty clear that a large number of my shipmates fall into the category reserved for the glorification of the ego. I see the fulfillment of desires all around me. Out in port, however, I encountered many of the other type of person. These people were not concerned with fulfilling extravagant desires. In many cases this was a direct result of the fact that they did not have the capacity to pursue those types of desires, but regardless I could sense a clear difference in the way they saw the world. The Brazilians had a extra umph to their grin that most of my shipmates are missing. The South Africans living in the townships had a ring in their voice I can’t seem to overhear in the dining hall. The Indians I met on the street had a twinkle in their eye that I haven’t found underneath the overly large sunglasses on the seventh deck. I believe that these are results from a deeper understanding of the world. These people have found a happiness that isn’t enslaved to money. They have found peace that isn’t related to a multitude of material possessions. They view the world without a constant eye for individual glorification."

I knew when I said goodbye to her months ago that she would come back a changed person. I was right. Sh has changed and she is more enlightened. She's learned a lot from her textbooks. But when the world becomes your textbook, you can learn so much more. She has!

BLOGGERS ARE BORING

Okay I'll admit it. I had to be dragged into the Blogosphere. I remember vividly sitting next to my good buddy Miriam Wright at one of our town hall meetings at the station. I asked her if she liked my most recent blog entry. Her response went something like this.

"Yes Mike it was very funny. But this is Thursday and you wrote about something that happened over the weekend. Plus you are posting like once every seven years!"

Alright, the last sentence is an exaggeration. But there has been a push here at the station to blog at least three times a week. Unfortunately Brett never got that memo. The rest of us did. So I try to write down my thoughts three times a week. It's sort of a snapshot of what I'm thinking about, or what I'm up to. Some might even say it's a creepy journey into my brain. Since I roam around in my brain quite a bit I might agree with them. But it wasn't until last night that I realized that Blogging is making me boring.

I was locked in a conversation with my sister Patty on the phone. I started to tell her a story about a luncheon that I attended earlier this week. She said, "Yeah I know I read your blog. You walked into the woman's bathroom. Did you really do that?" I had to admit sheepishly that the answer was yes. But I also had to acknowledge that one of my favorite questions to ask my sister was now a question she need not ask me. I always ask her "What's new?" When you blog all the time there's no need for someone to ever ask you that question. It's all out there on the world wide web. So there you have it I learned that bloggers are boring

I'm like the boring guy at the dinner party that everyone avoids. Why? Because he keeps repeating the same story over and over again. Because of blogging there is nothing new to tell someone on the phone unless I start keeping secrets.. So there you have it. You are forewarned. I'm not going to tell you what's happening this weekend. Certain days may also become off limits as I begin to evaluate how to counter this boring phenomenon. I may find that I'm more interesting on Mondays, and so you may never hear about what I'm doing on Mondays. Or maybe it's Thursdays. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to do this just in case my sister decides to give me a call back any time soon.