"Truth be told, that's one of the reasons I left. I couldn't stand covering random assaults and vandalism, stories that had no impact on the average viewers. TV news does violence because it's fast, easy, requires no frame of reference or special reporting skills."
- Heather McMichael, a former Kansas City Fox 4 Reporter....comments to the Kansas City Star
Amen to That
Submitted by Brian Lambert on Sunday, January 28, 2007
Alright, Lambo's got some chatter going on here. Well, Paul, I applaud your optimism. But I suspect that while her objections to the vapidity and shallowness of local news are sincere (not to mention long extant and obvious), I suspect her move to p.r. has more to do with hitting TV news's mirrored ceiling (aint' got the looks for bigger market work) higher pay and regular hours. So now she'll be occupy a spot just a little further upstream on the river of shite served up at 5, 6 and 10 CST. She'll be a pusher, not a user. We all gotta' eat. But spare us the high-minded sermons on the way out and into the world of hucksterdom.
Or you could look at it another way, Jimmy. Maybe she's just being truthful to what she does. Openly practicing (gasp) public relations might be more honorable than staying in the world of corporately produced video news releases and if-it-bleeds-it-leads.
It is certainly heartening to know that Ms. McMichael is taking her unwavering fealty to truth and meaning into the world of public relations where she will surely find it at every turn. Kudos.