How to develop a corrections policy
A wag once said that being a journalist means never having to say you're sorry. Emerson Stone begs to differ. The former vice president …
How newsrooms deal with trauma
Some news stories have lasting psychological effects on journalists. Just ask anyone who covered the 9/11 attacks or the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But traumatic effects like stress disorders aren't confined to major national disasters, as the staff of WGAL-TV learned in October 2006 when …
How to avoid being sued
"When the media goes to trial, you're more likely to lose than to win." That caution from attorney John Ronayne III should get everyone's attention in newsrooms around the country. Ronayne warned that landing in court can be hideously expensive. "The average cost just to …
What not to do in a standup
Here's a question I get all the time: What kind of standups and live shots should a reporter include in a resume tape montage? The simple answer is to feature only your very best stuff, with the goal of showing how confident and comfortable you …
Enduring lessons from the Newseum
Cramped and hard to find: That's my memory of the Freedom Forum's old Newseum in Rosslyn, Virginia, which closed more than six years …
TV’s focus on looks is not so pretty
Dressed in a short red skirt and a tight leopard-print top, the new TV news anchor poses on the set. She's not behind the desk at …
NBC’s predator series goes too far
The "To Catch a Predator" series on "Dateline NBC" has been a smash hit for the network's news division since it launched …
Citizen journalism as ‘You Witness News’
If it hadn't been for a cell phone camera, the world would never have seen video of Saddam Hussein's execution. The first video of the London subway bombings came in via cell phone, too, not from journalists but from commuters who saw it all happen. …
Gaffes go global
Whoever said there's no such thing as bad publicity didn't work in TV news and live in the age of the Internet. Back in the old days, when you made a mistake on the air or did something just plain stupid, you …
The perils of branding news
Just when you think the broadcast news business couldn't possibly be more about marketing than it already is, another deal comes to light that further fuzzes the line between journalism and advertising. Remember when stations kept them separate? The idea was to protect …
How the media treated me
It happens all the time. A tragedy thrusts ordinary folks into the media spotlight. They're peppered with questions, pestered for photographs of deceased loved ones, and paraded onto newscasts and news pages. That can be quite a jolt to those already traumatized. Journalists walk a tightrope …