Thoughts on Roanoke

I don’t know Alison Parker or Adam Ward. My heart grieves for these two young people, cut down as they were just getting started with their careers.

I also don’t know the shooter. I don’t care about him. I will not dignify him by mentioning his name, nor will I post a picture of him or the video. Go find that somewhere else. There’s a special place in hell for that guy, and the sooner he gets there, the better.

Reflecting on the events of this morning, and I’m taken by a couple of things:

Caveat: I’ve never worked in Roanoke. My thoughts below are based on what I have personally witnessed and experienced.

We, as an industry, do not always put a premium on safety. Look at the ages of the victims: 24 and 27. Newsrooms of this size are filled with kids these age – on their first or second job, fairly fresh out of (usually) some idyllic college setting from the suburbs. You get a group of these young people together, in a market that’s unfamiliar to them. Then, you put them in dangerous situations with thousands of dollars of equipment on their backs and in their vans. AND you increasingly send those young people out alone.

I have been in situations where I’m alone in bad neighborhoods. I’ve had the hairs stand on the back of my neck as situations turned dangerous. I’ve had people with bad intentions come up to me and ask me how much my camera was worth. I’ve had people come at me when I walk up to get audio and video of crime scenes. It’s a scary situation.

And I’ve been in situations where I was too naive (or stupid) to know better. Like walking into the middle of a grass fire. Or on a pier in the middle of a raging flood. Or driving toward a tornado cell. All in the pursuit of a fleeting few seconds of video. That was dumb. And I’m forever thankful I never got hurt.

Look, I get it. TV reporters aren’t cops. They aren’t firefighters. They aren’t soldiers. I’m not holding the profession up as something it’s not. But it can be dangerous. And when you have youngsters, with little life experience, out in dangerous situations, and I’m honestly surprised more acts of violence against news crews isn’t happening more often.

And that brings up something different entirely.

Workplace issues. At one of my TV stops, we had a handyman/engineer/janitor type man working at the station. Everyone knew to stay the heck away from him. New workers are warned about him on their first day. Beyond his uncouth advancements toward the female staffers, he would fly off the handle at any perceived slight. Once, when I had to use the station-provided van  – that he used as his own personal car – to cover breaking news (everyone else was out on assignment), I was genuinely concerned that he was going to attack me. When I left, he was still employed by the station.

Another one of my stops, we had a long-time in-studio camera operator who routinely sexually harassed the female reporters. Complaints went unheeded. He had been working there for decades, and was still working there when I left.

At every single one of my stops in local, small market television, I personally witnessed or have heard reports of uncouth and harassing behavior that is completely intolerable.

Combine this with the stress involved in making a daily newscast…and the low pay…and it can be a potential powder keg. When you get a truly evil person into the mix, and it could end badly – like it looks like it may have done in Roanoke today.

And that doesn’t even account for the myriad of long letters and rambling nonsensical notes that I have received (and I’ve seen others receive) from obviously mentally ill people. The societal joke about crazy people hearing the TV talk to them isn’t a joke – it’s true.

So what should we do?

Look, I’m not a psychologist. I’m not an HR professional. I’m just a guy who’s going off of what I’ve witnessed in my career. And there’s nothing we can do about an evil person who wants to create mayhem. But what we can do is be better leaders. And prepare our young journalists for the reality of their situation.

Journalism schools should teach situational awareness. A semester of training in how to spot dangerous situations and what to do about it would have done a lot more in preparing me for my work than that semester my junior year in International Broadcasting.

Newsroom leaders should be more aware of the employees and co-workers around them. And they should be more empowered to take action when they see trouble signs. In the day-to-day mayhem of getting the show on the air, the short-term always trumps the future. But trends should be heeded. And stations should provide training for leaders about dealing with unstable people.

Security should be increased, across the board. I’ve worked in a couple places that are locked up tighter than Fort Knox. But I’ve also worked in places where people could just walk in the back door into the newsroom. When going into potentially dangerous situations, keep in constant contact. Which leads to….

Think about what you’re asking your reporters to do. Do you really need that live shot in the place where something happened 6 hours ago? In the middle of the night, with zero visuals? Or are you doing it just because you “need” a live shot in the show?

Listen. The news crew is a tight bunch. They work in extremely stressful environments, working long hours in close quarters. They know what’s going on. If you spot a trend, act on it.

Like I said before: This was a deranged act by an evil person bent on committing an evil act. I blame nobody but the accused. But in a stressful work environment filled with young people, we have to do a better job protecting and training our people.