Only Time Will Tell

What "could have" been (Getty Images)

I waited for a few days before I decided to post this blog. I guess part of my rationale was that I was “too close” to this subject. Too many times I have allowed my Sagittarius nature to kick in and I started to write or speak without thinking things through. But this comment kept gnawing at me until I finally said, “just put it out there.”

I had very mixed emotions with the announcement that Michael Vick had finally been picked up by a NFL team to play, now that he is out of jail. As a lot of writers have already done, I will admit that I love dogs. I have two girl mutts, whom I saved from a shelter and wandering the streets of northwest Atlanta. They are beautiful. The day I brought the younger dog home to meet the “queen” dog, it made me sick to my stomach when they got into a little skirmish over territorial rights in the back yard. So you KNOW I couldn’t take witnessing an actual dog fight. I’ve seen a little on various television shows, but never in person. Nor would I ever want to see that. This is not about the guilt or innocence of Michael Vick. What I want to address is whether we really are going to witness the resurrection of Michael.

I am still trying to release my anger towards Michael. It’s not because of the dog issue. It’s because he instilled so much hope in the Atlanta Falcons that we COULD be a contender, a winning team. He had elevated respect for a long-suffering team. We had bet the mortgage on him. Then, he let us down. He did something that hurt the team. That’s what pisses me off. He hurt my Falcons and it is taking me a lot time to get over that.

Years ago when Michael was the “star” of the Falcons who could do no evil and who even had Arthur Blank pushing him around in a wheelchair and I was an aggressive television executive producer, Michael was not on my list of “top ten professional athlete personalities.” I came to that conclusion when I was trying to do fun type interviews with various players at the Falcons facility for my show. Michael and “his people” continuously swept past me and refused to give interviews even though everyone else on the team was cooperating. As Tony Dungy said, Michael was acting like “he didn’t need Jesus in his life” at that time. So, as the old folks say, I knew he was “cruisin’ for a bruisin’” and that’s what he got.

But with Dungy at his side at his first “freedom” news conference, I saw and heard an entirely different Michael Vick and I was so happy to see that. Yes, it was obvious that he was well coached on his answers. Good for him. Some of these  other professional athletes out here need some of that coaching. Michael spoke so much better than I have heard him  for so many years. And that makes me happy. What makes me sad is knowing that a man who has so much God-given talent is no longer on MY TEAM. Not only that, but we are going to have to play against Michael and his new birds.  Only time…and Michael’s actions… will determine if he was telling the truth. I think he was. I think he has found Jesus.

The New Reality of News

My iconic role model Frederick Douglass once said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.” The seismic shift of power in America going on right now is indeed a response to a massive demand. We are now witnessing a transformation that reflects the values of those who now hold the majority of the power. Change came to America because of the demands of the American people for a better life. We are also witnessing the abandonment of the traditional news media because the American people believe that the news industry does very little to make their lives better.

 

Musical R & B icon Prince proclaims in a recent article “the gatekeepers are changing.” While he was referring to those who control the purse strings of the music industry, the same can be said about the media. The gatekeepers are changing. Indeed, many experts are saying that there are no more gatekeepers. There is no one to monitor what attracts news attention and what doesn’t. This is the new reality of the new technology and it is something that is completely out of the control of traditional media. President Barack Obama doesn’t need the news media to get his message out to America. His political machine accumulated 13 million e-mails during the campaign. He can take his message directly to the American people anytime he wants.

 

The way we think of media will never be the same. The most recent figures show that more than 10 thousand journalism jobs have been eliminated since September and many of us went out the door long before September. What are all these journalists going to do? The smart ones are going to evolve. They are learning how to do journalism differently.

 

Dr. Edward Wasserman, who is the Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University raises some interesting ethical questions in his recent column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Jan. 10, 2009 entitled “Media moonlighting plagued by conflicts of interest”. He contends that journalists who are now considering their options to utilize their craft in different ways perhaps are facing conflicts of interests with their journalistic values. It’s ironic that the very question Dr. Wasserman raised is actually the answer to this dilemma. Journalists now have to think about whether their professional integrity is being compromised as they practice their craft differently. 

 

I do agree with Dr.Wasserman’s questions about journalists who continue to work with news organizations who also “moonlight.” That is a very tricky area. However, there are a lot of very talented, experienced journalists who no longer work for traditional news organizations who can handle assignments, without compromising their core values. 

 

The traditional view of media that most journalists held when we started in the industry is now old school and a new paradigm has been created. The news industry, just like the rest of the nation’s corporations and businesses, is experiencing cataclysmic change. The news industry, as most traditionalists and baby boomers once knew it, no longer exists. The changes actually started with the burgeoning of new technologies. It was simply amplified by the economic debacle. In other words, it is no longer business as usual in the nation’s newsrooms, which are controlled by a small number of media conglomerates. The emerging media is being transformed by the proliferation of non-traditional media outlets on the Internet and on other platforms.

 

In most cases, the media jobs that journalists used to hold no longer exist and there is little chance that they will ever come back. Thousands of journalists must find a way to make a living and find a way to use their job skills in a different environment. Some have chosen to go into academia, public relations, or do something entirely different. I decided to practice journalism differently as a media strategist and consultant. My company, BreakThrough Inc. is also assisting journalists in a special program named “Journalists To Go.” This program matches independent journalists with opportunities from news agencies, companies, organizations or individuals who need media services. Journalists possess a specific skill set that can be applied in a variety of fields. More media professionals are re-inventing themselves by shifting their focus on how to be a solid journalist in today’s media environment.

 

One of the first things I explain to my clients is that I am a media strategist and consultant, not a public relations professional or a publicist. There is a big difference. Let’s say my client has a cow, but he wants it to be a horse. A PR person may throw a saddle on the cow, try to ride it and call it a horse. But if it moos and produces milk, it is still a cow. A media specialist will demonstrate the value of the cow to the client and strategize on the proper media placement to maximize the exposure and recognition of the cow. Let’s write and accentuate the story of the cow. That’s an example of the difference between a journalistic approach and a PR approach. We help people understand why and how things happen in the media.

 

I do agree with Dr.Wasserman’s conflict of interest questions about journalists who work with news organizations who also “moonlight.” However, there are a lot of very talented, experienced journalists out there who can handle assignments, without compromising their core values, outside the concept of traditional news organizations.

 

As far as the ethical concerns of corporate influence over the objectivity of news organizations goes… that cow is already out the barn. Networks routinely use the news division to promote their programming and corporate interests.  Journalism ethics cannot be dictated by corporate policy. Truth, honesty, openness, fairness and other tenants of quality journalism need to be part of the professional’s core values. And you won’t learn that in J-school. 

 

It’s a new day in journalism and it’s a new day for American media. The challenge for us is to deal with the wave of change or be buried under it.

 

Note to Sarah Palin: Mother to Mother-”Get Real!”

The Republicans are on their way home…now the fun begins. In just a few months, we will know who will lead the country for the next four years. My question to Sarah Palin is this. Who is going to lead your children? I get it when you say you have a supportive husband who is always there for you. I get it when you complain that men aren’t subjected to the same kind of questioning as women when it comes to family values. Been there…done that… got the t-shirt. But Sarah… GET REAL. No one will ever be able to take your place as a mother. I’m telling you this not because of what I have heard. I’m telling you this because this is what I know. More than 17 years ago, I was elected the national president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)….the first woman in our organization to accomplish that. The biggest heartstring pulling at me was how it would affect my two year old son. That consideration almost forced me not to run.

But NABJ has always been like a family to me and my family rallied around me and offered me all the support and encouragement I needed. Even after I was elected, I realized that there was a cost involved. Many times I would have to load the entire family into the car to drive to meetings around the country instead of flying, just so we could be together. Several women in the organization became surrogate moms when I had presidential duties to perform. I will never forget the time when NABJ VP Sheila Stainback stood in the back of the ballroom, covering the ears of my young son with her hands, when I had to challenge and eventually put out vile rapper Bushwick Bill from a session on hip-hop music when he used derogatory language directed towards the women in the audience. I remember the time we were panicking when my son unintentionally locked himself in the master bedroom of the presidential suite during a convention and we couldn’t awaken him for hours to unlock the door. For some reason, the hotel staff didn’t have a key to the room as we banged and banged on the door as tears swelled in my eyes. Eventually, he woke up and walked out, with a look that said, “why are you all so worried about me?”

Now here you are, Sarah, not only dealing with a child with special needs, but also with a daughter who has done something that we have been imploring all of our young girls NOT to do and that is have sex and get pregnant, especially before entering the holy bond of matrimony. Your children need you more than ever before. And with respect to all the fathers of the world, they will never be a MOMMY to your children. While I am not questioning your dedication to our country, your family comes FIRST. They always will. That reality has forced many of us to make some difficult choices about our lives and our careers.

Many women have stepped out of the workplace because of that choice. Others have taken jobs that don’t force them to travel so much. I thank God that when my children were born, I had a position as an executive producer of a morning news program that allowed me to be home almost always in the afternoon. My children have never been latchkey children. I’ve been to almost every baseball and football game and every wrestling match. I’ve served team meals, taken snacks to the boys, washed uniforms and then stayed up late with them to make sure they did their homework. That’s what’s being a mother is all about.  

Now Sarah you are the poster girl for “hockey moms” and other working mothers. But I really wonder whether you know what that really means. Do you really know the sacrifices you are asking your family to make? Do you really expect your family to escape the glare, criticism and praise of the media? 

And while we are talking about what’s off limits and what’s not when it comes to the media scrutiny of the candidates’ families, I must respectfully disagree with my brother Barack Obama and others who are telling the media to “back off.” Sorry kiddos, that’s not going to happen. Since when do politicians tell journalists how to do our job? They may not like what the media say and do, but it’s reality. Get over it. Smart politicians listen to their media advisors and develop a strategy on how to deal with this reality, not condemn it. Everyone’s family is fair game when you run for office. That’s the price of public office. That’s why many people decide not to go into that arena because they know the toll it will take on their family and friends. You may not think it is right or fair, but this is the real world and that’s how we roll. 

So Sarah, Barack, John and all of the other pundits lashing out at the media need to get a wake up call. You’ve made your choice and now you have to deal with the consequences…the good, the bad and the ugly. As my beloved late mother used to say, “you’ve made your bed, now lay in it.”

The New Reality

 

The Real ME

I know it’s been a long time since I posted on my blog. But I have been totally focused on survival in a world that is increasingly shaky for journalists and others in the media. Every day I read the trades and on-line newsletters about the hundreds if not thousands of people in the media who are losing their jobs. That’s only for one industry… not including the thousands being laid off, downsized and put out to pasture in other industries. Never in my lifetime have I seen such a negative economic situation. Regardless of who is eventually elected president (Barack), he will have his hands full dealing with the legacy of the Bushes. We are indeed in a new global reality and I’m not sure we have a total grasp of what that really means. When I see the thousands of people who are out of work, I thank God that I made my transition from the traditional newsroom ahead of the curve two years ago. I find myself thinking, where are all those unemployed journalists going to work? Some will make their transition into PR or academia. Others will be like me and try their hand at entrepreneurship. Despite the fact that I have been out here for two years, I am still facing a steep learning curve going from the confines of corporate America to fending for myself. I am learning something every day and I find out how much more I have to learn every day. So what is happening to others who find themselves in my circumstances? There just aren’t that many PR, teaching or otherwise journalism related jobs out there. I don’t presume to have the answers to all these questions, but it has caused me to pause and do some deep reflection on my life, my family and our world. Whether we like it or not, we are in the middle of a revolution. The result of that revolution will profoundly affect the way all of us live. The challenge for us is whether we are ready to deal with this new reality.