there have been a number of times in my life when I've had those TV news cameras shoved in my face... I used to work with the National Org Parents of Murdered Children and often those vultures would descend on some poor grieving family and I had to stand at the door "Please, no commits, please!" in other jobs I've had to issue press releases... no blood or gore so those stories were never reported on... my one claim to international fame was back in the 1980"s remember the Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut? I was one of those injured they showed being carried out of the rubble they showed on TV... not that anyone could tell it was me... well once again I'm having to talk with reporters I'm suing the state for lost wages... their trying to make it sound like the crime of the century... god I hate talking to reporters
I have been plenty of times..............usually my best side. My butt!! They have filmed me (or my behind) standing on a ladder to a second floor window passing a 1 3/4" attack line, bent over a F.D. made convertable strapping a patient to a board, full backal tending to a GSW victim, back (with a little crack) assisting others with pulling a guy out of his truck in a washout. Most recently they have been getting frontals as I am the PIO for the southern part of the County.
Keep up the good work I'd be a little concerned if your organisation had its own makeup department as well as incident management team on the job. Just so long as your butt is on the job, I think folks will forgive you for being a little cheeky about it. Keep up the good work!
There was a glimpse of me on the news in NC back in '91... At Camp Lejeune Pres. Bush Sr. was visiting the base.. They asked me what I thought about the Commander in Chief visiting... And then in 94' Clinton visited Kadena AFB in Okinawa while I was there, lucky for me nobody asked me what I thought about that.. And last month I was shooting at the local indoor range when the local news boys showed up to do a story about gun sales over this past Christmas.. That time I was on there for a little longer. Almost 10 whole seconds.. They asked 20 minutes with of questions, then aired 10 seconds worth.. lol...
Ive had the misfortune of being on the news and in the paper a number of times in my professional life. My question is did they ever get the story right for any of you guys?
When I was working in international salvage, we had the CNN rule: Don't say or do anything that you don't want to watch on the evening news. Still play by that rule.
Last time I had to deal with the press, I had the last laugh on the evening news. They didn't realize it until after it aired.
I have been on the television news a couple of times I have on the television news a couple of times, but they were both as background extras, unbeknownst to me. One shot was for a nano second of me with my face pressed against the window of a gun shop in the early 1970's. I almost had a cameo role on the show of some current affairs shock jock, when the reporter with camera man in tow attempted to come on the premises of the building I was the site security for. The interaction went something like this..... "I'm from XYZ and I have a few questions concerning allegations that.....is happening on this site etc etc" I replied"Im not an authorised spokesperson for XXX corporation, and have no comment to make....please contact the Media Affairs Department for the XX corporation for any enquiries that you have....here is a business card with their contact details". Every time he would try a different question with same basic kind of intent, and each time I would just reiterate the basic script that I started with....each time handing him a business card. I was very polite, very calm, and exceptionally helpful......after accumulating a handful of business cards, he gave up....asking.. "Is there anything that you can tell me???" I replied..."It's a nice sunny day, but I think we'll get rain this afternoon.....do you have an umbrella???" My interview with him, unsurprisingly didn't make the cut...apparently a very calm and collected security guard, politely handing out business cards wasn't deemed to be newsworthy. It worked for me!
Many years ago, I was hosting a show at the Bluebird Cafe in Jacksonville, FL and the news cameras and a really hot looking female reporter came in and wanted to do a segment on the "Springing the Blues" festival that was starting that weekend at the Beach. Stephan, on of the owners (played harp with the band too) wanted me to do a song of mine called "Mrs. Waters" so we did it and everybody had a good time. The next morning, my wife awakens me and says I have to see the television; "Good Morning America" There we were playing "Mrs. Waters" in it's entirety. All day long, the local stations ran with it too. My 15 minutes of fame and it had to be that song; it was about a drunken gang-bang with a fat chick. She's too fat...she's too lazy...too damned mean...too damned crazy....she's too fat and too lazy and I ain't gonna marry her!
Getting on the news around here mearly means they will have 10 minutes of "how to make your home more energy efficient" and "pets in the wintertime" segments instead of 15. 5 minutes will cover the big emergency everyone already knows about. We have 3 TV stations covering a population of 122,000 people over a tri-county area. Whenever there is an emergency, there is a reason for the tv stations to use their van with the new improved extendo-llite 3000. Now with the hi-viz orange twisty cord so everyone can see your mast. They really are douchebags. Whenever they show up at anything they will put a camera on anyone willing to speak. Needless to say there have been some interesting news reels over the years including all time favorites like "Holy <beep> that <beep> cat is <beep> fried"! "Yup, that is one dead son of a <beep>"!, lets not forget, "If you dont get that <beep> camera out of here I am going to show you how to use it for a <beep> colonoscopy on live <beep> tv!!, and of course, "No <beep> their lost lady, why the <beep> do you think they called the search team"? (Early morning interview with a very tired Captain). So, after some of these incidents, the County decided a SPOC (single point of contact) would be in order to mitigate some of these more "candid" moments. But boy oh boy, they have provided me with some great entertainment over the years.
Various Hurricane catastrophy interviews.. Andrew, I was a background extra heckling the news crew in Morgan city, louisiana.. While they were reporting on the seawall, the night of landfall.. I think it was Dan Rather or somebody big like that, and they weren't pronouncing atchafalaya correctly.. I was a kid Interviewed for Ike and Rita in port arthur / Beaumont / Houston / lake Charles cuz I was running supplies from laffy to over there, and they were amazed that I was getting through the road blocks, and they couldn't.