People you think you know

I've always told my friends , "You don't want to see me coming." I guess they were not listening.

I was part of a team producing a story on a man charged with child pornography distribution. The issue? I knew him, he used to work for me, I hired him, I trusted him. In the story we showed; where he worked, the people he worked with and we showed his image.

The people he worked with were not shown in a bad light, they were unable to comment because of company policy. I understand that, I worked there. Their boss is supposed to protect them and speak for them and for the company. They were upset I shot them. Sorry but that's my job. If I did not pay my bill would I ask them to not disconnect me because we were friends? No. I did what I could to shorten the play time we gave that part of the story.

Since our story aired newspapers have come forward with his name, where he worked and they talked with people who worked with him.

Now a friend is not happy with what we did. It's my job, I did what I could to protect those who were not part of the story.

I ask myself did we do what we could do to check the facts? Yes! Did we confirm with RCMP? Yes! Did we confirm with education officials? Yes! Could I have gone where he lives at his parent's house? Yes, but I did not, it's not public knowledge. Could I have gone to where his direct boss works and lives? Yes, but I did not. Why not? Other reporters have called him. I did not because this person is a good friend of mine. Was this wrong of me not to go there? You make the call. The story was in the community where the guy worked, not where my friend works. We did call my friend's boss but we did not get any response. He is supposed to be the spokesperson for the company but he did not return our call. Had he returned our call we would have used him and we would not have shown the other people who worked there.

The company did the right thing and let the guy, who was charged, go. I guess the spokesperson is just not man enough to say the company did what it could to protect the people. He is not man enough to protect his employees, his friends. Why not? It's what JR would have done. Why? Because it's the right thing.

Who's the bad guy here?

Bloddy Blogger

Boy if there was ever a poster child for missing in action it would show . . . me:-)

Two weeks and the machine keeps on wanting more, I had know idea the hectic pace, some is created by my own learning curve; the editing deal - note to self, go with gut and not reporter's suggestions. I even made the rookiest of mistakes and wiped out 2 min. of footage after I went out to get another cut-away, I thought I grabbed a different tape but no, I grabbed the one I used for my interviews and shots - lucky for me I did not need any of the stuff I taped over. I had not done that in 10 years.

We are also putting out five main packs (full story) and two smaller SOTs (sound on tapes for voice overs) each week, while missing lunch and not having any time to fully check and repair gear, log tapes and respond to emails . . . .

Time for me to train the new guy in office management.

I had a scoop last week as I was able to find the boat two fishermen were using before they drowned - a dad and his young kids found the bodies when they went fishing. A very sad day for one family as the men were brothers.

My spider sence told me the first lake we were at was not the right area - always go with your gut!

The compatition was not able to get up to the lake in time for their 6 or there 11 and they reported the lake to be two hours from where it was - they did this for two days. When they finally got viz of the lake it was the first area we were at and they did not find the boat.

Keep your batteries charged!

Trev.

Video To go!

Hey Blogging number two. Is it still a blog if it is only updated a few times a month? Oh well, the new job, fixing up and selling a house and living two and a half hours from home will do that to you.

I might switch to a MSN blog but I will try and fight the beast!

I'm getting the hang of the new job but this whole working to a deadline and rushing to edit everyday is really getting to me. Kent, my reporter, (do shooter's own their reporters?), and I have worked on some great stories but we have to get better at starting to edit more than an hour before deadline. The stories are good but I feel they could be that much better if we had the time to really tweak them.

We can't always get what we want and sometimes you have to just get it on the air. I have to cut myself some slack as it is the first time I've done this kind of editing in eight years, and the segments are getting better so I will enjoy the pressure and take it one edit job at a time.

We had a 17-hour day shooting, driving, shooting, driving in Trail and then feeding in Nelson. Nelson is a great town, it's full of life and I was really impressed the personality of the city. I was not impressed when told I might have to edit on the sidewalk in Nelson. In between having to unplug the editor while Global fed in their story and doing a Live hit at 5pm. Luckily the segment was edited in Vancouver and we went Live at 6pm with no problems. It was a good day.

I am trying to not take it so seriously and do what I can to make ithe stories the best I can with the time I have. I am also trying to laugh more and use the tight time frame as a challenge to beat - this seems to lower my blood pressure and it allows me to cope. My yelling at the edit gear was not really working and I'm sure the head doc next door to our office would like to bring me in for an evaluation :-)

Working streight through the night has never been a problem for me but living away from home is the hardest part. Anyone loooking for a log house on a lake - let me know. We will list in two weeks and then we will look for a new home and life will be that much better.

I love the job and once I get over the growing pains it will be even better.

JC out - next blog I'll get into my nickname.