Goodbye, News10, and thanks for the memories

 

This is kind of a sad day for me and a lot of my friends who have been lamenting about the changes at my longtime employer (and in some ways, its demise).  Yesterday was News10’s last day.  The Sacramento station is now known as ABC10.  It had been News10 for more than half of its 60 years on the air.  To me, the change brings an end of an era in Northern California broadcasting. 

 

The “News10” identity was born 1983 when new owners, Belo, took over and announced that news would become the station’s top priority.  No expense would be spared in covering news and it showed.  It adopted the name “News10” to instill a belief in the minds of the viewers that this station meant news.  It was a real commitment.

News10 hired the best reporters it could find, and paid them Bay Area level salaries.  In turn, those journalists dedicated their lives to a station in an effort to make it number one.  There was mutual respect between employees and management.  Most of the reporters got great job offers from larger markets (including San Francisco and Los Angeles) and from the network, but we stayed at News10 because we knew it was a model station for covering news.  During its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, News10 put up a formidable challenge to the longtime news leader, KCRA, and at times handily beat all competitors in the news ratings.  We were News10, and no one was going to stop us.

During that period, most of us kept suitcases packed at our desks, along with our passports.  And we needed them as the station would send multiple crews to out of town locations.  Wherever the story was, we would go.   It was a time when News10 excelled.  But that zeal is gone.

In recent years, it is fair to say the station lost its way and its identity.  Part of the reason is the changing culture of TV, but a larger cause were missteps by management and new ownership.  By the mid-2000s, the station’s commitment to news had faltered.  The helicopter was sold, the satellite truck dismantled, and Emmy award winning journalists who were the backbone of the news operation were either told to leave or made to feel so unwanted, they left on their own.  As other stations in the market increased their devotion to news, News10 skated, perhaps figuring viewers wouldn’t notice.  But instead of competing to be the number one news operation, News10 found itself languishing, sometimes fighting to beat reruns of The Simpsons and Dr. Phil on cable stations. It was a slow death for News10. 

 

Again, for me it is sad, but I guess in a way it was inevitable.  Perhaps it is best that the once prestigious name “News10” is retired.  It is not the station it once was.  That is reflected in the letter station management posted to viewers on the new website abc10.com, explaining why News10 is a thing of the past. The general manager writes “From our Murrow-award winning news, to Modern Family to the Muppets, ABC10 better describes the full breadth of our exciting offerings.”  With Modern Family and Muppets now sharing top billing with news, then the name and identity “News10” no longer reflects the philosophy that made it the station that it was.

Today's Kook with a gun

So, here we are … AGAIN.  Two innocent people die, another is injured.  And another kook with a gun ruins lives, families, and friends of the victims forever, before he cowardly kills himself.  This is what America has become in 2015. But this time, at least to me, it seems more personal. 

I didn’t know Alison Parker or Adam Ward but I had been in their same spot thousands of times over the years.  On the air live, totally focused on the job at hand, oblivious to what was going on behind you, no protection around you.  It is every TV journalist’s fear that someone will do something to interrupt you while you’re live.  I’ve had it happen to me.  Some interruptions were more serious than others, but never life threatening.  Only recently, in 2015, has the talk in the industry turned to the real dangers that now accompany any news crew whenever they go out into the public, particularly during live shots when they are often alone and extremely vulnerable.  Today, that talk turned into reality.

Today’s unprovoked assassination was also made more personal, not just to TV journalists, but to the country at large. Because this time, the murders happened on live TV.  Thousands watched two lives being snuffed out by the shooter as it happened (and millions more saw it later).  Even the local Franklin County sheriff in charge of the investigation, Bill Overton, said he was watching the WDBJ-7 news as he was preparing for work when he heard the gunshots and watched his friends fall (he had worked with the two victims on previous news stories).  Subsequently, the gunman posted his own point of view video recorded on his cell phone as he unloaded his deadly barrage of gunfire.  Yes, that’s what it has become.  Another gunman proud of his deadly accomplishments.  As presidential press secretary Josh Earnest said today, it is all too common now across America.

I talked with TV friends today who are still working at stations in both Sacramento and San Francisco.  In the Bay Area, armed guards now accompany news crews on stories that take place in dangerous areas.  But that has not stopped the violence.  Last month, two news crews from NBC11 and Fox2 in the Bay Area, were robbed at gunpoint as they prepared for a live shot.  A photographer was pistol whipped.  A suspect was eventually arrested.  Some of my former co-workers now say they are more fearful than ever about just doing their job.  

But then that is the case for many people, regardless of where you work or play.  Military recruiting centers, theaters, elementary schools, restaurants, college campuses, office buildings … all have become targets of crazed gunmen.  What place is safe anymore?

There is a seemingly common denominator in each of these tragedies.  First, the killer is usually delusional in some way.  Second, he has a gun.  So, what needs to change?   First, there must be better screening for gun sales.  There needs to be better mental health care.  And, there needs to be a change of attitude in America with regards to the acceptance of a gun-toting killing society.

 I will admit, I was concerned about writing this today and posting it.  Back on June 18^th when I commented on Facebook about the Charleston massacre at a black church at the hands of a white supremacist, and asked when is this going to stop, I was challenged by a card carrying member of the NRA.  It was intimidating.  But earlier today I was chatting with another former reporter from northern California and she reminded me that if we don’t speak out against this deadly gun violence, there is little chance than anything will change.  And there does need to be a change.  There is no question about it. 

The reality is, even if guns were banned outright tomorrow, little would change in our lifetime.  But eventually, it would change for future generations.  In 100 years, the AK47s that so many private citizens seem to have a penchant for these days would be considered antiques 100 years from now.  The handguns, such as the one used today, would slowly (very slowly) fade into oblivion.  A total ban on guns is probably not the answer (there are legitimate recreational and hunting uses for guns).  What is the answer?  I don’t know.  But I do know it is not as NRA chief Wayne LaPierre suggests … that all citizens should be armed to protect themselves.  If you listen to that type of reasoning, Alison Parker would have done her live shot today with a microphone in one hand and an Uzi in the other.  And she still would have been killed.  Because she was ambushed from behind … by a kook with a gun.