Too much death lately. Far too much.
It’s been a couple of decades since I left the exhilarating, exhausting grind of local TV news. I wish the industry had grown up more since then. Truth be told, I think it’s now filling more air time with less info & wisdom, and more banality. But I knew, and know, so many very good people in the business, trying every day to make a difference.
Alison Parker & Adam Ward, WDBJ7
A gunman killed the reporter & videographer on live TV this morning.
It’s tough — one of the lowest-paying industries you can find that requires a college degree — and almost entirely without its supposed ‘glamour’. Very few have the aptitude for it, or are willing to make the daily sacrifices required by it.
Though I’m only involved in live broadcasts a few times a year now, once you serve ‘in the trenches’ you are, as Jaye Watson says here, ‘one of us’. And so this morning’s tragedy in Roanoke feels, somewhat strangely, like losing family. But read Jaye’s piece – he says it better than I can.
(Thanks to WFSB’s Dennis House for posting Jaye’s essay.)
