When I talk to my friends who still work in television news, I'm reminded that it really is a thankless job. I know you aren't supposed to constantly be told how great you are, but in news, it's just the opposite. Not only are you not getting positive feedback, there's usually some boss, anchor or viewer who's quick to tell you you stink.
I remember a particular instance of putting my heart and soul into a story, and being really excited with how it turned out. But when I got back to the station, the only e-mail in my inbox regarding that show was one from a viewer telling me my blue blazer was ugly. Another time my photographer and I were trying to get video of a murder scene (but hours later, so it wasn't really a "scene" anymore), but we had a shotgun pulled on us, so as you can imagine, we bailed quickly. Later we were yelled at by our boss for not getting video. Apparently getting video of an empty field is worth losing a limb/life for.
Anyway, you get it. What's making the problem even worse for newscasters, politicians, actors and anyone else in the public eye is the anonymity of e-mails, message boards and comment sections on websites. People are quick to judge others while posting a comment because they feel safe under this veil of anonymity. Have you ever seen how ridiculous some of these comments are??
Last night I got on a news website that had a story about a man who died after holding his girlfriend hostage, leading police on a chase and then crashing his car. The comments were just ridiculous. One blamed President Obama for taking a vacation with his family. Yep, they implied it's his fault that the man was a criminal. Another person remarked that you should probably place the blame at a local level, like say, the mayor. Another blamed it on crack cocaine.
Really people?
Why do we even need comments after stories like that? Is someone really going to have great insight as to why the man did this?
To my blog readers: If you feel compelled to start giving your political rants or making snotty remarks in my comment section, please know I'll sic two ill-behaved Chihuahuas on you, and it won't be pretty.
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