Behind the Scenes

Recently, I took a call from a person who questioned our motives in some of our stories on Knoxville Fire Chief Carlos Perez. They were particularly unhappy with our piece Wednesday on Firefighter Jamie Faucon's accusation - filed in a grievance - that she was being discriminated against because she used to be a man.

The caller thought the story was sensational and without merit.

Ethical questions popped up this week in covering a couple of stories involving minors.
The first, involving a 12 year old girl,who had been checked out of school without her mother's permission by a 37 year old man who was a friend of the family.

Our original stories featured her name and her picture. She was missing and the public had a reason to know what she looked like and her name. It turned out, the coverage did help in recovering her.

But once found, the issue becomes stickier. Should we now un-identify her?

I consider Walker Johnson a friend, but his column last week in the Halls News was, in my opinion, way off the mark. It had to do with my blog a few weeks ago regarding how I felt a WATE reporter had been treated unfairly by the Sheriff's office's public information officer.

In his column, he takes us to task for "not playing by the rules" and "moaning" about how we were treated. Below is my response to Walker's column.

I spent a restful 5 days in Georgia last week golfing and eating some pretty good seafood. But as much fun as my trip was, I was ready to come home and get back to work.

I watched on CNN, video of the tornadoes that hit Tennessee. I called home to make sure everything was OK in Knoxville. I know the folks in Crossville may disagree, but I think we were pretty lucky in East Tennessee. The video of the devastation in Middle Tennessee was pretty horrific. The 11 deaths a tragic exclamation point.

I wasn't here, but I understand we broke into programming with our coverage.

SPJ hosted a town hall meeting tonight on term limits. On the panel: radio hosts Lloyd Daugherty, Hubert Smith and Hallerin Hill, Sentinel columnist Georgianna Vines, WBIR anchor Robin Wilhoit and myself. It was ably moderated by Dean Rice of UT.

In the audience were many of the write-in candidates who are vying for spots on the August ballot.

What I learned tonight is that we (in the media) need to do a better job of explaining the write-in process for the May 2nd vote.

Thanks to Randy Neal of KnoxViews.com for his blog about the daily operation of our newsroom.

It is extremely detailed. And, I think, accurately describes what a day in TV news is like.

For those of us who've been around for a while, it's easy to become jaded to the amount of effort it takes to put together a newscast.

Response to our story on the Sheriff's acceptance of overtime pay from FEMA for his work in New Orleans last year has been heavy and varied.

If you read the comments from this blog or our soundoff forum, it's clear the Sheriff illicits strong emotions, both for and against his actions.

Its also clear that some of his supporters believe WATE did the story out of some sense of bias against the Hutchison administration.

6 News Reporter Melissa DiPane has been trying to answer the question: Who's responsible for the Charter mess? Her research has boiled it down to three people - then-Election Registrar Irene Lovely, then-Knox Co. Law Director Richard Beeler and current County Clerk Mike Padgett.

According to what Melissa learned, the process was supposed to work like this: 1 - voters approve the charter. 2 - its certified by election commission and registrar sends Charter to County Clerk.

Thanks to everyone who posted on the topic of what bugs them about local news. I thought many of the comments had merit.

It appears what bothers people here about local news is universally felt.

Here's what bugs folks in the Louisville, Kentucky TV market.

I just watched a rebroadcast of a story about Margie Ison. If you don't know who Margie is, then you haven't been around Knoxville long.
Margie was a television phenomenon. She did the weather here at WATE and at WBIR for 33 years. She didn't have a weather degree, but in those days that didn't seem to matter. Margie had a greater gift. She had the ability to speak directly into the hearts of each and every person who watched her weathercasts; and people loved her for it.

For years, local news has been fighting for an increasingly shrinking piece of the viewing audience. And the toughest battle has been our efforts to reach the hearts and minds of young people.
Truth be told, I've always thought it was a losing battle. With the internet and blogs and cable TV, I always figured it was just a matter of time when no one would care much about local news.
But now a new study suggests something else.
It turns out young people do get their information from local news. The internet? Not even close.

Look for ESPN to add a 5-second delay to its broadcasts of Little League World Series games. Did anyone catch last night's game between Illinois and New York?
Bottom of the sixth, NY down a run. The camera peers into the New York dugout. The coach's mike is hot. He's cheering on his players, "one run is all we need," he shouts. "One (expletive deleted) run," one of his young players yells! Silence from the ESPN booth...camera fades to black.

Those of you who've followed Kentucky politics over the years will recognize the name Peppy Martin.
Martin has been around since the 70's. She ran for Kentucky Governor in 1999 and during a live debate issued the now infamous statement that 80 percent of the state's sheriff's and police officers were involved in the drug trade. She later attributed her statement to "street talk."

WATE has been trying to gets its hands around the Tyler Harber story for several weeks. Betty Bean's three part series in the Halls News Shopper has been fascinating reading. It's certainly been the talk of the courthouse.

We haven't totally ignored it. We've talked about it on Tennessee This Week and I've posted a number of blog posts about it on this site.

This just in - the Tennessee flag at the end of Governor Bredesen's political ads is not upside down.
I spoke with Amber McDowell, the campaign's communications director today. She said she had gotten a couple of calls complaining about the flag. But the callers are wrong. She says the angle of the shot may be confusing people.
I also looked at the flag in freeze frame and compared it to other Tennessee flags. As far as I can tell, it's flying correctly.
McDowell says it's an example of "people trying to make political hay out of a non-issue."

After a couple of decades in the news business, I've developed a pretty thick skin. I'm mostly immune to the shots that come my way. Often I find the criticism constructive. I use it to I try to be better.

But sometimes I wonder if people are really watching. Below is an e-mail from a viewer who really took exception to my questions regarding Commissioner Greg Lambert and State Senator Tim Burchett's actions regarding their use of guns on this weeks Tennessee This Week:

I must admit that I've harbored a bit of a secret anger toward Gerald Ford. It has been with me for many years and it is because of his pardon of Richard Nixon.
I was a young college student in the days of Watergate and convinced that prison, not resignation, should have been Nixon's plight.
As far as I was concerned, he had committed crimes against this country, thumbed his nose at the constitution and gotten away with it. And all because of Ford's pardon. It seemed to me, unconscionable.

Who will be appointed Knox County's next sheriff? People I've talked to point to Tom Spangler, the current Chief Deputy.

Randy Tyree has indicated he'll lobby Commissioners for the appointment, and others will as well, but the smart money appears to be on Spangler.

He's already part of the current administration. He's a professional lawman and is well respected by officers in the department.

Spangler, I'm told, would provide a smooth transition to the new county government. I'm also told, a lot of who gets the nod will depend on Tim Hutchison.

So where is former Senate Majority leader Bill Frist? It appears he's making the rounds and considering a run for Tennessee governor in 2010.

According to one report, it's a done deal. State GOP Chairman Bob Davis is quoted saying he wasn't sure if Frist would run, but that he was encouraging the former heart surgeon to make the run.

As for Frist, he couldn't be reached for the story.

Here's Madeline Rogero's take on the recent decision by County Commission to move forward with its appointments on Wednesday:

FYI. Here is my recollection of the 1991 precedent-setting community forum held prior to Knox County Commission’s appointment of a school board member. I share it in the hopes that it might inform the current appointment process.

I spoke on Hallerin Hill's radio show Thursday morning. I was asked my impressions of Wednesday's special called commission meeting. And about the many recesses and the apparent violation of the state's sunshine law.

It seemed pretty obvious that arms were being twisted and private debate about very public issues were being discussed. I outlined one such conversation in an earlier post.

In one sense, what went on Wednesday was just an extension of past meetings.

We should all be ashamed of the poor conditions some Iraqi veterans have been forced to deal with at Walter Reed Hospital; and the mounds of red tape all returning wounded soldiers wade through before getting care.

The Washington Post stories uncovered one of America's dirty little secrets: We say we care about our servicemen and women, but when it comes to medical care, most of us look the other way.

My father was a veteran of two wars, WWII and Korea. He died a couple of years ago.

Former Commissioner John Schmid says Knox County citizens have - for the first time in its 215 year history - an opportunity to create whatever type of government we want.

That opportunity is the result of the January 12, 2007 decision by the State Supreme Court.

Schmid points out that the court held that as a charter form of government, approved by the voters of Knox County, that the "county (could) go so far as to replace its existing (form of) government in favor of an alternate (form of) government, provided the people approve."

On April 18, Schmid and Laurens Tullock, executive

I can't imagine what was going through Philip Workman's mind this morning as he lay on a gurney, a catheter in his arm.

26 years after killing Memphis Police Lt. Ronald Oliver, Workman's sentence was finally being carried out. I was there, just outside the death chamber, an official witness to the state's execution.

His words surprised me. He didn't profess his innocence. He didn't express his remorse. He didn't rail against a legal system that refused him a new hearing.

So how does a president of a major southern university travel from an out of town ballgame back to his hotel?

My wife, Phyllis and I spent part of last week in San Francisco and attended Saturday's UT-Cal game in Berkley.

We, like thousands of other fans, caught the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) to the game. And afterwards, used BART to get back to the city and our hotel.

And guess who joined us on our return? None other than UT President John Peterson. Wearing a slightly undone orange tie and an even brighter orange jacket, Dr.

Sunshine Lawsuit

Knox County Commission Chairman Scott Moore's public persona appears to have taken a major beating this week in court.

The plaintiffs' attorneys have both focused on Moore and his actions leading to the January 31 meeting that is at the heart of the Sunshine Law trial.

The plaintiffs argue that Commissioners violated the open meetings act in appointing people to fill 12 term limited county positions.

At tonight's Bearden-Farragut football game, Moore was on the field at halftime for a check presentation.

- Commissioner Greg Lambert, given a pass today by Chancellor Fansler for his failure to produce his cell phone records to plaintiffs attorneys, was talking to the media again. "I haven't been able to talk to you for three days and it almost drove me crazy," he said.

A Knox County Commissioner upon witnessing the media gathering around fellow Commissioner Lambert and hearing Lambert's statement said: "Bless his heart, he can't help himself."

- Sheriff J.J. Jones wandered up to the first floor today in his Sheriff's uniform. We asked him why the uniform?

His Mother's Son

Josh Jordan may be a County Commissioner, but he's still Diane Jordan's son. During breaks on the stand today, Ms. Jordan - seated in the back of the courtroom - and looked directly into her son's eyes and repeated the word, respect, over and over again.

Josh Jordan got the message.

Our conversation with Knox County Chairman Scott Moore on Tennessee This Week, centers around how the appointment process would take shape in light of Chancellor Fansler's ruling against a special election.

Chairman Moore says there will be plenty of input.

Mayor Mike Ragsdale's support of Community Services Director Cynthia Finch was on display this morning at a breakfast meeting sponsored by Child and Family Tennessee.

The breakfast was attended by a number of community and political leaders.

Child and Family President Kate O'Day gave a presentation outlining three new initiatives - funded through federal grants - that will benefit the community by offering housing and other services to teens and families in crisis.

Candidate Financial disclosures so far, show spending by Knox County candidates for media leading up to tomorrow's February 5 primary totaled nearly $200,000. Radio and TV made up only about a fourth of the spending.

Several radio stations groups shared more than $22,000. WNOX receiving most of it.
TV picked up just under $24,000 from the candidates. Comcast Cable getting nearly half of the total.

Print publications got nearly $50,000. The Knoxville News Sentinel and The Halls News Shopper split about $30,000.

While most of the candidates spent their media money directly.

Ron McMahan died Tuesday in Naples, Florida of cancer. I haven't seen Ron in a number of years, but I remember him fondly.

I got to know him in the early 90's, on a political show I moderated over at WBIR. He had been on WATE's "Political Roundtable," but we somehow convinced him to come over and help us start a new program.

He was one of the original panel members of the Insiders' Journal team (now Inside Tennessee).

I had the pleasure of having dinner with some old friends the other night. The occasion was a visit from former Knoxville Mayor, Victor Ashe, who is now Ambassador to Poland. He was in town to take part in Tuesday's unveiling of mayoral portraits at the City-County Building.

Victor had gathered a few of his former directors together for a bite to eat at Calhoun's on the River.

The rumors began last week that former Office of Neighborhoods Director Alison Wagley was out at ORNL.

This afternoon, UT Battelle spokesman Billy Stair confirmed it. "Alison will not be working at the Oak Ridge National Lab," he said.

Our newsroom could use a new carpet.

If you've ever been around reporters for any time at all, you know that we can be a messy bunch. After years of wear and tear, the carpet in the six newsroom has lots of stains from spilled coffee, soft drinks and food.

I doubt though that our managers are too worried right now about the carpet. They're more concerned about putting a good news product on the air. And they're worried about the economy, about ad revenues and about not laying off people.

That's the difference between private business and government.

Not all the jockeying for position at Saturday's UT-Memphis game was on the basketball court. Sources tell me a couple of gubernatorial candidates were also vying for attention.

The Haslam family has courtside seats, but Mayor Bill was no where to be seen early in the contest.

His republican opponent, Congressman Zach Wamp, however, was visible. He sat with UT President John Petersen, just a row or two away from the Haslam seats.

I'm told it wasn't too long before the Mayor did show up with his wife and claimed the front row.

UT Vice President Hank Dye says John Petersen was with Governor Bredesen last night at a scheduled function and that was why he wasn't at UT celebrating Pat Summitt's 1,000th victory.

Dye was responding to our post regarding Petersen's noticeable absence from the festivities.

"If you'd have asked me, I could have told you where he was," said Dye this morning. The post was written at midnight. I doubt he would've appreciated the call at that hour.

Still, it explains why Dr. Petersen wasn't part of the events at Thompson Boling Arena.

On Friday, Young Broadcasting, Inc. - the company that owns WATE, WKRN in Nashville, and a number of other TV stations around the country - filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.

Since the announcement, a number of friends have called or visited with me about the repercussions - both to me personally, and to our operations at WATE.

The conversations have mostly started in hushed, pat on the back, it'll be fine tones.

"Is everything OK?" they ask in a whisper, as if someone had just died in the family.

The answer is, at least for now, yes.