People Who Are Good at Reading Out Loud

In the mail today, there was a very generous donation check for KSER from a listener named Dennis in Sedro Woolley.

In the "For" line at the bottom of the check most people usually write "donation" or "KSER Pledge" or something similar. But Dennis wrote "World Class Journalism."

Whether Dennis was referring to the unbiased local coverage every morning and afternoon from Sondra Santos and Ed Bremer or some of the incredible national and world coverage KSER provides from Amy Goodman or John Hockenberry, we'll accept the compliment.

I used to work in commercial radio with someone who always called our news anchors "people who are good at reading out loud." I was reminded of that 'reading out loud' description by the San Francisco TV blunder in the aftermath of the tragic July 6 crash-landing of an Asiana Arline Boeing 777 jet at SFO.

You've probably seen the YouTube clip of the KTVU TV news anchor 'reading out loud' the fake names of the four pilots of the plane.The clearly fake and insensitive names were also shown on the screen while the anchor was reading. She managed to slowly and carefully pronounce all four phony names.

I've worked in newsrooms - radio and television -  and I know how hectic things can be during a major breaking news story. And I know it's pretty easy to make mistakes, especially in TV news when you have multiple people feeding breaking developments to anchors, often talking into their earpiece while the anchor is on the air.  But this incident didn't happen in the uncertain hours after the crash or even the same day. It was much later, after the station had already run quite a heavy schedule of promos touting their coverage of the crash.

I've been trying to imagine a similar scenario wherein Democracy Now's Amy Goodman would read all the way through those obviously fake names without realizing it was a hoax.  And, while I'm sure Amy makes mistakes from time to time, I just can't imagine her doing something similar. Nor could I imagine the flub being made by John Hockenberry or Ed Bremer or Sondra Santos.

That's not to suggest they're perfect. Or mistake-free. Or better.  Or they have more listeners or viewers.  But the difference is they are talking to newsmakers and asking questions and probing issues. They're either talking about what they know about or asking questions of others who do know. What they're not doing is 'reading out loud.' 

So, Dennis of Sedro Woolley, we'll take the 'world class journalism' compliment - even if sometimes the competition sets a pretty low bar.  
 
And any donation to KSER is always appreciated. As an independent, non-profit community voice, we couldn't do it without you and your support.