Equality - What Does the TV News Have to Say About It? (Nope - Not About the Supreme Court)

I'm a "newshound!" There, I've said it. I have watched both local and national news ever since I was a little kid. And for the majority of this time, in all the places I've lived in the U.S., it has almost always been NBC News. Why? I'm not quite sure. I believe it's because that's how my parents raised my two brothers and me. After dinner each night, we would sit down to watch the local (Boston) news (when it was still just 30 minutes!) followed by NBC Nightly News anchored by Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. NO!! This post is not about Brian Williams/Lester Holt, etc. This paragraph is just to set my background. 

This week, I did something with the news that I've never been interested in doing before, for a stories based in our country. I consciously watched the news to see nothing. To see the absence of the news that should have been aired.

Earlier this week, we lost two, brave LEO's (Law Enforcement Officers). We didn't lose them, rather both were murdered. Cincinnati Police Officer Sonny Kim was shot and killed upon arrival to a call. Just a few days later, New Orleans Police Officer Holloway was shot and killed by a captive, who had been handcuffed behind his back and secured in the back seat.Now, in the several weeks prior to these two deaths, there were several deaths of citizens by police officers in several different situations. 

So, this week, I monitored the newscasts to see the difference in how they are covered and reported to the public. This post is not to judge the police officers who fired their weapons and whether or not they were justified. This post is to judge the disparity in how these two, very-closely related stories are reported by network news.

Each time in the last few months that a citizen died at the hands of the police, a hue and a cry erupted. Most, if not all of the dead were African-Americans. Most, but not all of the police officers involved were Caucasian. Immediately, a gigantic wedge of racial strife split communities and the country. Demonstrations, some peaceful, some not, occurred. As both the network anchors and the on-location reporters presented their stories, instead of remaining local stories, they were suddenly blown up into national and international events.

Yet, this past week, the deaths of Officers Kim and Holloway barely earned a mention on the national news. Let's not forget that Officer Kim was an Asian-American and Office Holloway was an African-American. And they didn't lose their lives in traffic accidents or in an attempt to save someone from a dangerous situation. They died doing what they had sworn and loved to do. Nevertheless, they barely earned a mention on the news. 

Should not the very same African-American citizens of New Orleans and the rest of our country have stood up and shouted for justice for Holloway's death? Should not the vocal and famous leaders of this section of the populace have flown immediately to New Orleans to be with Officer Holloway's family and colleagues and lend them emotional support? Where were the rest of America's non-law enforcement, non-firefighting,non-EMS leaders, to speak about how man officers are losing their lives almost every week in this country?

And what of Officer Kim?  Where was the outrage and his murder? Where was the national attention and support for his family and the Cincinnati Police Department, and the City of Cincinnati, which had just lost a firefighter in a Line of Duty Death a couple of months ago? A quick perusal online shows that there are even a smaller percentage of Asian-American police officers than African-American. Yet, isn't each man and woman, Asian-American, African-American, Caucasian, Native-American or whatever, worth the same as any other human being?

We were all terribly hurt by this week's hateful and racist shooting and murders in Charleston SC. Nine innocent people, doing nothing more than studying the Bible, were shot down and murdered, not because of something they did, but because of who they were! And there is no doubt that this incident is a national tragedy. But so is the death of anyone who willingly puts their life on the line to protect the rest of us. Look at the honor and respect we give our men and women in the armed forces. Even though it has increased since the post-Vietnam days, it still does not measure up to be on a par with what they do for us!

There is an old adage that says that, "One bad apple can spoil thew whole barrel!" Really? Still today? If you read or watch any news whatsoever, we know that every occupation has people that make mistakes (to be polite). In this week's firefighting news, a volunteer firefighter was sentenced for arson! Yes, for starting an incident that normally, he would respond to mitigate. And yes, there are police officers who make poor choices, who are racist, who are burnt-out. There are unprofessional doctors, business people, bank officials, elected officials and many, many more. We know that. We don't like it, but we know it happens. And we do try to hold a great many of these people to a higher standard because of the very positions they hold. Yet, whether we like it or not, we are all human and thus, subject to error. Did not the Lord in Heaven believe He had erred and regretted creating humanity, which led to the Noah story?

Look around your home, your office and somewhere, either tucked away in a drawer or lying out on the counter or desk, you'll see a pencil. Take a good long look at that pencil. Besides its probably yellow color and its graphite (no, not lead) tip, look what else it has the very, very few other writing instruments do. It has an eraser. Now I ask you, "Why?" Why do most pencils have an eraser? 

That's a question each of you must answer for yourself.

Till next time, Stay Safe!
 

On Our Way....MAYBE?

It's been quite a while since we've posted to our blog. I could list dozens of excuses, but those of us in emergency services, don't do that. We suck it up, face the music and list the reasons. Basically, there was only one. We had come to the proverbial "brick wall" in try to get a good, strong and true show about the men and women of fire-rescue, on television. None of the major broadcast or cable/satellite networks were interested. Yet, by flipping a few channels, you can have your pick of every other "flavor" of reality shows, e.g., "COPS," "Wardens," "North Woods Law," "Alaska State Police," and many more. And as much as we admire our brothers and sisters in blue or tan, what about those of us who wear the red or blue & yellow?

So, we gave up. It was that simple. We had been working since 1999 and our first pilot, "America's Heroes: The Men & Women of Fire/Rescue," to bring a reality show about the fire service to television. However, as we have all seen, be we career, vollies, or paid-on-call's, we're the "experts" at going from "heroes to zeroes!" Sure, everyone loves us after a great rescue or major fire and they "respect" (sic. pity) us when we experience and LODD, but just let us ask for a decent wage in a union contract, or tell the town supervisors that we need to replace our 1985 pumper with 90,000 miles on it, or our 1992 ambulance with over 150,000 miles on it, and the next words said about us are covered in crap!

I was pretty discouraged. I was only active in the volunteer fire service and EMS for eight years, but those are some of the most important years of my life. Ever since 1985, when I had to retire out due to an injury, my car has never been without an emergency jump bag. I've never shirked stopping at the scene of an emergency to assist until fire and EMS arrive. Basically, I've lived by the axiom, You can take the boy out of the firehouse, but you can't take the firehouse out of the boy!"

During those ten years, my three partners and I had developed lots of ideas for other shows that all touched on the fire service. I was even asked to produce a version of our show for an Israeli network. Most of those ideas, after beingfo registered with the Writer's Guild of America-East, were tucked away in either a drawer or a hard drive. Until last year...

At this point, I must explain that I am not yet able to go into specific details, the show I'm about to explain to you in non-specific terms is currently being shopped at two major studios in Los Angeles. Be that as it may, let me say that during a lot of that down time, I spent hours and hours online researching the fire service. There were some great web sites and others that were rudimentary. Nevertheless, they all allowed me a peek or two into their department, their personnel, the SOP's, etc.

Then I found one, a fairly good-sized city on the East Coast, that intrigued me because of the makeup of one of its specialized divisions. This department has never been featured on a TV drama before. As a matter of fact, the division I was interested in, which hundreds of departments around the country also have, has never been the main focus of a TV show either. However, its make-up was unique to my research and the wheels started to turn. Over the next few months I wrote what's called a "treatment" or "synopsis" of the show. It would be true to the heritage of this department and the our proud heritage of the fire service. However, this time, the show would not be "reality-based," rather it would be a one-hour, limited series, drama.

Last year, the four partners of Dalmatian Productions decided to take one more stab at the TV biz and to tell our story, even if we had to dramatize it. One of our partners is based in L.A. and has done a great deal of work in and on television, as a technical adviser. He spoke to producers and directors that he knew and most of them told him that we had an interesting concept. They encouraged us to develop it further.

Now, I've written my small share of both fiction and non-fiction. As a matter of fact, I'm about 75% finished writing a fairly humorous account of my first four years in the fire service, along with one of my partners, who I met when we both joined this combo department back in 1977. But I had never written a real TV show. Never! Nevertheless, my three partners and my personal adviser who graduated the University of California with a degree in screenwriting, ganged up against me and decided that I had to be the one to write the script for the pilot episode of this show. This is not what I had expected.

Needless to say, I sat down to the task. And over the course of a few months and lots of telephone calls, online meetings, etc., we hacked one out that everyone liked. However, there was no way we could try and pitch it based on our own personal views. We needed to get some feedback from those who have been or still are in the trenches every day. 

Another of our partners, located in the northeast near our target city, is still active in his department after more than 20 years. And those many years brought him numerous friends and contacts in the fire service. So quietly, he started pitching the idea to other members of the fire-rescue service. Everyone who read the synopsis, loved it. For the first time in several months, we could take a breath. "Sure," someone might say, "It's a fire show. Everyone is going to like a fire show." And we couldn't get caught in that trap. Thus, we proceeded to share the story with trusted friends who had no connection with the fire-rescue service, unless they have to dial, 9-1-1! And amazingly enough, they too, enjoyed the idea for the show and the story we had created.

With that accomplished, we now had to get our material to a couple of very important people; the decision-makers in Hollywood and the leaders of the city we chose and the leaders of its fire department. Using numerous interpersonal relationships with people at the department level and the city level, the pitch was passed on to the city's Office of Television & Film, as well as to the Chief of the city's fire department. And on a beautiful Monday morning this past September, I received a phone call from the Director of the city's Film & Television office. Remarkably, this call included the news that both the City and the Chief of the Fire Department, were very interested in our project. 

I was brutally honest with the Film Office's Executive Director in that a complete professional presentation had not yet been made to the studios, however, their interest in being the "host city" of the show could provide us a great deal of "influence" for the studios to see. 

Now we come back full circle. Hollywood has enjoyed its extended production break from the beginning of November through New Year's week end. Our synopsis is sitting with people at two major studios. And we will muscle every person we can, especially from our targeted department to talk it up amongst the people that they, in turn, know.

It is our plan, that in the event we do not hear any feedback from the studios, just with what we can bring to this "fight," that we will turn to you. Real men and women who place your lives on the line each and every day. Utilizing more than this blog, and adding in our Twitter Account @DalmatProd, we will ask for your help, as soon as we get the green light to announce it publicly. You'll have a chance to read the synopsis and possibly, even the pilot script. And if you do like it, we'll organize teams by educating you, so that you will jump on our bandwagon and work with us to convince the execs that this is a show that the nearly 1,000,000 men and women firefighters and thousands more EMT and Paramedics will want to see,

Stay tuned to our Twitter feed @DalmatProd and we'll keep you posted on the develpment and then, at the right time, with the most influence, we will all pressure the studios to pickup our show  for a 10-12 episode limited series.

If you have any questions, I'll be around to answer them. You may do so via Twitter, forum comment or email to steve@dalmatianproductions.tv

Now, let's stay safe out there so that #EveryoneGoesHome.

Farewell, Dear Friend

Life always brings us great highs and some unthinkable lows. Like a well-tuned sine wave, the peaks of the highs of life are often ecstatic and joyful, like the birth of a child, the marriage of a loving couple, etc. Yet, to remain in balance, the lows mirror the opposite highs. And almost to anyone, the lowest point we can find is the loss of someone close to us; perhaps a family member or a good friend. The sadness and grief seem insurmountable; a return to normalcy a distant light similar to the stars, light-years away, unreachable in our lifetimes. Many of us stand at that low point this weekend, for we have lost a son, a brother, a husband, and a good friend this past week, Joel Connable.

My life experiences in Jewish ritual have brought me through many occasions of this cycle of life. Though not an ordained rabbi, I have officiated at many of the happy events and all too many of the saddest. I have officiated at numerous funerals, both for acquaintances and strangers. Yet, as prepared as I am to officiate when called upon, I have found that as of late, I am ill-prepared to deal with the loss of a close friend or relative. I find myself in that situation, once again.

I knew Joel for a couple of years before I had even met him. Joel came to South Florida as a reporter for our local NBC "O & O" (Owned and Operated) station, WTVJ, Channel 6. From the start, my wife and I liked his reporting style. He did not simply look into the camera; Joel looked through the camera, directly at his viewers. Each of us felt that Joel was speaking directly to us.

Before too much time had passed, one of NBC6's key anchors, the wonderful Tony Segretto, retired, leaving the main 6 PM and 11 PM newscasts needing someone to step into Tony's shoes, and those were big shoes to fill. Smartly, Joel was chosen as the new anchor and he transitioned into the position seamlessly. Bear in mind that Tony had been a long-time name and favorite at NBC6, having been one of the three people who hunkered down in the old studio and weathered Hurricane Andrew in 1992. At that time, Tony was the lead sportscaster from the station and had spent his entire career at WTVJ. No matter who was awarded the anchor's chair, he or she would be looked at very critically by WTVJ's viewers. Yet, Joel sat down that first evening and "sold it."

The two stories that had the most impact on my of Joel's ability to deliver news were the story he did on his own health situation with Type 1, Juvenile Diabetes. Joel was first diagnosed around the age of twelve or thirteen and by this point, was using an insulin pump to regulate his system. In this story, he spoke directly to a younger audience, South Florida teens, who were fighting the same battle as he had. It was a great educational peace, expressing the fact that even with JD, you could achieve whatever your dreams were. He explained that he had himself been a paramedic, a volunteer firefighter, a private pilot, and even a news anchor. He admonished the kids to not give up on life. instead, they should shape their lives into what they wanted. JD was just along for the ride.

The second story was the miraculous landing of the US Airways jet in the Hudson River in New York City. Both his passion for and, experience in aviation, gave him a unique perspective to report from, unlike the average reporter who would simply be a "newsreader." Joel used every "weapon" in his arsenal, to help the viewer understand every angle of the accident, the rescue, the impact on the passengers, and most of all, the pressure and stress that the pilot and co-pilot were under once they made their fateful decision.

Our family watched that 6 PM newscast each evening, followed by the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Until, one week in 2009, we found substitutes sitting in Joel's chair. At first, we took it as his vacation time or illness. After several weeks, we knew there had to have been a change. Never one to just walk away from change of something I liked, I started snooping around online to see if I could determine where had he disappeared to.

Finally, I turned to Facebook. There, I found Joel's page. Though there were no hints there as to what had happened between him and NBC6, I learned more about his life. I dropped him a polite note, advising that our family missed him and inquiring if everything was OK in his life. I also mentioned that I too, had been a volunteer firefighter/EMT, in Upstate New York and that my partners and I had a production company working to produce a reality series based on the fire service. If he had any interest, I enclosed my business number for him to call. Honestly, I didn't expect to receive an answer. This guy was an anchor at a major television station, one actually owned by the network. He had hundreds of Facebook "friends," and I would probably be looked at as a "stalker-fan."

And that was exactly what didn't happen! Joel accepted my "friend" request and wrote me a very nice note. While he didn't explain what was going on with him and NBC6, he did express an interest in our plans for a TV series and would love to get together to have lunch and talk. No matter where you're from, if you're a firefighter and meet another firefighter, the first thing you both do after the preliminary greetings, is to swap fire and rescue stories with each other. We met at a Kosher Israeli restaurant in Sunrise and spent a couple of hours getting to know each other and tossing around ideas to tweak our concept for the television series.

It was Joel, who before we had even spoke with any companies or agents in Los Angeles, who had the idea of steering the show away from the run-of-the-mill, everyday-type of calls, to highlighting departments, not just domestically, but internationally, as well, that had to meet unique challenges that most of us would never see. The scenes started popping up, one after the other, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, Hawaii County Station 19 on Kona, facing at least two active volcanos, Israel Fire Brigade and Magen David Adom (Israel's EMS) rockets being fired over the border daily, Paris with their mobile Emergency Rooms, and many more. This was where Joel's love for and experience in travel provided us with several "ins" for contacting international departments. It was also his idea that instead of a standard "host" for the show, we would make the host participate in every rescue or incident. The host would be like a fish out of water, thrust into the most difficult parts of the incident.

I loved his ideas, but more, I loved his passion and dedication. He took my original idea, fine-tuned it to meet what we believed would generate interest as a news reporter and thus, to the networks, and gave it a strong breath of life. We entered the restaurant as acquaintances via social media and walked out as friends.

Needless to say, when I spoke with my partners that evening, everyone liked what they heard. They liked the edge that Joel brought to the concept of the show and they too were amazed, that from such an inconsequential connection via social media, we had a new direction to use to steer our production.

At the same time, Joel and his business partner were now working on their travel promotion business. Yet, he never turned me down for a lunch meeting or a planning session. At that time, we had a new puppy, Remy, and once, when we were going to meet at his apartment, he invited me to bring Remy to meet his adorable Lola. I packed Remy’s bag with her food and toys to keep her busy so as not to bother Lola if they didn’t socialize well. No need to worry. They got along famously, running all around the apartment, jumping over the couches, the tables, the toys, and yes, even us.

That December, he hosted a get-together at his apartment on the Saturday evening of the Winterfest Boat Parade. His living room, on the thirtieth floor, had a beautiful view of the New River, and though it was raining, the parade went on and we had a fantastic view. As the consummate host, he was running around making sure everyone had something to drink and eat.

For the next few months we worked hard on the show and making contacts. The existing partners of Dalmatian all agreed that Joel had given so much to the new plan that we would bring him in as a full partner of the corporation. We closed a deal with the San Francisco Fire Department to fly out in April 2010 and film with them. Joel told me to take care of the business side of the shoot and he would arrange all the travel plans and bring on board our two terrific video-journalists, Adam Kaplan and Eric Rodriguez.  We had a great time with the department and they were as helpful as could be. Unfortunately, the show did not come about, but it was not due to lack of effort. We even put Joel in some really unprofessional bits, but he was game for it all. “Whatever it takes,” he told our partner, Jesse and me. While there, he did shoot a terrific piece on the San Francisco Fire Department’s Ladder Shop, with Adam. That piece brought us a Suncoast Emmy nomination.

During the shoot, I fell and blew out my knee. Joel called the airline and tried to get me bumped up to first-class. He was pretty “determined” on the phone, to say the least, but that cabin was full. He came to me so apologetic that he hadn’t been successful. I told him not to worry, I’d be fine. But that’s the kind of person he was.

Time passed and luckily, Joel’s “Travel News Network” was becoming more and more successful. He was able to travel a great deal, oft times, with his parents. I remember him telling me about their upcoming trip to Europe and how much he was looking to be able to go with them. As I used to do, I depended heavily on my late parents for advice and direction when I was perplexed. When Joel was confused about his life, he turned to his parents and as he would tell me of their conversations, they reminded me of my own parents and the encouragement and advice they would give me.

As busy as he was, Joel would still drop me a line here and there. When my wife had significant surgery this past March, he chided himself in an email, for not having checked up on us sooner. I told him not to worry about it, since we both knew how much he cared. He told me about his darling Angela and the happiness she brought into his life.

About six weeks ago, I found a couple of video games I had borrowed a while ago and had forgotten to return earlier. I sent him the package with a “mea culpa” not enclosed. He wrote me back and told me not to worry about it. Then he told me he was heading up to Seattle, getting back into television news and he was going to be able to keep the travel business going as well.  But most importantly, he told me that he and Angela were engaged. I wished him a “mazal tov” and we both said we’d be in touch. But, we won’t. Not anymore.

 

May his soul be bound up in the bond of life and may his memory always be for a blessing.