A Challenge To Every Newsroom in America!

I have waited until now to weigh in on the tragic events that left two TV station employees dead in Virginia.

As someone who spent well over 25 years in television journalism it grieves me that this happened, but there are lessons to be learned.

Local TV news is a high pressure, emotional “business.” Emotions run high, as do the dangers. The dangers usually come from outside the newsroom from covering disasters, to the emotional gut-wrenching role of covering horrifying fatal accidents, covering a riot, or covering a live shooting event. The dangers are all around us. Journalists, reporters and photojournalists risk their lives everyday to “get the story.” It’s that story that viewers never see. The hustle.

Inside the newsroom the business is a pressure cooker. Some newsrooms have an atmosphere of cooperation, but many are filled with competition: Competition for the anchor chair, competition for the lead story, competition for the best story, competition for the News Director’s good graces. In the process, emotions can run high.

The lesson to learn from this event is that no one— no one in local television news or any other business --- is immune from workplace violence in today’s world. It is imperative that we all learn from this tragedy.

It is imperative that we learn to respect each other, care for each other, carefully watch, and monitor each other. We need to teach and learn the warning signs when anger goes beyond normal boundaries. We need to recognize when someone feels so wronged that they “may” stay mired in the pain. We need to recognize patterns of confusion, disruption, and anger.

Instead of distancing ourselves from this event, every newsroom in the country needs to undergo training to understand and learn to better appreciate how to effectively communicate with each other – and how to recognize the warning signs when someone may be going outside the boundaries.

I have transitioned from journalist to professor. In my courses I teach my students how to handle difficult conversations and also what to do in the event of a work-related shooting.

Don’t let this tragedy be something that you just watch and read about. Don’t think your newsroom is immune --- no business in America is immune from this possibility.

Training needs to be on-going because people come and go.

Here is your challenge: What will you do to help protect your teams, now and in the future?

Joe Barnes

Former News Director

KOMO-TV Seattle

KGO-TV and KPIX-TV San Francisco

Faculty Lecturer, Albers School of Business and Economics, Seattle University

joe@digital3000.net

[Permission to reprint granted with attribution]