Why I hate TV...sometimes

The other day, I had to go to the dedication of a new building, the headquarters of a non-profit that does a lot of good work.

A local congressman had been invited and I noticed the dedication was running late. He had not yet shown up, which is typical among many elected officials.

I thought we were back on schedule, but nope. There was more of a delay. Then I noticed a TV newscrew walking in.

Now, make no mistake about it, but many print people are envious of their TV counterparts. Television attracts attention from the public and newsmakers that print never does. Since I have a body and face built for radio and print, I harbor little desire to be on television, although I've made some appearances on a locally produced PBS talking head show.

What astonishes me about people is that they are willing to run their events on TV's schedule and while they all profess to how important print is as the primary mans of communicating with the public, they get all over squishy when a camera comes on the scene.

Now I was on a tight schedule and I became increasingly annoyed when I saw the TV reporters do a stand-up with the director of the agency. I became actually angry when the same reporter pulled the congressman off his seat to do another stand-up.

The TV crew couldn't wait like the print reporters had to wait and the non-profit folks clearly wanted to oblige them.

Print is still the medium that endures. It's portable. clippable and easily reproduced. Slap a story in a scanner and you can have something digital to send around the world.

But it's not as sexy as being on the tube.

©2006 by Gordon Michael Dobbs. My words alone.