Meteorologist – Page 2 – Survive Your Job In Television News

“Thank you sir, may I have another”: How to handle newsroom hazing.

Newsrooms are notorious for hazing. It happens often in larger markets, but we’ve seen it in small markets too. You have to prove to coworkers that you deserve the job. You don’t truly have friends in the workplace. Everyone is out for themselves. Why? Because so many people are quitting the biz, less experienced people are being hired. Some veterans in the newsroom, find this tiring and insulting. I started in a large market right away and quickly wound up in another big city. The hazing was awful. I was asked if I slept with the news director to get my job. I had reporters and anchors purposely rewrite copy to insert factual and grammatical errors to try and get rid of me. One anchor even told me and several other producers it was his “God given right” to torture and make me cry. He had the cry test and graded you on how long it took before you broke down. People hide your gear, steal your rolodex, sit on the set during commercials and laugh at your news copy. Coworkers don’t want to carry dead weight. Many times fellow journalists will decide you are a moron unless you prove your worth, and quickly. So do it. Here’s how.

The number 1 rule: Don’t involve management. Management doesn’t care. Period. There are too many other things they have to take care of.

However, you should take the reigns and show the hazers you are not the patsy they think you are. That starts with exposing dirty tricks. The best place to start is befriending the IT person in the newsroom. You know, the person who knows all the ins and outs of the computer system you use each day. This person can save you. News programs like AP Newscenter, ENPS and iNews have ways to call up past scripts and show who wrote each and every version. This will give you a chance to document and show proof if an anchor or associate producer is rewriting copy and putting in fact errors which they blame on you. In some systems you even can lock a script so no one else can rewrite and put in fact errors or change the context of the story once your executive producer copy edits it. Ask for this ability and you may receive. Chances are your executive producer will play ball because you will then have documentation the EP can use to get some staffers to shape up.

You can also often find instant messages from all the computers every day. Yep, all those annoying, petty and smarmy comments binging and dinging around you can be a click or two away. Print them and hand them over to management. This can get tricky because management won’t like you digging through the system. But if it is in a forum where everyone could potentially have access they can yell at you and send a fiery memo saying don’t go there, but you won’t be fired. Once the nasty top lines are exposed many newsroom bullies shut up or at least save it for the parking lot after work. How’s that for investigative journalism? Even more fun: dump copies of the nasty top lines under the news director’s door anonymously so even he/she has to wonder who’s watching.

Also remember, many staffers who bully love to dish in the studio. They think it’s a secret hideout. Newsflash: Mics are everywhere. It’s easy to “accidentally” turn one on, hear and record the petty comments. The studio is the one place where there truly should never be any expectation of privacy. That’s not what the room is for. The picked on should wander through the studio to “plot out a section of the rundown” right when a gossip session is underway. Then, smile as if you are going to dish it all. Another move is to “accidentally” have the mics kept live during a commercial break when there’s an anchor who loves to trash everyone in those breaks. Normally, when the nasty hazers get caught once or twice, they’ll back off.

What if the hazer likes to get in your face and yell at you in the middle of the newsroom? This one is easy. Just ignore the person. Sit back in your chair, with your hands behind your head, gaze up at the lunatic putting on the show and wait until they either explode into pieces before your eyes or finally shut up. Then as the hazer stares at you indignantly, simply ask: “Are you done?” Then just go back to work like nothing happened. This will drive the bully nuts. If that hazer really pushes it, follow up with, “You can say what you want about me because bottom line, I’m not the one who just had an unholy hissy fit in the middle of the newsroom. You can’t expect your actions to prove you have anything worthy to say to anyone.” Then get back to your work.

Lastly, sometimes you just have to fight fire with fire and stand up to the hazer. I once told an anchor who said I was “too young to write for her” that it’s not my fault she couldn’t handle that someone so much younger was just as capable of working in the same city and on the same shift as her. She told me she’d have me fired. I told her I had proof that she was purposely rewriting copy with errors and printing them to try and prove me incompetent. I asked her if she would like to come with me to turn those documents into the news director so she could try and explain it, or would she prefer the news director to mull the evidence over before calling her in for a chat. She backed off. Hopefully, these tips and tricks will help you stand up to a hazer as well.

Help! I’m in over my head.

This can be hard to admit, but it happens to everyone. Cold sweats, waking up dreaming of your live shot or newscast crashing are all part of the gig. Getting chewed because you cannot complete all of your work happens, especially with more stations lumping on extra packages or making people one man band.

Now let’s talk survival skills. First, understand there is little to no training in newsrooms anymore. It simply does not happen in the majority of cases. Every shop is understaffed and half the workers are also in over their heads. Many managers are drowning and lost too. By the way, this is supposed to make you feel better. That’s because these journalists are surviving and so will you.

Here’s what to do. Find the go to person who gets the work done every day with little trouble and become a buddy. Find out how the person does it and figure out how to do it yourself. If you don’t feel comfortable simply asking, then hook up with others in the know. For example, if it’s a reporter who you’re trying to figure out, request to work with that person’s favorite photographer. Then pick the photog’s brain. Look online at the reporter’s past stories and look for patterns. If a producer is your target, ask the newscast director what this person does to make script printing deadline or create killer teases. Let’s say your writing stinks. Don’t worry, this is common. Figure out who the best writer is in the shop. It’s easy to do. Just listen to the anchors dish with each other, you will learn who it is quickly. Once you do, start printing out this person’s scripts and look for common threads. Then you can mimic the style.

There also is usually a manager that stays very calm in crisis. That person will often give you advice if you just sit down and ask. Managers are not all out to get you. Replacing staff all the time is a pain and most would prefer not to deal with it. It’s easier for them to do some training. But you need to ask the right manager. The news director is next to never the smart choice. Often it is an executive producer or managing editor. They are still in the trenches so they can still relate to what you are struggling with. Once you identify the right person, ask for a critique of your work. The manager will probably be thrilled you actually want to improve and talk your ear off. They also tend to dish about their favorites in the shop. Now you have a new set of names to watch and mimic. Best of all, you will gain an advocate in management because you are not whining about how hard the job is, you are asking to grow.

A Manager Is Out To Get Me, Can I Save Myself?

Personality conflicts are a constant in newsrooms. There are no shrinking violets and bluntness reaches new levels. That said, there are times when it is obvious you aren’t just having a heated, “in the moment”, run in with a boss. Sometimes that boss is singling you out and trying to wear you down.

Since this business is extremely subjective it is hard to fire people. And despite what you might think, most corporations try to avoid firing when possible. To an employer firing someone means paying unemployment as well as bankrolling a job search. That’s not great for the bottom line. Many corporations also fear lawsuits from firings. So a common route to get rid of someone is to make their lives so miserable they walk out to spite the station. Managers count on this. But in this day and age, with such awful future job prospects, you probably want to avoid letting your temper get the best of you. So here’s how to live with the daily grief.

Document. This is true no matter what particular manager you are talking about. You want to be able to show that the boss was unclear with expectations. This is key because it helps eliminate “cause” (i.e. – a violation of written or well established policy or job duties) if you are fired. Most newsrooms are too disorganized to provide two key things to protect themselves: detailed job descriptions with a listing of duties, and reviews. Without them, companies are more likely to have to pay out unemployment and possibly part of your contract to get you to go away. The reason: they cannot show “cause” unless you don’t come to work or clearly violate a company policy or do not live up to your job duties. Without a listing of your job duties and clear cut daily expectations, companies back themselves into a corner. So if you have a manager that seems out to get you, make sure you ask what the exact expectation is each day. That means when you get an assignment from that manager you end the conversation with, “So you want me to get this interview and package this way at this time?” Then write notes on the conversation and any follow-ups so you have documentation. Often as the day progresses much of what you discussed changes. Does the manager or a producer call with the changes? Often the answer is no and that works in your favor if someone is after you. Newsrooms are notorious for being disorganized. So when the end of the day comes and the manager calls and chews you out, you now have a legitimate response. Listen, then let the person know that no manager, producer or assignment editor told you about the changes in expectations and that this oversight inhibits your ability to do your job. Then you again write down the manager’s reaction to this conversation. Make sure each time you document you include who called you, when and what they said. Yes, this is tedious. However, it may give you great leverage if you end up in human resources, being called on the carpet. You want to be able to show a pattern of the manager changing the expectations or job duties, with no warning, causing you to be unable to perform your job properly. The same is true if you are an anchor or producer. Anchors, make sure you figure out if you are required to copy edit for fact errors in your newscast. That is a key area where you could be set up. Producers, demand that managers define the audience and writing style of your show. Try to get those definitions in writing. A great way to do that is to design a format template that lists types of stories placed in specific positions in the rundown. Have a manager sign off. That helps you create a job description and expectation. If the playing field changes and you are not told to alter that template, it can help you protect yourself.

If a manager seems out to get you and that person oversees a particular day part, try to get a schedule change. Turnover is always happening and you can use that to your advantage. If possible establish a good relationship with the manager on the shift where you want to work. That way if someone quits, you can ask for a switch and possibly get out of the bad situation before the manager that hates you can build a case. Problem (often) solved!

Try to make sure when the manager threatens you, it is done in front of witnesses. Remember, with most companies, you have the right to a witness when you sit down with a manager behind closed doors. Most managers are taught to do this for their own protection and they are not going to offer you the same protection. Usually a manager brings in another newsroom manager. If that’s the case you can ask for the human resources person to come in. The human resources person will probably side with management, but they are also very aware of corporate policies. If that person sees that the manager simply has a personality conflict with you for example, the manager will often get a warning behind closed doors. If you can show that you were not given a clear directive that day and are now getting in trouble, the manager will probably get a lecture behind closed doors. If you are still leery of having human resources present there are other options. If you are an anchor, your co-anchor could be a witness. Reporters can have the photojournalist they worked with present. Producers could ask an assignment manager or another producer to witness the conversation. Having a co-worker present helps, because it ups the ante on the manager to exactly follow corporate policies. If that person makes an error, you may have bought yourself enough time to find another job before you get the axe.

Fight fire with fire. Confront the manager in a non-attacking way. That sentence seems contradictory, but it’s not. Here’s what to do: Come in early or stay late one day and sit down one-on-one with the manager that is giving you hell. Say you want to clear the air. Let the manager know you respect him or her and the job the person does. Often the manager will then fess up that you are not the problem, it’s actually a litany of other things. The supervisor may even apologize for jumping on you. No matter what, this conversation lets the manager know you are there to do a job and are willing to grow. Again, it gets back to the manager’s responsibility to let you know about your job performance and what you can do to get better. If the manager gets defensive and starts telling you that you stink and why, then you know where this person really stands and it’s time to get a witness for all future conversations.

Research this manager and find out the person’s quirks and weaknesses. It is possible that you have a habit that gets on the person’s nerves. If you can change your habit, the person may back off. It really is a small price to pay when you consider the difficulty of trying to find a new job in the current economic climate.

If it’s the news director who seems to be coming after you, try to lay low especially if you are working at a chronic third or fourth place station. These stations tend to go through news directors often. So, odds are high in these stations, that if you can avoid the news director’s ire, he/she will be gone before you will. Again, document, stay quiet and show up for work on-time. Make it hard for them to let you go without some sort of compensation. If the news director says you stink at producing, ask to work on the assignment desk. If the ND says you are a bad anchor ask to report. Buy yourself time to job hunt. Some news directors are disarmed if you fight to stay and will give you a shot at the other job for a little while.

Finally, if you are fired, write a thank you note to the manager that had the problem with you. Yes, write a “thank you” note. Make it brief and complimentary. Tell the person you appreciated the chance to work at that station and under that manager. Wish that manager luck in future endeavors. This is hard to do, but it might keep the boss from blackballing you later, when you’re looking for another job. Remember, this business is very small and everyone knows everyone else. Taking the high road never hurts you and could keep that now ex-boss from burning you again and again.