It’s a Dog Eat Reporter World

I’ve never had a dog. Growing up in Syracuse, New York, I had cats. My first pet ever was a gray and white cat named Murphy (after “Murphy Brown.” Yes, my obsession with television and news started young).

We got Murphy in 1993 and Tigger in 1997. Tigger is an orange attention whore who chased Murphy away. After years of torment from Tiggy and an accident that required Murphy to get her jaw wired shut for a few weeks, she ran away. Yes, my cat ran away. And do you want to know how I know she ran away and was not eaten by coyotes (Sorry, Jessica Simpson)? Because Murphy would come back to visit. Every now and then she would appear on our door step as if to say “Screw you, Barnellos.”

Then I got Bear—a black cat I rescued from Alabama.

Bear is a terrorist. He has chewed up a necklace I bought in London, puked all over the carpet in spite, and chewed a hair band out of my hair while I was sleeping.

Well now I’ve got my first dog, Deja Boo. She’s a vivacious, face-licking, lapdog-who-is-not-a-lapdog. My roommate, Lizz, got her from the Albany Humane Society. So she’s really not mine, but it’s the first time I’ve ever lived with a dog.

Deja loves everybody, even Bear the monster kitty from Alabma. They chase each other around, and sometimes Deja licks Bear’s butt and he doesn’t stop it. I dont’ get it. Like I said, I’ve never had a dog, and I’ve never been afraid of dogs.

I was never afraid of dogs until I did a story about “dryer fires.” Here’s the finished product: Hill Rd. dryer fire is 14th this year

There was a dryer fire in Dougherty County and Fire Chief James Carswell told fellow reporter Jeff Abeln that this was the 14th this year. Who knew? Not me. Dryer fires are very dangerous and common, according to Chief Carswell. Jeff was originally assigned the story and got footage of the house.

When I was reassigned the story, Jeff said, “Just so you know, my footage isn’t that great because there was a pretty tough-looking dog at the house so I couldn’t get that close.”

“OK, well I’ll just go back out there to shoot my standup and avoid the dog,” I told him.

I arrive at the house and see the burnt washer and dryer as well as burnt clothes at the top of a long driveway. The house was deserted, but I noticed a white pit bull sitting in a doghouse. I take a few steps up the driveway and see the dog is on a chain.

Oh, silly Jeff ,the dog is tied up! Who cares if he’s barking? He can’t reach me! Hah!

I walk up the rest of the driveway (Trespass much, Jana?) and get this great footage of the burnt dryer. The dog is barking at me and I’m saying, “It’s OK! I’m leaving soon!”

I was looking through the camera’s viewfinder when I saw him. A SECOND dog trotting out from the backyard. This one, a beautiful brown pit bull, barking its freaking head off, and all of his doggie rage directed at the blonde idiot reporter standing in his driveway.

I quickly grab my gear and start to walk briskly down the driveway. Heel, toe, heel, toe. I’m walking like an Olympic speed walker when I see the dog charge.

I won’t say that my life flashed before my eyes, but I did suddenly wish I’d eaten that chocolate cake from the night before. Who wants to die in a dog attack having regrets??

The brown pit bull proceeded to chase me down the driveway. He finally stopped when I got far enough away from the house, but I still had to shoot my standup. I set up my camera at the bottom of the driveway and start shooting my rehearsed line.

“Carswell says this is the 14th dryer fire this year, and collectively these types of fires have caused $250,000 worth of damage.”

In a triumphant, idiotic moment while I’m rewinding the tape so I can watch my standup back to make sure it turned out OK, I turn to the white dog (the brown one retreated to the backyard) and said, “Bye puppy!”

Immediately, as if the voice of the devil had materialized at the bottom of this pup’s driveway, there was an eruption of barking from BOTH dogs. The brown dog came charging at me AGAIN. I grab the camera and tripod and run behind the truck. Except I left my camera bag at the bottom of the driveway…

I had to wait until the brown dog of doom retreated again. Then I saw my opening. I dashed out from behind the truck and snatched the camera bag. When the white dog saw me, he of course began barking which sent his brown counterpart speeding down the driveway toward me for a third time! But I made it back to the truck. I was safe.

My heart pounding, I drive away to another story. I called Jeff to tell him the tale. We laughed about it and said, “See ya back at the station.”

I’m back at FOX 31 and ready to start editing. I giggle about my near dog attack with co-workers, trying to mask the very real fear I felt. As I’m talking, I’m watching my footage on the monitor.

Wait a minute. Where’s the dryer footage? Where’s my standup?

Turns out in my terror and sprinting, I forgot that I REWOUND the tape. Consequently, I recorded over all of my awesome dryer footage and standup.

Defeated, I got in the car and drove back out there. I stood at the bottom of the driveway, white scary dog looking on (probably wondering if I taste like the chocolate cake I so stupidly turned down the night before), and shot my standup again …

“Carswell says this is the 14th…”

…and then fled like Don Buie.

I never did get that close up footage of the dryer, and I never did realize, until that day, that I could be scared of a dog.

I guess that’s what I get for taunting one from afar. Oh, and trespassing.

Like I said, I’ve never had a dog.

Lightning always strikes twice

It’s what many journalists dream of. The big one. The big “exclusive.” We had it. We HAD the exclusive. Us. FOX 31. The “David” to WALB’s “Goliath.” Except in our story, David rarely gets to beat down on Goalith. This time, though, David was about to slap Goliath into next Tuesday.

A firefighter who has filed two EEOC discrimination complaints against the city of Albany after being fired/reinstated/demoted was being arrested. One of my fellow reporters, Jenna, got a tip that former Assistant Fire Chief Roderick Jolivette had allegedly impersonated a police officer when he was pulled over for speeding in Chattahoochee County, GA. According to law enforcement, Jolivette told the deputy he works for the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office—he doesn’t. The deputy let Jolivette go before realizing he was not who he said he was.

As you can imagine, this is a big story. First, Jolivette has been surrounded in controversy since April when he was fired for using city equipment for personal use. Supporters holding vocal rallies and pleading/preaching to the city commission in the midst of discrimination and retaliation complaints filed with the EEOC. Second, Jolivette, who returned to work as a lieutenant per the terms of his reinstatement, has been on medical leave for at least the past few weeks. Why? No one knows.

That brings me to August 21, 2009. Jenna heard whispers from her contacts that Jolivette would be taken into custody once the warrants were signed. At 2:30 when I arrived to fill-in on the anchor desk on my day off, Jenna still wasn’t sure if the story would break. After repeated phone calls to many different contacts, it was confirmed around 5:00. 90 minutes before show time. Dougherty County had the warrants. Jolivette was being arrested.

Jenna and I devised a game plan. I would write the story, and she would keep working her contacts to get all of the information, funnel it to me, who would funnel it to our news director who kept checking to see if all the legal lingo was up to code. If we’re running with this story, it better be right. Draft after draft, e-mail after e-mail, some touch ups from our news director, erratic driving to get last minute footage, and the story was ready.

This was it. We’d done it. We had the exclusive, and we were going to air it first. I’d been crossing my fingers for at least an hour by the time it was 6:25, saying little prayers, and making Jenna more nervous than she already was. Five minutes to show, and Jenna won’t stop talking about how she’s sweating because she’s so nervous (To be fair to Jenna, I was sweating, too). Five minutes to show and still no mention of this story from any other local media outlet.

I noticed the rain during my sprints back and forth through the station in my not-so-well-contained anxiety.

I noticed the thunder while I was correcting some typos in the script that our anchor would read when we broke the story.

I noticed the lightning when—sitting at my desk, squished against the printer/copier, my finger ready to click the “publish” button that would send our exclusive story to the web the moment we went on the air—a bolt of lightning hit the station and knocked out our power approximately two minutes before the show.

The studio lights—off. My computer—off. The graphic with Jolivette’s picture and headline “FOX 31 EXCLUSIVE”—lost.

6:31 and we were not on the air. It quickly became clear we would not go on the air at all. Billy, our master control operator, told us we took TWO lightning hits. Not just one.

I’m sorry, what did you say, Billy? TWO lightning hits? TWO hits on the ONE day we have the biggest exclusive story any of us have ever had since working at FOX 31???

Yes. Two hits on the one day we have the biggest exclusive story any of us have ever had since working at FOX 31.

Jenna and I sat in disbelief.

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

“This WOULD happen.”

“Are you (insert miscellaneous swear word) kidding me?!”

“What are we going to do?”

That last question was a tough one. Do we hold the story until the two-minute break-in update during the preseason football game at 9:35? Or just publish the story on the web? The former risks other media outlets getting wind of the story and breaking it first. The latter just feels like kissing your brother.

We decided to break the story on the web. We would’ve put it on the internet if we’d gone on the air anyway, giving other reporters plenty of time to get a story together for the later shows and paper deadlines. And so it was. Up went the story on mysouthwestga.com with a big red alert bar that read, “FOX 31 NEWS EXCLUSIVE: ARREST WARRANTS ISSUED FOR RODERICK JOLIVETTE.”

From there, we hit Twitter. We hit Facebook. I’ve never tweeted and updated social media so much in my life. If we’re not going on the air with this until 9:35 for a quick update and then AFTER the football game at 11:20 (one hour and twenty minutes later than usual), we need to make sure our viewers see it, somehow, before then.

I have to say it felt good—no, GREAT—to get the story before any one else. We’re all young journalists learning the ropes, making mistakes and getting better. I was honored to work alongside Jenna on a huge story that she worked so hard to get—despite the fact the day turned out nothing like anyone could have ever predicted.

That’s what this business is about. Be ready for anything, adjust, and always remember, no matter how big the story, no matter how hard you’ve worked, Mother Nature doesn’t necessarily give a sh*t.