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15 minutes of fame but a little disappointed

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Basil

Basil

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Last week (or was it the week before?) a local news channel contacted me, after finding my name on the NAMI web site as coordinator of the Family-to-Family education program for my state. They wanted to know if I'd be willing to talk to them on air about having a child with Mental Illness. Of course I jumped on the chance to tell a wider audience about the 12-week family education program and how much it can help families with a loved one struggling with a serious brain disorder. I talked to the reporter on camera for about 20 minutes and told her all about, not just my own family situation, but I told her a lot about the Family-to-Family education program and how many lives I've seen it change for the better.

Well, that night. I was excited to see myself on the telly and sure enough, there I was on the 5 O'clock news! However, out of twenty minutes of interview, they only aired 20 seconds of sound bites. They only thing anyone would have gotten from the piece is that we have a family member with a mental illness and that "families need to educate themselves." Great - they let people know that families need to educate themselves, but then they don't play anything of me talking about the one program that will help families do just that!

While it was fun to be on TV, needless to say, I was disappointed. Given my view of the media in general (I won't go there), I guess I shouldn't have been surprised - they tell you what they think you need to hear and nothing else! Thank goodness we have other sources of information these days!
 
Ah, the pain of the cutting room floor.
Yale (Canadian program developer) did about 8 hours here once.....on the stuff in my back yard and a lead-in with the Willys street rod.
Ended up with 10 minutes on screen.
At least you got some coverage out there.
Good job!
If you have air-worthiness, maybe you'll get a call-back!
Dave
 
Hello Basil,

I have a cousin with a mental disability, she passed away not long ago. In fact she was my favorite cousin, after speaking with her and enjoying our conversations i always felt at ease with her bold honesty and great humility! I think she was the teacher not me! Its really great you are involved with the family to family program that helps give the much needed support for such familys! Its the familys and people like yourself that make the real difference! Not the Government or this countrys sad excuse for a media! Keep up the great work Basil. Michael, IL.
 
Sorry to hear they cut your message from your appearance, but keep up the good work. Maybe some people will still be inspired to contact NAMI or you directly in order to educate themselves.
 
You're famous to the people who matter

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That's actually a lot of time on a local channel. One of the obscure facts I learned in college is the average news spot is only 11-15 seconds long.

The media isn't concerned about what you have to say, "they" are only concerened about what THEY WANT to say...
 
Don't hold much regared for our local media, and ironically enough that involves how my favorite cousin, who had a mental illness, met his untimely end. That incident, and others I've had inside information on since then have showed me how incomplete and usually incorrect the media outlets are.
Good on ya Basil. with luck more of your interview will be used in the future and maybe some good will come of the tiny bit they already used.
 
I'm not sure many reporters know how to do their jobs. They have the smile and makeup part down, but often don't do what should be the necessary research to know what questions to ask and what to present.
 
Mayberry 2013: https://www.wlox.com/

A little hokey, always honest and above all friendly. I gotta hand it to those guys, if somone is doing something good for someone else somewhere, you'll here about it. if Mickey and his crew came down here to help rebuild, it would be the top story.

Almost NEVER negative stories (crime isn't a big issue down here) or anything sensationalized. Go to the home page and read about the new supermarket opening to rave reviews.

...gotta love the deep south...

I'm tellin' you guys, if you can get past the culture shock, it's a really nice friendly place to live.

the supper fixin's aint bad neither.:wink:
 
I don't know if it's just in our area,but they'll have the story,
but cut off the sound when the people being interviewed obviously
have more to say.
Plus- they'll give some "cutesy" news story 1+ minutes.

- Doug
 
On the plus side, at least you got some air time. And more viewers are thinking about the topic now than they were before. You could probably get even more air time if some friends contacted the station and asked to see more of the interview.

One interesting aspect: local media does what its sponsors want, not its viewers. If we'd contact the sponsors (advertisers) and tell them we won't buy their products because of what they're sponsoring in the media outlets, there would likely be a lot of changes. I don't usually blame the media directly ... I blame the people who pay for it.

My two cents.
Tom
 
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