Steve Eagar

Hello.  I haven't posted a blog in many weeks.  I apologize, but doing the Viewer's Voice every night now, plus this segment we call the "news edge" both take time to put together and have infringed on my blogging time.   :)

I'm not sure if you saw the Friday Viewer's Voice earlier this evening, but the sentiment of viewers, at least viewer's who call or email the Viewer's Voice, has made an interesting shift.  Callers and emailers seem to be turning against the State of Texas and Child Protective Services in regards to their handling of the raid in Eldorado.  Almost all of those who voiced their opinons were careful to express their concern about abuse allegations, and their opposition to polygamy.  But, by far most of the peope who called and wrote express a real concern that the children from the compound have been seperated from their mothers.  By the way, most of the calls and emails came in before today's latest news that the call that triggered the raid may have been bogus.

The Viewer's Voice contributors don't like child abuse and don't like polygamy, but they also don't seem to trust CPS, and don't like the speed at which it is working to try to get permanent custody of the children.  A couple of callers also wanted to know why authorities just didn't go in there and yank the male suspects out, and leave the majority of the children with their mothers.  Simply put, they seem to think this could have been handled in a much better way.   What I am trying to figure out is if the Viewer's Voice sentiment is representative of a larger community wide feeling.  Let me know.

Have a great weekend.

 

How About This!

Super Tuesday is off to a great and entertaining start.  Did you see what happened in West Virginia?  The Republicans convention had members voting for four candidates.  To declare a winner, a candidate needed more than 50%.  First ballot showed Romney with 41%, Huckabee 33%, McCain 15%, and Ron Paul with 10%.  So, under the rules, the low man was tossed out, and a second ballot is taken.  Here is where the political intrigue started.   Knowing Romney was high man and Paul was out, the 2nd Ballot could have put Romney over the 50% threshhold.  But, McCain dropped out, and encouraged his backers to support  Huckabee.  The assumption being that McCain sees Huckabee as a non-factor, and also sees a Huckabee win and a Romney loss as a McCain win.  So, second ballot...  Huckabee 52% - Romney 48%.  A Huckabee win for sure, and a McCain victory?   You tell me.  The McCain folks sure think so.

Nobody said politics is pretty or nice.  Keep watching!

To: Steve Eagar

Subject: State of the Union

Hi Steve, been a while.

Last night around 9:45 you introduced SOTU highlights and said this was President Bush's 7th and final SOTU address.

Since his first was in 2001 just after being inaugurated, then last night's would be his 8th, right?

Regards,

Tom

====================================================
===

Hi Tom,

Short answer: Nope.

President Bush was inaugurated in 2001, and gave an inauguration speech. The classic contents of such I think might be considered substantively the same as a "State of the Union" address. However, maybe protocol suggests a newly minted President should not then deliver a "State of the Union" address ten days into office. So, following the President's election and inauguration in 2001, he delivered his "Budget Message" to a joint session of Congress. It was not a "State of the Union" address. President Bill Clinton and President George H.W. Bush gave "Administration Goals" speeches to a joint session after their elections.

So, Pres. GW Bush has given 7 SOTU addresses, Pres. Clinton gave 7, Pres. GHW Bush, 3, etc.

One interesting note: everyone has said it was GWBush's last SOTU address. (We did too.) That is an assumption that is not necessarily true. He has the right to give a State of the Union address shortly before he leaves office in January of 2009. Many Presidents have done this, but the last three, Pres. Reagan, Pres. GHWBush, and Pres. Clinton chose not to.

Thanks for the email.

Steve Eagar

Fox 4 News

 

What is or creates bias?

Since the last sprint of the primary season is about to start, I have a question for you,  and I wonder if you have ever thought of this.  I know you consider bias... probably even look for it in all the reporters you read and watch.  But what about the actual voting process?  A process every American has the right, and some believe the duty and responsibiltiy to take part in.

Before I go on, let me reiterate something I believe you already know.  Journalists are supposed to avoid bias at all costs, and avoid even the appearance of bias.  I think you also know that a journalist will frequently form an opinion on stories he or she covers.  As a matter of fact, I don't think you want a journalist who doesn't or can't form an opinion, cause that would be robotic.  What you want is for the journalist's opinion to not enter into his or her reporting, or the reports you watch.  I would assume you could care less what a reporter thinks about a subject, as long as he or she plays it right down the middle when reporting.

Now to voting.   In my career I have come across two schools of thoughts for journalists and voting.    One group believes that just as described above, a journalist can go into a voting booth and vote for any candidate he or she chooses.  And then he or she can go out and report on all candidates and issues, taking care to avoid bias.  Others believe that, unlike an opinion that stays quietly in my brain, by actually casting a vote for a candidate, I have crossed the line and am biased, and have created a conflict of interest.  I know reporters who vote, and I know reporters who intentionally do not vote.

What do you think, should a journalist vote?

Hello.  I think you'll like tonight's Viewer's Voice; there's a little something for everybody.

The Hannah Montana essay  contest returns, there's reaction to the Fort Worth woman who was asked to leave the bus because she says she was reading the bible.  The bus driver says she was reading it too loudly.  There is reaction to Six Flags' plan to sell beer at the theme park and Hurricane Harbor, the release of the innocent man 27 years after he started serving time for a rape he didn't commit... and of course, people weigh in on the Cowboys too.  I hope you check it out.

The Viewer's Voice airs at 5:30 and 9:00 tonight, and then again on Good Day Saturday in the morning.  

First I want to say that I am really enjoying what our Fox U students are finding and passing along to us both on the air and on the blogs. I am interested in what they are observing across the room or in interaction with the people and candidates. It is a welcome relief from the cutting and pasting of partisan articles or repeating of something somebody heard on talk radio. Of course that has its place here just as these students' work does. I'm always most interested in what YOU think, not a cut and paste of what somebody else thinks.


That said... Since we aired the Orange Bowl last night, I had a chance to sit and watch the coverage of the Iowa Caucus, pretty much start to finish. Big congrats go out to winners Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee. Back to the coverage though... I didn't like what I saw. I suspect ALL the cable news networks talked with the same self importance. I saw for myself what I hear a lot of people complaining about, regarding current journalism. Alternately, the pundits and news reporters essentially declared or inferred candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Mitt Romney are in BIG trouble. I'm sitting in my office thinking, "Who are you?" I mean if your Joe Biden or Christopher Dodd and you get zero percent, and have been polling at about that nationwide, then obviously they WERE in trouble and they packed it up last night. But Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, even Romney?
I think times have changed. Maybe 50, or even 15 years ago when people couldn't get their own information, the increased coverage an Iowa Caucus winner got in the paper the next day or two was a huge bump and could propel them on to victory. I don't know that that is the case anymore. So many people across the country are able to get their own political information through the myriad of media now available to them. You folks are out there are on the internet, watching video clips, reading bits of information, becoming very well informed. So, in that regard I feel like you must... informed and holding my own opinions. Then I am told that certain candidates, based on a few thousand people in Iowa, are dead... or in big trouble. I say let the voters and the candidates decide when they are dead or in trouble, not Anchors, reporter, political pundits or a columnist for the Des Moines Register. I respect those professionals experience and knowledge, however the way information now flows at lightening speed, I don't think you can reflect back on how things went in the past, to get an indication of how things will go in the future. What do you think?

We aired a story Thursday night about a run in between a Fox crew in Houston and the "Posse" of former teenage celebs Hilary and Haley Duff.  The 20 and 22 year old sisters had been in court for their parents' divorce hearing. It looked like an attorney, though I'm not really sure what his role in the "posse" was... body slammed the reporter and photographer on different occasions at the courthouse.  Elbowed them into walls, things like that.  I'm curious if you have an opinion about why the reaction to this story was universally, "They got what they deserved!"  Theories?

Why are some women so ready to trash another woman? My question has to do with tonight's special Viewer's Voice segment.  Since the first image of Jessica Simpson appeared during the broadcast of the Cowboys/Eagles game on Sunday, people have been calling the Viewer's Voice and sending emails.  Here is my observation: both male and female viewers called to complain about Romo's perfromance.  Some injected humor, others did not.  Both male and female viewers theorized that Romo was somehow distracted because Jessica Simpson was in attendance.  (Which #1, I personally find amusing, and #2, if it were true, wouldn't reflect very well on HIS level of professionalism.)

But, the female callers completely threw Jessica Simpson under the bus.  An anonymous female caller from Rowlett, said "...leave that Jessica Simpson alone.  She is after his money and she has got his head all stirred up.  That's the reason why he cannot do anything today."

Veronica from Brownwood wrote:  "If he didn't have his doubled d'd breasted girlfriend on his mind, then maybe, just maybe he would have been able to focus more on the game."

Another caller, Lisa in Dallas said "He's just a sweet, innocent young man, and he doesn't need that kind of distraction.  She should be ashamed of herself." 

Poor, poor Tony!  Ok, so tell me; why are the women of the Viewer's Voice so angry about the Tony Romo/Jessica Simpson relationship?

Holiday Travel Mess

Anybody else get in on the mess at DFW Airport this past weekend?  As you know, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year.  People fly in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday... but they all go home Sunday. :)

 

Sunday evening, TSA and Airport schedulers made the brilliant decision to only have one security conveyor open at each entry point.  I talked with an employee who told me no it wasn't a sudden problem that came up, it was the way the day had been scheduled.  It took almost an hour to get through the SINGLE screening line that was open.  This was in terminal E, my son was flying back to school on Delta.  I walked to the two other security entrances in this same terminal section.  They also had just ONE conveyor operational.   And we were the lucky ones.  A vendor with several pallets food for the restaurants inside the security checkpoint was told he might have to wait almost four hours to be checked and cleared through.   Why does it seem so many governmental entities are run so poorly?  No accountability maybe?  Who exactly who does one complain to when the TSA creates a huge snafu?  Let's just say I didn't call Homeland Security to complain the next day.  I have a feeling thousands of other frustrated travelers feel the same way.  I've had a few emails with similar stories in the Viewer's Voice mailbox.

 

I hope everybody enjoyed Thanksgiving and that you all have better travel stories. 

 

 

A Muddy Saturday

A bunch of Fox 4 employees got together and participated in the Marine Metroplex Mud Run on Saturday.  It's a muddy money raiser for the DFW Metroplex Toys for Tots program.  I believe about 2500 people got up early to meet on Trinity Trail near LaGrave Field in Fort Worth.  Organizers set up a six mile course with obstacles spaced out along the way.  Oh yeah, a lot of mud too.

I have to admit there were some VERY fit people out there.  There were also a lot of our areas bravest and finest who put teams together to show what team work is all about.  Our group, well we just tried to survive.

Heather was a great sport and got down and dirty like everybody else.

One of the best parts of the day was the weather.  We're in a pretty cushy weather pattern right now.  Rainy and 50 degrees might have made it a lot different.

Congratulations Marines, and all the people who participated in the Mud Run!

Did you guys see this story?  This is pure genius isn't it?  Notice that the records-management officer is careful to say they "haven't begun our evaluation yet."  I'm sure the post evaluation report on the report on too many reports will be a fascinating read!  Your tax money, hard at work.

Report on reports says Texas issues too many reports

A new report says Texas issues too many reports.

That's the conclusion of the Library and Archives Commission after 18 months of work that culminated in a 668-page report on reports.

"At first, we were overwhelmed by the sheer number of reporting requirements," records-management officer Michael Heskett tells the Associated Press. "We haven't begun our evaluation yet. But I think we can reach our goal of eliminating the deadwood without compromising the need for accountability in our state agencies."

So far, they've uncovered more than 1,600 reports. Many are obsolete or duplicate other reports.

Coming of (Old) Age

My Senior daughter recently attended her high school's Homecoming Dance.  While my kids do those coming of age activities, it feels like I am coming of age myself.  The milemarkers of my life are coming faster and getting harder to take.  Does time seem like it speeds up as you go along?  When the kids are young, WE are so busy with jobs and careers.  Then when careers are established and things should slow down, the KIDS are too busy and running off with friends. It's funny, Heather Hays is posting all these baby pictures, and I'm posting graduation and "going to college" pictures.  When I had a conflict for the pre-dance picture taking business, she took care to remind me this will be her LAST homecoming dance.  Ouch.  So, I got rid of the conflict.

Mom took this picture of us.  She's a good girl.  Better than we deserve.  I told her the other day I was really happy she's been able to go to all of her little brother's games.  Her response was that this was the last time she'd be able to see him play because next year she would be off at school.  Reality hits hard.      

So, count me with the people who got smacked by the afternoon storms today.  My wife emailed these pictures of our apparently brittle Bradford Pear tree that sits in our front yard.  Nice huh?

Ok, it looks like I now have something to do tomorrow.  Lucky me!   Anybody else get hit?

Hood to Coast Relay

I just got back from a really fun relay race in Oregon called The Nike Hood to Coast Relay. It's more than 1-thousand teams, with 12 runners each... running segments from Mount Hood, to the Oregon coast 197 miles away. 

It was a blast! I got invited to be a member of a Dallas/Plano based team called the North American Distance Sprinters.  Here is a picture of the six people in my van, from the back left it's me, Brian, and Lane.  Then up front Melanie, Nicole and Jennifer.  The women ran VERY fast.  There were six other people in another van.

 The race is designed to be about fun and It's all pretty irreverent. We had two highly decorated and tricked out vans with six people in each, matching uniforms, we had give away stuff like water bottles and antenna balls... it was just a heck of a time. This team has won the award for the best team name several years running, and we won it again this year too. I think it's the acronym that seals the deal for us. :) And the Texas flag shorts too.

 We started at 9:45 am Friday almost 7-thousand feet up Mount Hood. Fox 4 Medical Reporter John Hammarley is the race announcer because he worked in Portland many, many years ago and still loves doing the race. John sends off individual runners from teams in waves of 25 every 15 minutes, and then we do hand offs until we hit the beach.

Our team time was 27 hours.  Which means that in some pretty rugged terrain, we averaged about 8:20 miles.  Not going to set any records, but respectable for a very long haul!  Anyway... a big thanks to my teammates for the invite!

Go nads!

The new Fox reality show "Anchorwoman" just aired on Fox 4. As far as I can tell the earth is still in it's proper position in the universe.  Lauren Jones has not... again, as far as I can tell, personally destroyed journalism.  I don't know how my colleagues feel about this program, but I just don't think it's that big a deal.  It's a "reality" TV show.  Remember "Temptation Island?"     

I have a couple of thoughts about all this and then I will wait to see what everybody else has to say.  First, I think the Tyler TV Station's ownership and General Manager took a real chance going along with the reality show producers.  Ownership and the GM should be the ones concerned about the long term image, reputation and standing of the station.  I think the fact that this station was willing to let a reality TV show move into their newsroom should be something viewers consider when deciding who to watch for news.

After that, I think there has been a lot self important criticism from the media.  Is Edward R. Murrow rolling over in his grave over this?  Or, did he do that when Dateline NBC attached igniters to a pick up truck so it would explode in flames during  a fake  "demonstration" of how dangerous the trucks were.  Newspaper columnists making fun?  Is this "Anchorwoman" TV Show more journalistically embarrassing than a columnist making up people, places and events, and writing story after story about things that never happened?  It shouldn't be, it's a "Reality show!"  The other things, they were just reality.  That's embarrassing.

Is it her looks that have everybody sharpening the daggers?  Would a less "flamboyant" looking person have been more acceptable?

Is it her former career and lack of education?  Being a journalist doesn't require a PhD.  There are some journalists with PhD's, but Peter Jennings was a high school dropout.  Journalists come from all sorts of backgrounds with all kinds of experiences.  You don't become a journalist when you get a degree, you become a journalist by being out there... uncovering stories, talking to people, and just LEARNING.  There are a lot of things you learn by doing the job.  Where do most of us do that learning?  In cities and towns like Tyler.  At the risk of suffering the wrath of Tyler reporters, there are probably a few in the market who had about 6 months more experience than the "Anchorwoman."  I think we all kind of knew what to expect from the bikini model "Anchorwoman," but I wonder how some of the "real" journalists we saw on the program are feeling about how they came across.  Anyway, it's a reality show, and the "Anchorwoman" is just a reality show star.  Journalism will be just fine when her 15 minutes are up.  If she wants to be a journalist, seems like Tyler is a good place to learn.