Lately I’ve been feeling a little “news cursed”. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been assigned to work on several stories that didn’t quite turn out as advertised.
I have to admit, it’s a real bummer to get excited about reporting a story, only to have it fall through. The bummed out feelings are only exacerbated when I have Live Apartment Fire sitting a few feet away, constantly admonishing me to go shoot a story.
But this morning’s assignment really exemplified the circumstances and frustrations that I have been feeling lately.
I should have known from the moment the assignment was made. It was born out of an e-mail from a viewer:
“A high rise office building… has one of those giant inflated gorillas on its roof with a sign on it that says “I’m Barack”… I find this offensive and racist and I think most people would agree with me…are they comparing our President to a gorilla??
Fueled by the desires of our newsroom and the newsrooms of our national affiliates and smelling a story that would bring outrage and conversation to the viewing masses, I set out on my trek to find this inflatable gorilla. It didn’t take me long.
An inflatable gorilla sits atop an office building near Powers Ferry Road.
As I approached the office building, sure enough, there was a large inflatable gorilla, menacingly looking down upon the masses with a frightening message: “I’M BAAACK!”
An inflatable gorilla sits atop an office building near Powers Ferry Road with a sign that says "I'M BAAACK!"
I had to smile to myself. Clearly this would not be a story of bigotry and outrage. Clearly this would not be a story at all. I got a couple of shots of the building and the cartoonish inflatable gorilla, just to cover myself. (A wise Executiver Producer once told me “Never come back to the station with nothing.”) It’ll never air.
I called back to the station. Eager voices awaited my early report. “It says ‘I’m back,’” I told them.
“It’s a bust,” the assignment editor called out to the newsroom. “Come on back, Chris.”
Someone pitched this story at the afternoon meeting. Luckily, no one went to cover it! Back in Columbus days, you and I would probably be turning that complete nonstory INTO a story.