Thanks, Chuck

"I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyes
And make it go away"

-- U2, "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"

Who did you emulate growing up? 

Did you want to dunk on Jordan? Go deep off of Smoltz? Catch the winning pass from Montana? 

I grew up watching Chuck Moore on 11Alive's morning show while I was getting ready to catch the bus to go to elementary school. Ten years later I found myself sitting next to him on the anchor desk.

It still makes me nervous...

I was a year out of college doing sports for a tiny CBS station in Toccoa, Georgia. Chuck had recently "retired" as the long-time morning show co-anchor at WXIA in Atlanta. I put the quotes around the word "retired" because he only retired in the sense that he and his wife wanted to spend more time at their lake house near Hartwell and less time dealing with the hustle and bustle of Atlanta. But he clearly still loved what he was doing and, because one of his long-time friends from WXIA had also recently "retired" to run our little dog-and-pony show in Toccoa, Chuck agreed to work part-time (at first) as our new co-anchor. 

Our news team at WNEG was a collection of kids with varying degrees of experience. In retrospect, it was an amazing cast: Jennifer Cathey, Paul Rea, Scott Hartman, Kim Schumacher, Michael Carvell, Jason Maderer and so many more.  

But when we learned Chuck was joining our team there was a collective thought of "Holy smokes, we're like a real TV station now!"

And we were.

He brought experience and professionalism that we couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Most of us assumed he was just going to show up, read the news and go home. 

Au contraire. 

While Atlanta had "news crews", we didn't have "photographers".  We barely had "cameras".

I'll never forget him taking one of those cameras out behind the station and working with it to learn how to shoot a story. I've encountered millenials that walked off of a college campus five minutes prior recoiling at the thought of picking up a camera.  Here was a guy with 30 years owning a major market now remaking himself in a new environment. 

It's an example I'll never forget.

I'll also never forget his way of mentoring me without me actually realizing I was being mentored. During one of our first shows together, I introduced a "package"...which is fancy TV-talk for a reporter's previously-recorded story. As soon as the story rolled, Chuck looked at me and said something to the effect of "Are you in a hurry?"

"No," I replied.

"Seemed like you were in a hurry to dismiss the viewer" he said.

  

He was referring to the fact that, as soon as I introduced the story, I looked off-camera to watch it as if the audience didn't matter.  

To this day, when I throw to a reporter's story on tape, I hear a silent one-count in my head before I look to the monitor.  

Thanks, Chuck. And I mean that sincerely.

He was also an avid golfer.  That was one of the main reasons he and his wife decided to retire in Northeast Georgia. 

It's also what brought him to our tiny little station. He told me one of his life's dreams was to play Augusta National. 

Two months after picking up my life and moving to Augusta I learned I would be playing Chuck's dream course for the first time.

As I put my tee in that hallowed ground I chose to make one phone call.

I called Chuck.  

Tonight I'm so glad I did.

A Tale Of Two Tragedies

This is not about me. It's not about journalism or TV.

That said, it was difficult to read the news tonight. Many have written about the events of the day from a journalistic perspective more eloquently than I can. I would read this and this.

I can't imagine going to work to do my job, thinking of my future...the family, the friends, the weddings, the trips, the tailgate parties. The list goes on and on.

And then it happens. Innocent life taken in an instant.

When I sat down to write this, I was going to talk about the two journalists savagely murdered on live television by a deranged former colleague. Then came word of the murder of Officer Henry Nelson in Sunset, Louisiana.

There is a saying that goes, "There are three types of people who run toward disaster and not away from it: Police, Firefighters and Reporters". The difference is that officers and firefighters assume, from the time they wake up, that their lives are at risk. Reporters make no assumption.

Yes, there are the correspondents that cover war zones and the risks that come with it. But, on a local level, while we acknowledge that there are risks that accompany the job, we believe we will return at the end of the night to the safety of our homes. I have to imagine police officers and firefighters leave home with a different thought process, that they may never see that home again.

In fact, on many occasions local law enforcement will advise a reporter and/or photographer that they shouldn't go into a certain area without escort. There is an immeasurable comfort that comes from that escort. We know we are safe. They have no such guarantee.

I'm not sure how other businesses work, but TV news is an incredibly esoteric profession. The degrees of separation are always miniscule. The General Manager of the station where this happened, the one you've seen on TV all day? I had a job interview with him a couple of years ago. Not at his current station, but a different one. He offered me the job. I declined. My heart bled for him today. He showed tremendous grace under fire. One of my current colleagues worked with Alison Parker and, at last count, I have three friends who once worked with the shooter.

I know for a fact that the community of Law Enforcement and Firefighters exist in much the same way. When Deputy J.D. Paugh of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, Officer Scott Richardson of Aiken Public Safety and Aiken Public Safety Corporal Sandy Rogers were killed in the line of duty, there were many tears shed in our newsroom from those who had interacted with them on a regular basis.

They were our friends.

I do think there is one thing that all of these jobs have in common. On a much, much, much (I cannot emphasize enough the word "MUCH") less important scale, I remember how I first learned about how to deal with covering things that made you uncomfortable. As a graduate and fan of the University of Georgia, I learned early on in my career how to be unbiased about your subject. I would cover losses that, as a fan, would have devastated me. But, as a reporter, you go into what can best be described as "a zone". You have a job to do. You do it. To extrapolate that, think of the surgeon saving his friend's life, the firefighter carrying his pal out of an inferno or the Officer keeping his friend alive. Again, this is not to equate any or all of these professions. It's simply meant to acknowledge that, in the heat of battle, we all go into a place that allows us to do our jobs to the best of our ability.

I can't tell you how many times I covered games that involved crushing Georgia losses. I remember being too busy to be sad. Running to get video of the other team celebrating, getting inte

rviews on the field, racing to feed the story back to the station. Not until hours later, when most fans were already asleep, did I get to sit on my couch and think, "Damn, that sucks."

But, in and odd way, it's inoculating. You have something to distract you from what is actually happening. I couldn't help but think of that as I watched the family, friends and coworkers of Alison Parker and Adam Ward on various TV news shows today. I've seen them all stand in front of multiple cameras and talk about their fallen friends. But I wonder what will happen when they get back home...and sit on their couch. I wonder what will happen when they have to deal with this as people and not journalists.

From a personal standpoint I can say this. For someone who talks about death on TV on a daily basis, I may be the world's worst at actually dealing with it. I can't comprehend what the WDBJ community is going through tonight. I can't fathom what the Sunset, Louisiana Police Department is going through tonight.

I could look at you through a camera lens and talk about it all day long.

But I'm glad you're not on my couch tonight.