Charles “Call Me Chuck” Rogers was the only newspaper editor I truly got to know. Although I went to civic meetings and made small talk with editors and writers from other publications – most who were older than myself –I never had an opportunity to sit and talk about reporting experiences with anyone else. Chuck was the most distinguished “old school” editor and field reporter I’d ever met and I never challenged him when he asked, “Hey, miss, got time for a war story?"
Please keep in mind that Chuck's
“war stories” weren’t particularly about his time serving in the war.
His stories ranged in so many different categories. From his “ celebrity-like”
experiences at Studio 54 with his wife Barbara to his heydays at the Canarsie Courier when someone was
displeased with a story and “came into the editorial department and roughed him
up,” he always delivered a believable story.
I recently went back into the
Canarsie Courier archives to find one
of Chuck’s cozily written columns – you know, the ones he wrote as if he were
sitting next to you at a diner having a cup of coffee. His column from
September 2010 recalled his memories of meeting and working with NBC newsman
Edwin Newman, who had passed away the month before at age 91.
His mellifluous column read…
“I had been promoted at NBC News from
desk assistant to assignment editor/field coordinator after a relatively short
time and was eagerly awaiting an assignment that would take me out in the field
on a story, with a full camera crew, producer and ‘talent.’ Word came that Mr.
Newman was preparing to do a documentary on Poverty In The Country, which would
take him to various cities, from New York to Boston to Miami, New Orleans, up
to Detroit, across the top of the nation and down the West Coast at the time.
We would be working for the network, and I got the assignment to assist Newman
and the producer on the New York leg of the journey. Wow! What a start!
When I found out I was going to work on the show, I
went to Mr. Newman’s office and introduced myself and, although I was in awe of
this man who had been bureau chief in London, Rome and Paris he set me at ease
immediately and asked me about my background, saying, ‘I think we’ll work well
together,’ as I left.”
If I found out that any of Chuck’s
stories about his years in broadcasting was a fabrication – of ANY kind – I
would question not only his character, but his love for the field and his
experiences as a reporter. I’m sure that, when I was a cub reporter, he wanted
to impress me and make an impact on me, so he slightly embellished when it came to describing his
experiences. He loved telling stories and giving the “wow” factor – but they were
TRUE stories about his reporting days with NBC.
I’m also certain that,
from afar, Chuck is cursing out anchorman Brian Williams for his fabrication of
various news reports over the decades. Why would Williams need to lie about
his state of dysentery while covering Hurricane Katrina? Why tell a bogus story
about riding in a military helicopter? A highly respected anchorman and
journalist, 55-year-old Williams has spent over a decade traveling all over the
world…reporting, documenting and astounding viewers by "capturing the essence" of his assignment.
In my humble opinion, it’s a
professional honor and challenge to be on assignment anywhere where catastrophe is taking place. You’re on the front line,
possibly risking your life to report to millions of viewers what’s going on.
Williams has enough experience under his belt – believable experience – that he never needed to make up stories
while he was reporting.
Let’s get real! There’s a BIG
difference, at its foundation, between storytelling and reporting. Lots of
journalists like to “embellish” on scenes and back stories to create a literary
“ambiance.” I know I love to start a lot of my news stories with some type of
abstraction – something to grip the reader from the start. It’s takes a lot
more “pow” to entice a reader than it does a television viewer.
Williams had the live television advantage! He was
reporting from various locations – in real time – and didn’t need a “hook” or
some fake storybook scene to make his experience believable. Is Williams that full of himself that he was
compelled to add his own “zest” or “personally devastating experience” to
something that needed no exaggeration? Did he NOT think that, eventually, others would corroborate these heinous accounts - did he think his stories would remain "legendary?" without being proved wrong?
I, for one, think Brian
Williams should be fired. NBC has a lot to investigate and
confirm – and a major network shouldn’t continue to employ someone whose
journalistic integrity will continue to be questioned.
No one wants their
professional judgment and experience to be questioned – and that’s one thing I
respected about Chuck Rogers – my mentor
and inspiration. If NBC keeps Williams on air, they’re only going to inspire
another generation of storytellers and not reporters.
Unpublished as of Feb. 6th 2015
