I have an important declaration to make in my column this week.
I am declaring the month of November to be "Newsroom Appreciation Month," in honour of the hard work of those individuals who work in the news media around the world and here at home.
I am not even waiting for Mayor Ian Hamilton to make a proclamation on it, or any other mayor, like Rob Ford for instance. I'm just going to go ahead and declare it.
Now, at one time my predecessor, Brian Zinchuk, threw a Newsroom Appreciation Day as a tongue-in-cheek take on the "appreciation days" that go on elsewhere. That may have been a bit of an April Fool's joke, but I'm not joking in the least. I'm dead serious.
For one thing, I'm tired of this attitude from some people that journalists are somehow nothing more than bugs who ought to be squashed.
It's not warranted, especially when you consider the hassles, roadblocks and, yes, intimidation journalists face every day. Some reporters are shot at or even killed doing their jobs. When well known former newsman Richard Brown spoke in North Battleford last month, he recounted that he and his TV crew in Beirut could have been killed if they had opted to simply walk down the street for dinner and drinks one evening. Folks, you have no idea what some reporters go through.
That bitter rant aside, my main motivation is a more positive reason - at least, positive in relation to what was a terrible moment in American history.
I am talking of course, of the date of Nov. 22, 1963, the date of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. This Friday marks 50 years to the day of that tragedy.
It was a day that changed the course of American history, but it was also one that changed the course of the news business because of the role played by the medium of television in the news coverage of that tragedy.
Before that day, it was radio that was the media for breaking domestic and world news. That was the media in which people learned about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the events of the Second World War and the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.
When initial reports about the shooting in Dallas filtered out that fateful day in 1963, the great American television networks interrupted their regularly-scheduled programming to report what was happening, live.
The CBS network initially interrupted their showing of the soap opera As the World Turns to provide reports from the newsroom from Walter Cronkite on the unfolding story. Those reports consisted of a voiceover from Cronkite set to a black screen with the words "bulletin" scrawled on it.
Finally, the cameras went live to Cronkite in the newsroom. NBC and ABC switched to live coverage of their own. For the next four days they would broadcast nonstop, bringing information on the unfolding tragedy to viewers at home, live.
Television cameras covered the arrival of Kennedy's body in Washington and the first words of the new president, Lyndon Johnson, to the nation.
Cameras showed the parade of mourners in Washington as the deceased president's casket lay in the rotunda of the capitol.
Viewers watched in horror as news broke that alleged gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was gunned down himself, by Jack Ruby in Dallas.
On the fourth and final day of coverage, viewers tuned in to the funeral in Washington, D.C.
Television news had been around well before the events of November 1963, but the tragedy marked the first time the relatively new media was able to transfix viewers with live continuing coverage as news unfolded.
Since 1963, it has been common for television networks, and later all-news channels, to break in to their regular lineup to bring live continuing coverage of breaking news. Some would say this sort of thing is sometimes overdone. The cable channels can be notorious for providing live continuing coverage of news items that are relatively trivial compared to the Kennedy assassination, like the recent government shutdown, for example.
But there is no doubt about the role that TV news has played in bringing major news stories home to people. The advent of live video streaming has added a new dimension to that coverage, with news organizations now able to bring that live coverage directly to your mobile devices, iPads, and others.
The common question of those who were around back on Nov. 22, 1963 "where were you?" Where were you when you first heard the news about the Kennedy assassination?
For younger generations, the "where were you" question comes up in connection to other moments in history such as the day Princess Diana was killed in Paris. Or the day the famous singer Michael Jackson died. And of course, there's 9/11.
It's those days when journalists really are put to the test, scrambling to get the story and get it right, under difficult circumstances. Those same journalists have another duty at the same time, of calming down those shocked people watching at home.
So on this anniversary of a sad but historic event in the annals of history, we should note the important role the media plays in delivering important breaking news.
I appreciate the role not only of those who covered the Kennedy assassination tragedy 50 years ago, but also the work of all those hard-working journalists in the news media before and afterwards whose integrity and work ethic brings you the stories of the day.
Next time you go to the local watering hole, have the bartenders turn the TVs to the news channels, and raise a glass to these hard-working journalists. Believe me, they don't get enough appreciation.
