Do you care how many Emmy awards your favorite local TV anchor or reporter has won? I don't think so.
Even if you're in the industry, an Emmy is passe. I know one guy in town at a station who's won about twenty awards and he stores the statuettes in his garage.
That's not to denigrate good work and good reporting and solid anchoring. And this is no slam to the SF Emmy folks--by and large they're nice people. But the awards have virtually no significance. They are essentially shoptalk stogies and a chance to have a dinner out with the boys and girls. Fine, everyone needs a good dinner awards show, but truly, Emmys are worthless.
You want to honor a good reporter? Reward a tight news story? Then just keep doing what you're doing. Hey, news director? That's better than getting an Emmy. And more viewers will watch. That's better than an Emmy. And if the good reporters stay and the ratings get better, everyone gets paid better. And that's much better than an Emmy.
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Rich, There are certainly flaws with the Emmys and the Emmy system, but overall this is still the top honor in local television. To strive for greatness is what I preach to my employees and to have a trophy at the end of that pursuit is a tangible reward you can hold in your hand and display on a shelf. It is a chance for your spouse or your parents to share in your honor and a moment to bask in the glory in front of your peers who you respect. My high school sports show is not a high budget program with lots of people and resources. Still, we strive for greatness and occasionally reach it. This year one of my employees is nominated for the first time. She was thrilled and is looking forward to the event. Whether she wins or loses she did a great job on the story and worked hard to achieve greatness and was rewarded by her peers. This is better than just me saying the story was excellent. It also gives my other employees the motivation to do the same. I would like to see the Emmys honor Youth programming and programming done by smaller companies like mine, but until then we will compete with the big boys and every once in awhile we’ll get nominated. When we do it means a lot.
ReplyDeleteWatch it Rich! My daughter, Marinda Johnson Gorman, a producer at KVIE in Sacramento has just been nominated yet again!!!Mommy taught her right!
ReplyDeleteThey make you buy the freakin thing! So the local Emmy awards don't REALLY honor the best TV News people, it honors the best TV News people who nominate themselves, and pay all of the fees associated with that process. Some award :=/
ReplyDelete$20 Rich "coincidently" ends up near or around the location of the Award Ceremony.
ReplyDeletePOINT OF ORDER 10:17... Emmy nominees do NOT nominate themselves. Entries are judged by other NATAS chapters of similar market size. (For example, last year, news people from the LA and NY chapters--the top two markets in the US--nominated and then voted on the Emmys for NorCal.) Yes. Entries are $70/per. But the statuettes--made by the same Chicago jeweler who fashions the Oscars--cost over $300. So, a "winner" does NOT pay for their award per se. Yes... There are flaws in the voting, to be sure (What election process IS 100% fool proof?) And there might be some politicking and head-scratching. But, each Emmy--judged by three indices / criteria, and tabulated by a "blind" accounting firm--is an acknowledgement of "excellence." It is a tangible honor, prized by our peers--a hearty pat on the back. But, perhaps I protesteth too much. My guess, 10:17 is you're not a good journalist (one who can't gather basic facts or do simple research, anyway.) And my second guess is you've never been honored with an Emmy or ANY award. And deep down that hurts a little. My last guess is you're a Captain of mediocrity.
ReplyDeleteIf you need a statuette to give you validation as a journalist, more power to you. I'm sure it's a great conversation starter to tell all of your friends the award was "fashioned" by the same guy who made the awards for the Oscars. Big deal. Bottom line is you DO have to pay to be a NATAS member and you DO have to submit your own work inorder for it to be judged and you DO have to pay a fee for that to happen. So you ARE, in essence, paying for your own award. But if having one makes you feel less mediocore at your job, awesome.
DeleteUh huh... And HONESTLY tell me you haven't submitted your own work for an Emmy. In short, in my 22 years in the industry, I find people who pooh-pooh the Emmy's... haven't won.
DeleteHave to agree with Anon May 11, 11:16PM
ReplyDeleteWith the TASTE AWARDS (for best food, fashion and home lifestyle programs on television, in film, online, and on radio) we started out as an awards show to which anyone could submit a nomination, but for a lot of REALLY GOOD logistical and process reasons, this 4th year for the first time we've made it so only those associated with the program can submit a nomination, and there is a small fee involved. If they win from among all of the other nominees, they have definitely earned it.