Sunday, August 4, 2013

Just in Case BART and Unions Can't Unite



In case BART unions and management can't work a deal out at midnight, expect a huge TV/Radio presence for Monday's potential harrowing commute.

The usual TV spots: Bay Bridge Toll Plaza, 20th and Broadway where angry travelers, (good for sound bites) converge: "Hey, we're packed in here like 'sardines!--(no shit)

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22 comments:

  1. And the Dipshits will still try to cross the BB. Hey if I Leave home at 7:05 I should make it.

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    1. Some "dipshits" don't have a choice, other than to lose their jobs.

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    2. actually on the first day of the recent four day BART strike, there were fewer cars using the BB than on an average day.

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    3. Hi Christine Monday is light commute day. I would suspect if the Strike jumps off Monday we will see the same fewer cars.

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  2. How come they never show up at the 16th and Mission BART? Chicken shits.

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  3. Strikes are a big bonanza for broadcasters,right?Radio and television stations that provide information that eases the transit headache get more listeners/watchers, if they do it well. They have a vested interest in promoting a strike.

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    1. Yes of course Christine, broadcasters are really hoping for a strike. And of for the same reason, they hope for big natural disasters, wars, horrendous crimes, terrible accidents, etc.

      Next interesting thought Christine has will be her first.

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    2. "And of for"? You must be new at this. A potential transportation strike is neither a natural disaster, war, horrendous crime, nor terrible accident. You have no sense of scale, apparently.Calling something a "strike", before it is one, is not journalism, it's pimping a story for profit. It's an old story, really.

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    3. Christine has a scale/curve that tells her when/if broadcasters want a particular major story based on the severity of the situation. It never fails.

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    4. Christine, if the best your tiny little brain can come up with is a typo correction, you probably have no substantive response.

      You really are a tiresome, unpleasant person.

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    5. What do you expect from buzz-kill Christine? Correcting and lecturing others, that's her thing. As much fun as a colonoscopy!

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  4. You've identified what you perceive as shortcomings/failings/lack of initiative/business as usual reporting by Bay Area media, Mr. Lieberman. Very good.

    Now - you're a news director. You've got four reporters (one of whom is an MMJ), three photogs, and three live trucks for the 5 and/or 6pm shows.

    Since you know what's wrong with everyone's coverage, it should be relatively easy to tell us how you would do things differently and better, Rich.

    The usual live locations would include CalTrans HQ where negotiations are being held; as you mentioned above, the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza and 20th and Broadway are also worn out locales. I'm guessing casual carpool and charter bus locations are also out, since those were done to death. And you can ignore Lyft, Uber, and other ways people are using to get around. Those were all covered too.

    So... where would you deploy your assets, Mr. Lieberman? What story angles are you telling them to look for? What untold story out there is just dying to be uncovered? How would your news organization/approach be different?

    It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, pointing out the flaws in coverage after the fact. Any bonehead can do that.

    But you've had a month since coverage of the last BART strike ended to think about how to do this better. Now tell us. How would you cover this BART strike? What fresh new ideas do you have?

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    1. Hey, putz, THAT'S YOUR JOB! I didn't audition for it.

      It'd be like YOU doing the blog and asking ME what I'd do different.

      Try another analogy.

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    2. How about the Bathroom where Joe Q commuter is getting ready for his 3hr Commute. Perhaps wake up one of the Union Crybabies at 4am Maybe ask the Person, with no Paid time off left on the books what they think.

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    3. Hey Rich, if there's a strike, what do you want them to report on?

      You constantly ridicule the industry and then do exactly what everyone else does.

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    4. It seems to me that Anonymous 5:02 is making some very good points.

      If you have some positive suggestions to make to the various news directors/crews covering the possible upcoming BART strike, why don't you just make them, without all the snarkiness and "putz" comments?

      Where is your anger coming from, Rich?

      Take a few deep, cleansing breaths, my man.....

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    5. I'm guessing "doing the blog" is a BIT easier than running a newsroom.

      By and large, I don't fault Rich for wiseguy takes, etc, but this post seems to be nonsense.

      As long as the newsrooms are providing information related to the story, I don't give a crap where they're reporting from.

      Rich can only point out the flaws here because they're obvious, and in truth, not flaws. It's just typical and obvious, and that's because there are no options. Pointing out the lack isn't genius.

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  5. I'd do a story re-visiting the PATCO strike and pose the hypothetical what-if situation of firing all the BART fat-asses and interview folks at the unemployment lines eager to fill all the BART strikers jobs in a heartbeat. Do a poll to see if as I suspect, Bay area folks are not sympathetic to the BART strikers and would be willing to endure several weeks of disruption while BART hires and instructs an entire new NON-UNION workforce.

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    1. Another untold story waiting to be told would be to figure out exactly how much taxpayers provide to subsidize BART's shenanigans and its overpaid, overperked employees...above and beyond its farebox receipts. What does BART cost the average taxpayer who never or rarely uses it?

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    2. To qualify your foolish and biased hypothetical, please name one municipal/gov't group of non-supervisory employees in California not working under an organized labor agreement. Hint...the air traffic controllers aren't one.

      Reagan's patco busting disrupted air travel for many years, not several weeks and after the dust settled, the air traffic controllers reorganized. The end didn't justify the means.

      The BART bargaining will stall until public outcry can be leveraged by labor and management to split the difference, resulting expenses are passed thru to the riders in the form of rate hikes. It doesn't matter if you're pro or anti union, that's the way the world works.

      It's just theatrics and the media plays a crucial role.

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  6. The minute you run those trains with non-union workers, is the minute you're vulnerable if ANYthing goes wrong: Safety, Safety, Safety. If they ran scabs and someone got hurt, BART would be liable, big-time.

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  7. First and foremost...for Market #5/#6, it's PATHETIC that the complement of crews described by 5:02 is what passes as "staff" for a market our size.

    That being said...what I'd do is put one camera at the toll plaza(or just use any stationary cameras)...NO reporter needed. Just have the anchors read the copy...a "Cold Open" kinda thing, where he/she welcomes viewers...reads a couple of lines about the situation.

    Then have the remaining reporters do negotiations/sticking-points related stories. Forget the MOS's...or the Walnut Creek live-shots. You can always use the chopper to provide aerial traffic shots.

    There ya go.

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