The challenge of any storyteller is to get people to see and feel and appreciate your story. I believe you need a little fire to do that.

We can debate the numbers, but I have seen various surveys that show about 70% of millennials have a FOMO. It means the “fear of missing out”. Younger news consumers are not just looking to expand their minds, they are looking for experiences. Instead of sitting in a room alone listening to music, they will spend hundreds of dollars and drive hundreds of miles to attend the concert. It’s the experience they want, not necessarily the music. Another example is food. Many would rather invest their time and money going to a trendy restaurant and posting the pictures on social media, than getting satisfaction out of cooking a meal at home.

I am not judging if this is right or wrong. The fact is, it is real and if we are going to inspire, influence or mentor people with the FOMO, we need to get them to experience news not just watch it. This is where the onion volcano comes in.Whe ther you are producing an individual story for TV or digital or you are putting together an hour of news Monday through Friday, you need to ask yourself which parts of the story are going to be remembered. When we go to one of those Japanese grill places, what do we talk about? Sure, we will say the food was good and the chef at the table was funny, but we all remember the fire. Even if we have seen it scores of times, we always wait for and take pictures of the flaming onion volcano. I call it the FOMO moment. We are afraid we are going to miss it. It’s part of the experience.

So, if you want your story to make an impression on younger news viewers, give them a FOMO moment. It’s the one element of the story, whether in writing or video or sound that the viewer will talk about and remember. It could be a sound bite, interview, picture or production technique. It could be your unique standup or maybe it’s an exclusive angle to the story. It is the “experience” of your story or newscast. That is what millennial viewers are craving. Give them a new viewing experience they can share. If you do, they will invest their time with you because, if they don’t, they might be afraid of missing out. Give them a flaming volcano of alcohol and onion along with the great food and drink (your information and facts) and they will watch your stories and newscasts.

Have you seen Ken Burns PBS documentary about country music? It confirms what I have believed for a very long time. If you want to improve your storytelling, listen to country music and feel it. He says it’s the intervals between the notes that tell the story. The same is true for you. The intervals between the copy or the sound bites will give your pieces “soul”.

What we as reporters do on television or radio, internet or over the top is very powerful. If we stay in our “head” and report the facts, we are cheating ourselves and the viewers. If we move our stories to our hearts, we will become powerful influences in the lives of the people who we serve.

Country songs are passionate, personal, emotional and real. We always joke that in country songs we lose the house, the car, the girlfriend, the boyfriend or the job. We lose the will, the loved one or the desire. It’s real life.

When you are assigned a story or you have an idea for a possible story, think about how you would write a country music song about that story. Silly? I don’t think so. That story will move someone or change someone or help someone or convince someone and that is why we celebrate great storytellers. I am not talking about ignoring the facts. I am talking about finding the passion or emotion in each story we do.

So, listen to country music. Listen to the words and the passion. Listen to the hurt or the excitement. Listen to the pain. When you pitch a story at the next morning meeting, tell it like a country song. You will do more than convince the minds of those in charge, you will convince their hearts.

As reporters we use our senses to immediately begin gathering information for our stories, but sometimes what we see and hear is not the whole story. Our own hearts and our life experiences may help us see more of the story than we have ever seen before. Don’t let the obvious lead you to a story with no emotional range.

So, let’s begin developing your emotional range. Start your own life experience checklist. Remember what it felt like to be dumped by a lover or how you felt when you had that car accident. Go back to the time when you got a big holiday cash bonus or when your child brought home her first handmade Valentine’s card. How did you feel when your first child was born? How did you feel when you had your first kiss? If we are going to be great storytellers, we need to experience life ourselves and then draw on those experiences to make our stories better. So, use the experiences in your own life to begin developing your emotional range. Think of how you felt on your child’s first day at school or when your grandfather died and find words in your stories to help us better understand the story you are covering today.

A news director told me that when he is hiring a new reporter, he looks for a candidate with a developed emotional range. They tell more powerful stories, he said. Life is powerful and it should be jumping off the screen when your piece airs.

Conflict is an essential element of most stories, but conflict only scratches the surface when you are talking about emotional range. Conflict is the catalyst for the universal emotions such as fear, anger, frustration, happiness, and sadness. Can you show the quiet sadness or frustration of a family whose life was changed by a tornado? They are not yelling or crying or even talking. Does your emotional range allow you to recognize that emotional numbness?

In order to begin finding and developing your emotional range in storytelling you must look back. Pull out your stories from the past two weeks and look at them again. Think about how you felt about doing the story and then think about how the people in the story felt. Did you capture those feelings? Did you show the quiet frustration of the city council woman who is trying to do something good for her district? Or, did you just do the obvious and show the argument in the council chambers?

Every story we do affects the viewer emotionally. Even the most mundane city council budget story touches some emotion. Hopefully it is told in such a way that it touches the anger button or victory button, but maybe it’s just the boredom button. Whatever emotion a story elicits, it should be an integral part of our storytelling arsenal. But, does your emotional range even allow you to recognize that “feeling”.

Many seasoned reporters can look past the facts of the story into the hearts of people and understand what makes them act. Young, inexperienced reporters deal with what is in front of them and report it. They have not yet developed their emotional range. Start exercising yours. Think about it before you even make the first contact on a story. Where is this story going to take YOU? Emotionally. It will make you better.

(I have been writing stories about some of the stories I have covered so far in my career. Each one taught me something about myself or my profession.)

We can now instantly shoot and send video around the world from our phones. That was not always the case and that made covering news even more of a challenge. You could have the greatest story and the most amazing video, but no one would see it unless you could get it back to the station in time for the newscast. This story is about taking the ultimate risk/reward in order to do your job.
Just over 4 decades ago, in 1977, I was working for WFRV-TV in Green Bay. It was August and that means summer storms in Wisconsin. I had worked all day and was finally home. Dinner was done and we were just watching TV when we saw the tornado warning. It was not to Green Bay yet, but the storm was heading this way.

A short time later the phone rang. The night producer told me to get into the station fast! The boss was sending me and a photographer to Wausau, in Marathon County, where there are reports of a tornado touchdown with significant damage. Wausau is about a 90-minute drive from the station. It was going to be a long night.

I met Chief Photographer Del Vaughn at the station. He already had the car packed and ready. WFRV had just received its’ first videotape news camera. We were going to use it tonight.

Let me outline the tools we had to work with the cover this breaking news. There were no cell phones, just phone booths that took a quarter to make a local call. We had no “live” trucks or microwave connections. We had no computers or wi-fi links to the station. We were heading out into the night to chase the destruction of a tornado with a camera and a pocket full of quarters.
We arrived in the outskirts of Wausau. It was dark. Power was out everywhere, but we didn’t see much damage. We drove to the middle of town and took a right turn and saw the flashing lights on the fire trucks and police cars. The tornado had ripped a patch through a residential neighborhood just west of the city. We got as close as we could, grabbed the gear and headed down the first street. It was the first time I had witnessed the damage from a tornado. It was eerie. We saw a two-by-four turned into a spear that had pierced the side of a metal camper. We also saw a telephone pole turned into a porcupine. When a tornado hits it creates extremely low pressure. That low pressure opens the pores of the telephone poles and the wind blows sticks and straw into the open slots. When the tornado passes, those hole or pores close quickly trapping the debris. The pole looks like it had hair! The power of this storm was amazing. We shot video, did interviews and even told the story of a woman who was found a block from her home still sitting on the mattress from her bedroom. The storm had taken her for a ride. We had great stuff, but no way to get it back to Green Bay. The next newscast was the morning broadcast and we had to stay in Wausau until the sun rose.

We took a break and found a truck stop open near the interstate that runs through town. We were frustrated, we could not get to the station and back in time for the morning news conference, but we wanted our video to get on the air on the morning show in two hours.
There was a truck driver sitting at the next table and I had an idea. I slid into his booth and introduced myself. I asked him where he was heading next. He said, “Green Bay. I am dropping my load at the Proctor and Gamble plant on the east side of town.” The plant was about 5 minutes from the TV station. I took a chance. I grabbed the ¾ inch videotape from the machine and handed it to him. This was our only video and if we lost it we had nothing to show for our long night. I said, “would you drop this at the guard gate when you pull into Proctor and Gamble? I will have someone from my station drive over and pick it up.” He smiled and rolled his eyes, “what’s in it for me?” I laid a $20 bill on the top of the tape and said, “you are going that way anyway, wanna make an easy 20 bucks?” He nodded, grabbed the money and the tape and he was gone. We watched the big rig and our night’s work heading out of the parking lot. Del and I wondered if we would ever see our great video again.

I called the station and told them the plan. If the driver did what he agreed to do, WFRV would be the only station with tornado coverage for the morning news programs. We all crossed our fingers. Del and I went back to work covering the story and about two hours later I called the newsroom to see if our scheme had worked. The driver did exactly what he promised. The videotape was waiting at the guard shack. Our intern picked it up and our stories and video made the morning broadcast. In the end, this storm injured 30 people. Luckily, no one died. Winds were clocked at 150 miles per hour.

We had to cover the story and we found out there is always a way. It was risky trusting a truck driver, but what good is great video if you miss the deadline. For us that night, it was a prayer and a twenty-dollar bill that did the trick.

(I have been writing stories about some of the stories I have covered so far in my career. Each one has taught me something about myself or the profession.)

Fire changes things. It makes food better. It makes dark nights brighter and warmer. It also destroys and frightens. That is what this story is about, the night I was an uninvited guest at a Ku Klux Klan cross- lighting.

In the Los Angeles suburb of Lakeview Terrace, there isn’t much excitement. It’s a neighborhood of blue- collar values, soccer games for the kids after school and usually quiet evenings. It was December 3rd, 1983 and I was working for KCBS-TV. As the investigative reporter for the station, our team was digging into a story that was both dangerous and exciting. I had been approached by a man named Peter Lake. Peter was a freelance journalist with a taste for danger. His previous claim to fame was locking himself in a cage underwater to videotape a killer shark. This next assignment would be more dangerous for him and for us.

Peter had infiltrated a national group of white supremacists. The Aryan Nation group was headquartered in Hayden Lake, Idaho but its tentacles stretched nationwide. It was affiliated with the local Ku Klux Klan chapters including the one in southern California headed by Grand Dragon Tom Metzker. Peter had become the groups videographer and had convinced the members he could be trusted. He was our person “on the inside” while we worked to expose the tactics of this hate group from the outside looking in.I have already written about my face to face encounter with Pastor Richard Butler, the head of the Aryan nation group. He was competing with leaders of the Klan, the Aryan Brotherhood and other smaller hate groups for members and money and attention. (http://tvnewsmentor.com/the-blue-eyed-enemy/) But, on one evening in Lakeview Terrace they all came together to make a statement about their power to terrify.

Peter Lake sent word to me that they would all meet in the backyard of a supporter and light 3 crosses on fire. Cross-lightings have been used for decades to frighten blacks in the south. The crosses would be lit in the front yard of a black family or the supporter of that family. It was meant as a warning. This ceremony in Los Angeles was meant to send a message too, Lake told us. He said they wanted Blacks, Jews and Asians in the area to know they were not welcome. The crosses were scheduled to be doused with gasoline and lit just after sundown. I left the station in Hollywood with photojournalist Eliot Fons. We had worked together many times before, but we didn’t know what to expect tonight. Lake told us that we would have to park several streets away and make our way to the hillside backyard by climbing up a steep slope in the back of the property. If we were seen the ceremony organizers would be angry and he would not be able to protect us. He warned us to be careful.

Eliot and I made it to the property line as the sun was starting to set. We could see several men getting ready to pull ropes and lift the 3 big, wooden crosses into holes dug in the ground. We hid in some thick bushes, trying to remain quiet. We saw them douse the sheet-wrapped hay bundles with gasoline and tie them to the crosses. We also saw our “insider” Peter Lake videotaping it all up close. If they only knew. We stayed hidden in the bushes, just 20 yards from the crosses. When it got dark, the men began coming out of the house and heading to the ceremony location. Some were dressed in leather jackets or t-shirts. We could see their faces. Others were covered head-to-toe with traditional Klan robes and masks. They gathered in a circle around the crosses. I heard the voice of Pastor Butler welcome everyone and thank them for the show of support. It was hard to hear everything from our spot in the bushes, but every few seconds there was cheering and applause. Then several men set the crosses on fire. We could feel the heat. The cheering got louder and louder. We didn’t dare even breathe. Some of the men were assigned as security and they had spread out along the properly line. They had rifles and sidearms. One of them was standing about 15 feet in front of us with his back turned. Eliot had propped his camera next to a log and pointed it at the ceremony. Any movement by us might tip them off.

Then, suddenly, some of the men started running. There were shouts of “police, run for it!” It seems the Los Angeles Police Department had been tipped off about the cross-lighting ceremony, too. Officers were crashing the party and making arrests. We didn’t hesitate. Eliot grabbed his camera and I had the microphone and we jumped out the bushes and began videotaping the chaos and arrests. We had our LAPD press passes around our necks and we managed to stay out of the way for a minute or two, but then we were both grabbed from behind and handcuffed. I tried to plead with the officer and show him my pass, but he didn’t have time to negotiate. He pushed me toward another officer who led me and Eliot to a row of squad cars on the street in front of the house. A sergeant finally came over and we were able to reason with him. He checked our press passes and ordered the handcuffs removed. Then he asked, “what the hell were you guys doing here and how did you know about it?” I said, “same way you did sergeant, someone tipped us off.” He took my business card and warned that the department might want to see our videotape. I warned him back that it would take a subpoena. He was not happy.
Peter Lake was arrested that night, but the video he shot and the video Eliot got hiding in the bushes helped us show the real story of hate that night in southern California.

That was just one of a series of stories we did about the Aryan Nation and the Klan. Peter stayed in the group for another several months, reporting back to us daily and sharing video. I had always read about the life of blacks in the South. To me it was a story in a history book, because I had never lived it. Now I had, albeit in a different way. Now I could appreciate the fear felt by those who are the targets of these hate groups. I will never forget the feeling of the heat on my face as those crosses burned.

(I am writing stories about some of the stories I have covered, so far, in my career. Each one taught me something about myself and the profession)

Sometimes it’s not the story that you remember, it’s the food.

In the late 1970’s, I was a young reporter working for WTHR-TV in Indianapolis. It was December of 1977 and the coal miner’s union decided to go on strike. Southern Indiana is full of coal mines and miners, so this became a major local story.

We left the station very early one very cold morning heading for the union coal mine. It was dark when we left and all we had was coffee to keep us awake and warm. WTHR Photojournalist Pat Thatcher was a veteran and I was glad to have him manning the CP-16 film camera. We knew the miners could be a difficult bunch, especially when they were on strike. Many didn’t see the media as their friend. Many were just tough, hard-working coal miners who didn’t like outsiders from Indianapolis invading their neighborhoods.

We made great time and arrived near the mine entrance about an hour before the first scheduled shift change. That is when the first picket lines were supposed to appear and when we could get our first reactions. Pat and I were sitting in the news car with the engine running and the heater going full blast. It was below freezing. He turned to me and said, “I’m hungry, let’s get something to eat”.
He put the car in gear and headed back toward the main road. He said, “I am dying for some hot biscuits and gravy!” I had no idea what he was talking about. I had never heard of biscuits and gravy! I said, “what the hell is that?” Pat looked at me like I was crazy, “you have never had biscuits and gravy?” Nope, I said. Don’t know what they are but I am willing to try anything. Growing up in Wisconsin, we had cheese curds and beer for breakfast sometimes, but never biscuits and gravy. It’s traditionally a southern dish and this was my first time living outside of Wisconsin, so I was learning all kinds of new things. We pulled into the snow-covered parking lot of the café and, with a sly smile, Pat said wait here I will get you some biscuits and gravy.

This coal miners strike was a big deal. It was not just Indiana miners’ this was what they called a “wildcat” strike of miners in several midwestern states. It was clear the union leadership had little control over the men and that made it dangerous. This was life and death for the workers and no one knew how far they would go to make their point.

I saw Pat push the door open and walk toward the car. He was carrying a brown paper bag, like the kind we used to get at the grocery story. He jumped in and set the bag between us. “Let’s get back to the mine road,” he said, then we will dig in. The car filled with the smell of sausage. That’s what it smelled like to me. During the short ride back to the mine, Pat again was amazed that I had never tasted biscuits and gravy. He said it was a staple in his home growing up and it reminded him of his family.

We stopped at the mine entrance. No one was there yet. Pat opened the paper bag and handed me a plastic fork and a Styrofoam food container. It was hot on the bottom, but it felt good in the cold. I opened the lid and, for the first time, saw biscuits and gravy. It was gray. OH! It smelled great, but it was just a pile of gray slop. Pat said, “dig in” and I did. Cautiously at first, but after the first couple of bites I was hooked. It was delicious! A young man from Wisconsin who moved to Indiana was now becoming more of a southern food lover.

We finished our breakfast and just as the cars of the striking miners began to arrive. We put on our caps and gloves and got our gear from the truck and began working. Our stomachs were full.

The strike was very violent. It lasted over 3 months. During another one of our trips to cover the strike action, the tires on our news vehicle were slashed in a union headquarters parking lot. The miners were feeling the pressure and didn’t want the media to see it. The strike lasted more than a year.

It was a good story but mostly, that day, it was a good breakfast. It’s one I will never forget.

This podcast will help you understand how we got to where we are in broadcast news today

(I have been writing stories about some of the stories I have covered, so far, in my career. Each one taught me something about the profession or myself)

Yes, I Interviewed O.J. Simpson! And yes, I have an opinion about who killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. First, let me share with you the story of how I got the chance to sit down with the man accused and then acquitted of murder. I was living in Elizabethtown, Kentucky where my family and I had just purchased a radio station. It was a major change of life after living and working in Los Angeles for the past 15 years. I went from major market news anchor to local radio station owner. It was a real challenge and we loved it.

It was just before Christmas of 1995. The big story that fall was the Simpson trial. He was found not guilty. Johnnie Cochran said about the bloody glove, “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” The jury did.We had the entire staff of WRZI radio at our rented home on the north side of Elizabethtown. It was the first radio staff Christmas party. We were excited and proud and just getting to know our new family.

About an hour into the party my phone rang. When I answered I heard the voice of a man who I had played golf with in L.A. Tony Hoffman was known as the “King of Infomercials”. He planned and produced those half hour TV ads that sold all kinds of products from kitchen devices to hearing aids. Tony knew I had left L.A. for Kentucky and the radio business, but he said he had a job offer for me. He wanted to know if I was interested in interviewing O.J. Simpson. I didn’t know what to say. My house was full of my new work family and that was the priority now, but the prospect of sitting down with one of the most sought-after news makers in the past decade was too much to ignore. The deal was simple. Tony had been hired by Robert Kardashian to produce a video. Some of the video would include O.J. leading viewers on a tour of his Rockingham mansion and talking about the night Nicole was killed. However, most of the video would be a 90-minute, unedited, uncensored interview with Simpson. The video would be sold by mail-order directly to people interested in hearing his story. I hung up the phone and was stunned. I went back to the party, but my mind was elsewhere.

The next morning, I called my friend and former agent, George Bane. He was the man who managed my TV news career in Los Angeles for the previous decade and a half. I trusted him. He said it was a great opportunity but only if we controlled the interview. We needed to make sure it was journalistically sound.

There was no Facebook in 1995. YouTube was not on the radar. This pre-produced video to distribute journalism was going to be controversial. We just didn’t realize HOW controversial. George negotiated the deal. 90 minutes with O.J. and I controlled the questions. They agreed. We wanted just two camera people, O.J. and me in the room so no one could give him any signals about answers. I wanted it just to be me and him, face to face. Also, we needed to be able to ask anything. Again, agreed. I was hired by Tony Hoffman’s production company as a freelance journalist to interview the man everyone wanted to interview. The plans were made for a trip to Los Angeles in early January. It was difficult, but I had to keep quiet about it in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The story would get out soon enough that a local radio station owner was about to make headlines again.

I arrived in L.A. and went to the Holiday Inn at Sunset Blvd. and the 405 freeway. I spent the evening studying court transcripts and videos. This was probably going to be the first time and, maybe the only time, O.J. Simpson would be questioned directly about what happened. I wanted it to be good. The next morning there was a knock on the door. The man said the driver was ready to take me to O.J.’s Rockingham estate. When I got downstairs, there was a van with the windows blacked out. Reporters had gotten word that there was to be an interview, but they didn’t know who was going to ask the questions. The secret didn’t stay a secret for long. Rockingham was a zoo. In the den just off the kitchen, the TV production crew had the table and the lights ready to go. There were still photographers from People Magazine. They got exclusive access to the video shoot. George Bane, my agent, went down the hallway into the production room next door to the room used by Kato Kaelin. We heard all about it during the trial. I sat down at the small table to wait for O.J. To my left in a glass case was the Heisman Trophy.

He came in. We said hello. I shook his hand. I won’t go into everything in the interview. It’s available for you to see on YouTube. I hope you watch it. It’s good journalism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biwNu5IXI2M

After the interview I was exhausted. My agent took a video copy to put in his safe to ensure O.J.’s people would not edit it in any way before it’s release. We were confident our interview was solid and credible. I asked him if he killed his wife and Ron Goldman. If you watch the interview you can look into his eyes and decide for yourself if he’s lying. I was shuttled to the airport. The plane took off and several hours later I was back in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. It was only the beginning of a swirl of controversy. My small-town radio station became “ground zero” for the controversy over why I agreed to do the interview instead of allowing a major TV network to do it. I agreed because I was given access. I did the right thing. I got the scoop.

Geraldo Rivera was very angry, maybe jealous. Dateline did a story about how I allegedly “sold out” and allowed “the killer” O.J. to make money off the video. I reminded them that he was acquitted. I had to respect the jury’s decision. I just wanted people to have the chance to hear him answer some hard questions.

Someday I will write an ethics essay about this project and the journalism ethics involved. For now, I just wanted you to know what happened. It was a tornado of demands for interviews. It was regular people calling to say I sold out. It was the people of Elizabethtown wondering, sometimes out loud, what the hell was going on at that new radio station on Dixie Highway.
George Bane always used to tell me, “make a splash”. I had done that.

Now, when I am asked “so, did O.J do it?” I have an answer. When we see each other next time, I will tell you that story.

(I have been writing stories about some of the stories I have covered, so far, in my career. Each one taught me something about myself or the profession)

If you want humanity, ask a human question. I learned that lesson in a very embarrassing moment in 1985 while working as a reporter for KCBS in Los Angeles.

It was midday on a Thursday and the Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles issued a press release. A new archbishop had been named and it was a big deal. A bishop from Fresno was going to be the new leader of the church in southern California. The assignment desk called me and ordered me back to the station to prepare for a flight to Fresno to interview Bishop Roger Mahony. He was born in Hollywood and grew up in the San Fernando Valley and would now face the biggest challenge of his life.

Photojournalist Larry Greene and I headed to the airport and landing two hours later in Fresno. We rented a car and heading for the bishop’s office. He greeted us with a big smile. He was one of those people who made you feel instantly comfortable, yet he was all business and he seemed a bit overwhelmed by the media attention. I had prepared the best I could with the limited time I had. We had a great research department at KBCS headed by Lorraine Hillman. She prepared a file of background information about Mahony and his roots in the Los Angeles area. I also read about the controversies facing the church and how they might affect local Catholics. I was ready when we hit the ground in Fresno.

Larry set up the lights and camera in Mahony’s small office while he was out of the room. When he walked in and sat down, the lights came on and the camera rolled. We talked about his background and how he would make the changes some say were necessary in the Los Angeles diocese. We talked about women in the priesthood and immigration. He had just learned of his new job hours earlier and he told me he was just getting his head around his new assignment. He was nice and direct, but there was something missing in the interview. Yet, after about 15 minutes of questioning I said, “thank you Bishop Mahony” and turned to Larry to ask him to turn off the camera. He said “no, not yet”. Larry had one more question. I was shocked! Larry had a great sense of humor and was always pulling practical jokes and I feared this was another one in front of the new archbishop. Larry said, “Bishop Mahony, if Jesus and Superman were in a fight who would win?” It was classic Larry and I was mortified. It turned out to be a brilliant question. For the first time in the interview Mahony’s face lit up. With a huge smile and said, “well, I never really thought about it, but I would have to say Jesus because that’s my job.” His smile was as genuine as his answer. We laughed together. It showed him as a real person and not a religious leader in a black robe.

Larry accomplished what I could not accomplish with my prepared questions. He exposed the humanity in a man who is trained to be restrained and professional. Larry asked a human question and he exposed the real person. If you want humanity, ask a human question. That is what I learned that day.

Archbishop Mahony led the church in L.A. for more than two decades. Every time I saw him, I remembered Larry’s question and Mahony’s answer. It reminded me to break the barrier of what is expected and ask the unexpected.

(I have been writing stories about some of the stories I have covered, so far, in my career. Each one taught me something about myself or the profession)

The advice I got was, “Never ask the Pope a question!”

In 1987, we were preparing for a trip to the Vatican to shoot an 8-part series about the changing Catholic Church. The Pope was coming to the United States later that year, including a stop in Los Angeles. We were working with the press office at the Vatican, hoping to get an audience with Pope John Paul II while we were in Rome. The odds were good, we were told.

One of the rituals when you visit the Vatican as a reporter is a meeting with the Vatican Press Office for an orientation. There are several “official” rules and some “unofficial” rules the press attache’ will never tell you. For instance, you can get access to some secret areas of the Vatican if you make friends with some of the Vatican guards. They are the men who are dressed in the wild costumes and appear to be protecting doors and passageways. They are NOT ceremonial. They are highly trained security agents, but they are also the friendliest people in the Holy City. I worked for CBS News and we had CBS pens and keychains with us. The Vatican guards loved to get the swag to take home to their children. So, when we wanted access to a secret area, we just gave the guards some of the CBS marked trinkets and they worked like magic. We were in.

The major “official” rule, I was told, was how to talk to the Pope if we ever got the chance to meet him. Never ask the Pope a question, they said. So how was I supposed to talk with him? The press representative helping us said Pope John Paul II was very open and friendly, but very busy and always meeting people. So, he said, if we get the chance to be face-to-face with him during an audience or while he is blessing people in Vatican Square, just make a statement and hope it begins a conversation. I call these sport questions. If you listen to a sports reporter talking to athletes after a game they say, “Your defense really stepped it up today.” It’s not a question, it’s a statement and the player or coach agrees or disagrees and goes on to elaborate. You do the same with the Pope.

On our third day at the Vatican, we were privileged to attend a papal mass in St. Peter’s Square. There were thousands of people standing inside the barricades trying to get a glimpse of the Pope. They had been waiting for hours. The Press Office gave us access to the area near the altar where the Pope would walk and bless people lined up along the railing. We were shoulder-to-shoulder with visitors from all over the world. The Pope was their spiritual leader. Some were crying, just happy they were able to get this close to the man they call their “Father”. Larry Greene, the legendary CBS photojournalist, was next to me on the left as the Pope moved toward us along the railing. Larry had the shot and I had the opportunity, but I could not ask a question. I had to get the Pope to talk with me and look directly into the camera. As he got closer, I saw that he was reaching out and touching some of the people. When it got to me, I grabbed his hand and looked directly into his eyes. Larry had the camera rolling and we were both just inches from the leader of the Catholic Church. I said, “Holy Father, we are from Los Angeles, California and the people there are looking forward to your visit in a few months.” He stopped. He smiled and said, “I am truly looking forward to visiting with all of you in Los Angeles. Please give everyone there my blessing. I will be with them soon.” He gave us his blessing, let go of my hand and moved on down the railing. If I had asked a question, I am told, he would not have answered. But, because I made a statement, the Pope was comfortable delivering a message to the viewers I was there representing.

What is interesting, and other reporters will agree, is that when you are in the “moment” and doing your job you don’t think about the consequences or significance of it. We were working hard. We were in a huge crowd. We were trying to make sure we got what we needed to tell the story. I didn’t realize how that moment, holding the Pope’s hand and talking with him, would stay with me and affect me.
I was raised a Catholic and the Pope was always a mythical figure living in a mystical place called Vatican City. Now, I had met him. I tell my friends that there is something special about a Pope because you do feel you are in the presence of something more than just a leader of men.

I didn’t ask the Pope a question. Sometimes you must know the rules and sometimes the rules work for you. And, if you must break the rules, it’s always good to be able to say the Pope is your friend.