It’s one of the least favorite calls you can get…The News Director says, “Can I talk to you, we want you to do a story”…rut roh! – red lights flash, you kick into defense mode…you know this can’t be good…who got arrested?…who’s getting divorced?…it’s never good, it just isn’t…But, if you want to last more than a week and a half, you at least listen before saying no…In some cases, saying no too many times, leads to the label “not a team player” and eventually no contract extension, but i digress…
Take the the case of Dale Hansen, sports anchor at WFAA in Dallas…seems the News Director at WFAA wanted Hansen to do the story about Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who was surreptitiously videotaped while at a bar…Jones, obviously inebriated, railed on Bill Parcells and Tim Tebow, among other things in a videotape, seen first on Deadspin.
Hansen refused… Let the games begin…Fearing that one of their competitors would do the story, the News Director reiterated his “request”…Hansen stuck by his guns…And not only did he refuse, but Hansen commented about it during his “Unplugged” segment on the news…Here, Here!….now, maybe Hansen’s 27 years with the station gives him the power to do that, but let’s not lose the message here – sometimes the sports people know how to do their job(s) better than their bosses!…
