Questions answered
The thing about working with journalists is, we don’t like an unanswered question.
Where someone in another line of work might muse aloud about something they see or wonder about and then move on, we will search relentlessly for the answer. With that in mind, I need to tell you how our colleague Ann Doose helped the entire 680News staff this week!
Every once in a while the fire alarm goes off in our building. In the control room, where our shows originate, a light flashes like a slow strobe. Sometimes it goes on for a long while. Occasionally we look out the glass walls and see our co-workers leaving the newsroom. While you have to have a certain amount of trust that they won’t leave you to be barbecued, you still have to wonder a bit when you aren’t actually told that things are going to be okay.
It happened again this week during the midday show, on which Ann doose is an anchor. Later, once she had left the station, Ann happened to see a firefighter. So she asked him about our lot in life in an office building downtown. We are on the fifth floor. What would happen if we needed to be rescued? It turns out, Toronto Fire has a truck right around the corner from us that reaches up to the seventh. We’re saved! Ann has been spreading this information and easing the minds of those of us who have wondered.
If you have a question, ask a journalist. They won’t rest until they find you the answer.
August 17th, 2007 at 4:14 am
Interesting “we don’t like an unanswered question” is just half of the process. I have personally witnessed interviews by journalists, heard the answers given, and was shocked to see how badly the story was reported. It would seem that in many cases, concern for deadlines over powers the need for accuracy. I have a tough time believing anything that is reported these days. I wish you luck if you should have a fire, hopefully that fire station (or police or EMS station) isn’t closed during the next round of budget cuts.
August 18th, 2007 at 4:57 am
Oooh, I do love a cynic!
After the questions and answers come editing.
No one is perfect.
Thanks for writing and I think now I may invest in a very long rope ladder to tie on the studio window ledge.
Cheers,
Lisa
August 25th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Well, I’m certainly glad that you will be saved since the ladder goes to the 7th floor, however, be sure you dont visit the 8th floor! Speaking of unanswered questions; What ever would become of those above the 7th floor?
August 27th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
They would be brought down by firefighters to the lower floors. Rogers has very well organized exit strategies in case of emergencies. Every division has a captain, etc.
People in offices on other floors, higher and lower, tend to be better informed about what’s going on than those of us in the studios because the sound to the outside world is cut off for us. My issue was with the spreading of information! Now we know that even if we didn’t know for sure what was going on, we would get relief at the sight of a firetruck with a ladder on it.