What We Can Learn from Rick Sanchez

I had an interesting discussion with my friend Glenn Garvin, who writes about TV for the Miami Herald. He was doing a column on the comments that led to the dismissal of presenter Rick Sanchez from CNN. TV insiders just love to badmouth Rick, as a blowhard who rode the social media train all the way to his own show called "Rick's List." While others were dismissing Twitter as a geek fad, Rick embraced the 140-character conversation. His bosses were willing to overlook his past sins because he was on the cutting edge of audience interaction, until his comments about Jews and the media crossed the line.
Read more in Glenn's column.
What I'd like to add is the lesson here for anyone who makes their living in front of the camera. News directors and GMs are constantly demanding that their talent be more "conversational." This is, in part, a response to the demands of multimedia. No longer is the on-camera host announcing the news from the mountaintop, like Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News in the 1960s. Now, we are having a conversation with the users who are just as likely to view us on a palm-sized mobile device or a giant HD screen, and may choose to talk back via Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. News people and hosts must project the image of someone we'd like to meet for coffee. Someone who is "just reading" is considered a parody of credible news presentation, the equivalent of a news anchor Barbie or Ken.
But while we are making more of an effort to engage the users in a parasocial relationship, we have to remember that we are still expected to be polite guests in their media space. In other words, you still need to have the internal filter that every broadcaster carries into the studio: the self-censor that prevents us from using cuss words in front of a live microphone and helps us leave our personal opinions at the door of the studio when reporting the news. Broadcasters may be dressing more casually to present a more approachable image, (see earlier post about anchormen losing their ties) but that doesn't mean we can be casual about the content, whether it's scripted or adlibbed. Further, it doesn't matter if you are appearing as a guest on someone else's show, as Sanchez was doing when he made the ill-advised comments. Your personal brand follows you everywhere. It used to be possible to say one thing on TV and another thing privately to your family and friends. Not anymore. You never know who's listening and sharing. My company specializes in preparing on-camera anchors, reporters and hosts for success in the multimedia world, and avoiding this type of meltdown.
As for Rick, I competed against him when we were both anchoring in Houston. I have a feeling that somewhere in the multimedia world he'll land on his feet, again.