There was less awkwardness for Mike Fierberg, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, the government entity created after 9/11 to keep airports and other transportation hubs safe. After getting his TV start in 1976, Fierberg took a job with Channel 9 in 1983, moving five years later to Channel 4, where he was a business reporter who placed a big emphasis on aviation. "I think I can claim the dubious distinction of doing more live shots from DIA and Stapleton than any other reporter in Colorado," he boasts. So when the TSA needed someone to communicate with the press in a six-state region that encompasses Colorado, Fierberg was a natural -- and he was available, because Channel 4 didn't renew his contract last year. Steve Lusk, who, like Fierberg, was a Channel 4 reporter in his fifties, received the same treatment. When asked if he felt age was a factor in his release, Fierberg declined to comment.
Dave Minshall was more verbal when, in 1996, Channel 7 cut him loose. He sued the station for age discrimination, and after a seven-year battle, he was awarded over a half-million dollars. To keep himself solvent in the meantime, Minshall founded Minshall Media Strategies. Under this umbrella, Minshall does public relations and conducts seminars intended to help the uninitiated deal with the press. "The first thing I tell people is to always be honest, to think about what you're going to say before you say it, and to keep it short," he says. "Most people want to sit down and talk to a reporter for an hour about whatever it is they're supposed to talk about, but the most you're going to get is one sound bite on television or two quotes in a newspaper. So you've got to take control of the interview. The reporter wants to talk about what's important to him; you need to talk about what's important to you."
Brett Amole
Gina London said goodbye to CNN and hello to CRL.
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Nonetheless, Minshall and his fellows claim to eschew spin, with Webb going as far as to say, "I regard spin to be an obscenity." Their logic is simple. As journalists, they knew when someone was trying to spit-shine a turd, and they didn't like it; hence they are convinced that such manipulations are counterproductive. As CRL Associates' London puts it, "My goal is to give reporters as much information as I can about our client's position and what's going on in the world. I'm a great backgrounder, which is why you never see my name in print or see my face on TV."
That wasn't always the case. For CNN, London covered major events such as the Bill Clinton impeachment trial, the 2000 election fiasco in Florida, and 9/11, but in the end, she was worn down by pace and politics. "It's really grueling to be on general-assignment breaking news," she says, "and in TV, it's so incredibly competitive. If the guys like you one day, they may not like you the next -- and that's especially true for women." She's far happier at CRL Associates, which affords her the opportunity to look at the inner workings of business and government in ways that weren't open to her as a reporter: "I've learned more about how a city works in the two years I've been with CRL than in the twelve years I was in the news business -- because now I'm sitting at the tables where some of this amazing news is made."
On the other hand, London doesn't believe that working at CRL is all that much easier than what she did for CNN, and DPS's Stevens says, "I work much harder here" than he ever did at the Post. But UCD's Ames is already reaping the benefits of trading in her press card for a spokesperson's nameplate.
"I had Thanksgiving off, I had Christmas Day off, and I didn't have to work on New Year's Day," she says. "This is proving to be a lot more reasonable way to live."
