8/26/2008

This is the Democratic National Convention so you would expect media from all over the United States but it literally is from all over the world. I can’t remember how many of these conventions I have covered but I do know, there was never this much international coverage. We share a trailer with a crew from Australia as well as stations from New York, Houston, Texas and Los Angeles. But across the way is Univision, the BBC, there are Japanese, French, Swedish reporters, all covering the history making event: a person of color winning the presidential nomination of a major political party in America.

Then there are the number of reporters and anchors of national stature you see, walking the grounds, eating in the tent, with the rest of us…people like Charlie Gibson of ABC, who tells our photographer Damon McGhee, to call him Charlie since Mr. Gibson is his father……running into Sam Donaldson...brows firmly furrowed, looking crisp in his suit in 90 degree temperatures…Brian Ross of ABC …and then there are the others you see racing into the Pepsi Center: Ted Koppel, Brian Williams, Katie Couric.

For me it also has been “old home week” I keep running into people who used to work for WSB…Sandra Bookman and I both screamed when we saw each other and hugged. She used to be our weekend anchor but for 10 years has been the weekend anchor at WABC in New York. Every time I’m in New York we can’t see each other because of her work schedule, so this was a welcome surprise. She still has the most stunning hair and hardy laugh. And reporter Tracy Haynes gave me a big hug, and said he’s doing well in his new spot in Birmingham.

Now let me let you in on working conditions. The compound where we work is trailer city but it is not without its problems...remember we are in trailers. And our workspace is a six foot rectangular table, squished into a corner. There are five of us in the small space: producer, Brian Lazaro, reporter, Lori Geary, photographer-editors, Damon McGhee and Billy Hong and me. It is tight but we get a lot done, despite some challenges. We’ve had audio problems, trying to do our live shots from Pepsi Center. Then the weather in Atlanta took precedence over our reports at 6 , as it should, so all of our work went on the web…which is fine because we have a lot of hits. And tonight, the entire compound is dealing with the portable toilets, literally exploding. Sewage was everywhere but because of security, it took almost two hours from the company to come and clean up the waste. Of course, this event led to many comments about the media being full of …sugar, honey ice tea. The odor is breathtaking. But the news and the convention go on.