Jim Watkins

Governor Paterson And Reporting Rumors

2010-02-08T23:01:43Z

A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way. ~John Tudor

Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell. ~Shana Alexander

First of all, I want to make clear that I’m not here to report on rumors about New York Governor David Paterson. No, I’m here to report on the reports of rumors about Paterson. It’s a subtle difference. Very, very subtle.

But it’s put every news organization in a peculiar quandary the last two days; namely, there may be a big story brewing involving the state’s chief executive, but nobody can say what it is, or even IF it is. There are just a lot of…rumors. Here’s how the ever-factual Associated Press is handling it as of Monday afternoon:

ALBANY, N.Y (AP) - A spokeswoman for New York Gov. David Paterson is calling rumors about his personal behavior "absolutely false" and says he will not resign.
Paterson spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein made the statement Monday.
Rumors around the Capitol and anonymous reports in some media outlets about Paterson personal conduct come as he considers seeking election later this year.

Did you get that? Governor Paterson is not going to resign! But what is he not resigning over? “Rumors around the Capitol”? “Anonymous reports in some media outlets”? His “personal behavior/conduct”? All of which tells you absolutely nothing. I wouldn’t resign over nothing either.

]]> Which is maybe the point. A politician as wounded as David Paterson might be seen by his enemies—and to read articles like this, he’s got nothing BUT enemies—as needing just one more nudge to ruin even the faint hope he still holds that he can win a full term in November:

“As Paterson has slowly progressed as governor, projecting leadership though still struggling to assert his will on crucial issues, the personal and political toll on him has been striking: A man who only two years ago was one of the most popular in Albany is now reviled by his former colleagues. Those are good enemies to have, but one result of Paterson’s calamitous time in office is that he has become more isolated, trusting an ever-smaller cadre of aides even as he’s desperately in need of allies.”

-New York Magazine

Although he still lags far behind Andrew Cuomo in a hypothetical (since Cuomo still hasn’t declared his candidacy) primary contest, Paterson has been picking up a few more approval points in recent months, mostly by standing up to legislators over the state’s fiscal crisis. Maybe his enemies want to nip any “comeback kid” narratives in the bud, and widespread rumors about an impending resignation, duly picked up and repeated in the media echo chamber, would more than do the trick. Would you give money to a candidate you’re hearing might not even be making it to the end of his appointed, abbreviated term?

We’ll have to see what finally gets reported, if anything, about Paterson’s “behavior” to put all these pieces together. But when the initial story is the rumors themselves, the truth might turn out to be anticlimactic, and--in terms of ruining Paterson’s political career—redundant.

The Snow Channel

2010-02-05T23:02:32Z

Snow is on the way. You might have heard something about that. You might have heard nothing else but that for the past two or three days. Indeed, impending bad weather, followed by bad weather itself, are two things local media can never be accused of under-covering. The reason for this, I think, is that in today’s demographically-divided, multicultural, 500-channel niche media world, the weather is the last thing we all have in common, and experience together at the same time. That and watching the Super Bowl. And maybe “Jersey Shore.”

There seem to be two schools of thought for how viewers regard the local media’s saturation coverage of snow storms. On one side, people like it, appreciate it, and can’t get enough of it. It helps them plan for changes in their routines, informs them about closings, and keeps them up on traffic and transit problems. On the other side are those who say, look.. it’s winter. It’s the northeast. It gets cold and it snows, sometimes a lot. Get over it. What else happened today?

]]> Here at PIX News, of course, we see things through the perspective of the first group. I’ve come to believe that weather coverage is the kind of thing local news does best: we can be immediate, we can deliver minute-by-minute updates, and, most importantly, we can show folks what’s going on out there. Television loves nothing better than a “good visual,” and heavy snow delivers some of the best visuals of all, from cars slipping and sliding, to kids sledding. If you boil down the essence of television news to “hey, folks, take a look at this,” a snow storm is our time to shine.

But I can also understand why other viewers say it’s overkill. What do you think? Is the heavy coverage of snow by local television news appropriate, or is it too much? Leave your comments below. Your thoughts about “Jersey Shore” are also welcome.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Don’t forget to tune in to PIX 11 tomorrow morning from 6 to 9. It’s a special report. On the snow.

Vaccines, Autism, and Blame

2010-02-02T22:38:24Z

What one journalist is calling “the greatest health scare of recent times” is over tonight. Maybe. Well, probably not.

I’m talking about the news today that the British medical journal “The Lancet” has completely retracted findings it published in 1998 that vaccines administered in early childhood are linked to autism, and the increasing incidence of autism. The vaccine issue has roiled the autism community ever since. No, “roiled” is too gentle a term. It has been World Wars One, Two, and Three, pitting autism families bitterly against one another, and alarming doctors who have witnessed growing numbers of parents not getting their children vaccinated at all.

]]> Let me put my cards on the table. I’m the parent of a child with autism, my 12-year-old son, Liam. He was diagnosed right after the Lancet article came out. I have never suspected vaccines to be the cause of his condition. I have heeded the immense amount of research on the issue over the last decade, the vast majority of it finding no link between the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and the onset of autism symptoms. Now with today’s retraction of the Lancet article, I’m more certain of my position than ever. But many parents, I suspect, will not have their minds changed.

One of the hardest parts about having an autistic child in your family is that you have no idea why it happened. There’s no known cause, no cure..in short, no answers. It’s a mystery inside a mystery inside a mystery. There’s nothing to blame, nothing to point to and say, “that’s what put us here, that’s what has changed our lives forever, that’s what has my handsome boy unable to talk or take care of himself in the simplest ways.” Nothing. I can understand why people cling to the notion that there’s an identifiable, tangible cause of what they’re going through. It’s human nature.

But at some point, the science has to be considered. It’s not an abstract argument; more time and money spent exploring a possible vaccine link is less time and money spent on finding possible genetic or environmental causes, less time and money spent on taking care of the multitude of children who now have autism, and planning for their needs as they enter and go through adulthood. I want researchers to find what we really should be blaming for this epidemic, and I want them to agree. For many parents of autistic children, it’s the only kind of closure we can hope for.

Liam Watkins

Ripped Torn

2010-02-01T22:46:41Z

Not again, Artie!

As some of you might know, Artie was the name of the wise and all-knowing executive producer character in “The Larry Sanders Show,” a comedy send-up of late night talk shows that aired on HBO during the 1990’s. Not to overstate the matter, but it was one of the best shows ever on television. Artie was played by Rip Torn, who’s in the news today after his latest alcohol-related run-in with the law. This one was a doozy:

SALISBURY, Conn. (AP) — Actor Elmore "Rip" Torn has been charged with breaking into a Connecticut bank and carrying a loaded handgun while intoxicated. State police say the 78-year-old Salisbury resident was arrested Friday night after police found him inside the Litchfield Bancorp with a loaded revolver.”

]]> Apparently he was so drunk, Torn thought the bank was his home, and he had already taken off his coat and boots when cops arrived. The whole thing has me thinking of Otis the drunk from “The Andy Griffith Show,” but the gun takes any comic charm right out of the equation here. So do Torn’s three previous drunk driving arrests.

He may end up behind bars. It’s sad. I don’t have any insight or wisdom about the situation to impart other than that. But I’m sure Artie would have.

The Trials On Trial

2010-01-28T23:02:17Z

I’m going to spare you my thoughts today, and ask for yours. As more politicians weigh in against having the 9/11 terror trials in lower Manhattan—Mayor Bloomberg yesterday, Governor Paterson today—and as people who live and work downtown plead for a change of venue to spare them years of disruption, what’s your opinion? Has it changed since the Justice Department first announced last year it would hold the trials here?

]]> We’ll read some of your comments on tonight’s “PIX News at 10.”

iwant one

2010-01-27T21:58:46Z

Okay, I’ve seen enough. I want one. Or, I should say, iwant one. Talking about the new Apple ipad, of course, unveiled today by Steve Jobs in typical bombastic fashion, with techno dorks around the world just shivering in anticipation.

]]> Well, I’m no techno dork—maybe some other kind of dork, but not techno—and I got some shivers myself when I watched this Apple’s quickie video intro to the new product. Check it out yourself…. I’ll wait.

This thing is coooooooooool, people. That’s really about the only knowledgeable review I can give at this point, not actually having used or even held the ipad itself (it ships in 60-days). But I can see why folks who do know what they’re talking about are saying it’s going to be a game changer for web browsing, book and magazine reading, emailing, gaming, and photo sharing. Even if it’s just seen by many as a glorified iphone or itouch with a bigger screen, that’s okay; I think there had to be a point where consumers would want to use certain apps, watch movies, and view websites on something larger than a smart phone LCD.

But that leads to my one doubt about the likelihood of the ipad becoming as ubiquitous as ipods and iphones: you can’t just slip it in your pocket. In other words, the bigger screen is the key selling point, AND the key disadvantage. Is it truly a whole new kind of mobile marvel, or is it a slicker, smaller laptop?

What do you think? Non-techno dorks should feel free to comment.

Raising the Friendship (Dun)Bar

2010-01-25T23:10:44Z

I’ve always said it: you can take the boy out of the Neolithic village, but you can’t take the Neolithic village out of the boy.

]]> Or something like that. New research is out today confirming old research—in fact, it’s by the same researcher—that should allow you once and for all to shut the yap of your cubicle mate who loves to brag that she has more Facebook friends than stars in the galaxies. An Oxford University professor named Robin Dunbar found:

“…the size of our neocortex - the part of the brain used for conscious thought and language – bestow us with a limited capability of remembering up to 150 important relationships. In addition, he cited that this number has remained the same, even with the influence of social networking sites like Facebook, Bebo and MySpace.”

In other words, if you have 1000 Facebook friends, at least 850 of them are “friends” only in the loosest definition of the term, most are barely even acquaintances, and a majority of those scarcely rise to the level of “some dude I met at a party.” Professor Dunbar, an evolutionary anthropologist, came up with the 150-figure in the 1990’s—before social internet sites existed--and it’s actually known in academic circles as “Dunbar’s number.” He maintained then, and still does now, that the number of so-called “important” relationships cannot exceed their evolutionarily-based correspondence with the size of a Neolithic farming village, a unit of the Roman army, or a modern office environment.

Makes sense to me. The only problem I have with this research is that the 150-figure seems way high to me. I have about 30 Facebook friends, a number that seems to be holding steady since I hardly ever logon to the site. And I count only a tiny percentage of those as “important relationships” in the Dunbar-ian sense. Maybe that means I’m anti-social, but I prefer to think my ancient ancestors simply hailed from a much smaller farming village. Or that my neocortex has issues.

Fatal Ad-traction

2010-01-22T22:16:20Z

Remember when going back to your wife after an affair with an unstable woman could get your kids’ bunny boiled? Now you get billboards and websites. Crazy revenge love, like everything else, has gotten media-savvy.

]]> Of course, “Fatal Attraction,” the movie where the spurned lover commits rabbit-cide, was fiction. This situation in the news today, where the former mistress of a software executive put up midtown billboards showing the couple in happier days, is real. A woman named YaVaughnie Wilkins bought about a quarter-million dollars worth of rented signage showing her and Oracle President Charles Wilson, with the line “You are my soulmate forever” imprinted across the top. Mr. Wilson released a statement acknowledging the affair, he’s apparently reconciled with his wife, and one can only guess to what degree, if at all, this billboard situation ruined his day.

It’s all very curious. All that money to put up billboards which, as is now being reported, are already being taken down. Why do I get the feeling a reality show called “YaVaughnie” is being pitched to cable networks as we speak?

No Coffee Breaks During Emergencies

2010-01-21T23:10:34Z

The two city medical workers accused of refusing to treat a dying pregnant woman are back on the job, and giving their side of the story. They say that while they were waiting in line during their morning break at a Brooklyn Au Bon Pain restaurant, they were told an employee needed an ambulance. They claim they called in the emergency, and then left because there was not a sense of urgency being conveyed by anyone. (Other witnesses say they told employees they were on their break, and that someone at the restaurant needed to call 911.) The stricken young woman, Eutisha Rennix, died a short time later—of asthma, an autopsy would reveal—along with her unborn baby.

Something bugs me about the EMT’s story: if someone tells them a person needs an ambulance, I think that in itself conveys a sense of urgency. But as Jason Green and Melisa Jackson tell it, they never even went to go have a look at Rennix. They say they called it in, then left. Besides, they claim, even if they had gone to look at her, they say they didn’t have the proper equipment to treat her.

]]> Records show it took an ambulance eleven minutes to arrive at the restaurant, by which time Green and Jackson were back at their office. Eleven minutes that poor woman could have at least had the comfort of knowing emergency “professionals” (quotation marks significant) were there with her, even if they didn’t have the “proper equipment.” I think the “proper equipment” in this situation would have been a compassionate presence, at the minimum.

It may be impossible to prove their actions, or lack thereof, increased the likelihood of Rennix’s death. They may be guilty of no crime. But even by their own accounts, they failed to do the right thing, professionally and morally.

Be Careful With Strollers (And Everything Else)

2010-01-20T23:04:36Z

Another year, another recall of millions of child strollers because they can injure or even amputate the fingers of children in the hinge mechanisms. This time it’s Graco strollers; three months ago, it was the more upscale McClaren models. Graco today is telling its customers to stop using the strollers immediately. My question is, how many parents do you think will follow that directive?

]]> I’d say a handful, but no more, and here’s why: everybody already knows on some level that things like the metal folding hinges found on nearly every stroller made can be dangerous. Shoot, back when I was pushing my kids around in Graco strollers, I’d get my own fingers pinched trying to get those confounded things to either open or close. It’s simply one of those potential dangers that we all face, adults and children, as we go through life. I doubt there are millions of families tonight who are shocked, shocked to hear that their toddler’s comfy pram can double as a guillotine under the wrong circumstances.

In fact, news reports about the Graco recall say five children had fingers cut off, and two others got cuts. That’s just terrible, and if the government and the manufacturer find that worthy of a recall, so be it. But it got me wondering about other “finger” dangers kids get exposed to, like getting their little digits caught in car doors. Here’s what I found:

“According to a report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly 150,000 people in the U.S. are injured every year by closing car doors.” Autoblog.com

That statistic isn’t broken down to show how many small children are affected, but I’m guessing it’s a significant percentage, and I’m further guessing some of the injuries are extremely serious, up to and including loss of fingers. But you can’t recall every car because that danger exists; you just have to be careful. Like with strollers.

The Curse of the Elected

2010-01-19T22:52:36Z

Congratulations to Chris Christie, newly-inaugurated governor of the great state of New Jersey. I wish him well. And I wouldn’t trade places with him for anything.

]]> In fact, I can think of nine-billion reasons I wouldn’t want his job, not-so-coincidentally the approximate dollar amount of the state budget deficit, the elimination of which, I’m guessing, sits at the top of his “to do” list. From his speech today:

"The era of runaway spending and higher and higher taxes has not worked," he said in prepared remarks. "We have the largest budget deficit per person of any state in the union. We have the highest tax rates in the nation ... Today, a new era of lower taxes and higher growth will begin."

Ah, so easily said, so brutally difficult to execute. Fortunately for him, he’s got one thing on his side, as do many governors and mayors across the country at this point in our history: there’s no room to run anymore; no more budget gimmicks, no more fee increases here and tiny little sales tax increases there. It’s over. Now, there can only be cutting, cutting on a large scale. Many people will hate him for what he has to do. Call it the curse of the elected.

This editorial written the night before Christie took office spells it out pretty clearly:

“The governor-elect will face some very difficult choices this spring when he prepares next year's budget. Fed-up taxpayers should remember, as the budget process drags out, that New Jersey needs a major course correction from the free-spending path it has long traveled, and that that course correction means some services will have to go and some people will have to lose their jobs.”

It needs to be done and it's exactly what New Jerseyans elected Christie to do.”

CourierPostOnline.com

Doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? Good luck, Governor Christie.

The Unusual Suspects

2010-01-18T22:50:29Z

It happened again over the weekend. At JFK, a Haitian man and part time NYC resident, perhaps understandably disoriented leaving his earthquake-ravaged country a few hours earlier, walked into a restricted area at the airport after not seeing a sign barring access. You know what happened then: Terminal 8 went into lockdown, flights were delayed for over two hours, people who had already been screened by security had to be rescreened. I believe the operative word on the news is “chaos.” The reason the errant gentleman claims he went out the wrong door? He thought it was the way to find a taxi.

]]> Now go back two weeks, to Newark Airport. A man walked past a security checkpoint when the guard strolled away briefly, shutting down an entire terminal for six hours. The reason this guy went in the out door, or out the in door, or whatever? To exchange a few more hugs and kisses with his departing sweetheart. (Some reports likened it to the final scene in “Casablanca,” when Humphrey Bogart bade farewell to Ingrid Bergman in the moments before she would fly out of his life forever. After all, Bogart’s character, Rick, was flaunting Nazi security procedures to get Ilsa, Bergman’s character, on board the plane. No doubt his actions would have resulted in numerous delays to flights leaving Casablanca later that night, and Rick surely would have faced trespassing charges at the minimum had he not shot the Nazi major who was arriving to address the security breach).

So one man shuts down an airport terminal looking for a cab, another does it looking for a kiss. We don’t need more body scanners to protect the nation’s airport security system. We need more people who can read signs. Here’s looking at them, kids.

Trauma Even After Happy Ending

2010-01-15T23:07:00Z

As the survivors of US Airways flight 1549 celebrated today the first anniversary of the miracle landing on the Hudson River, it may seem as if it would be an occasion for unrestrained joy. After all, everybody on board that plane beat extremely long odds to survive the watery crash landing, one of the few successful such landings in the history of airline aviation. Captain Sullenberger and his crew have become internationally renowned for what they accomplished. One man and woman who were on the plane have even fallen in love after getting to know each other at earlier reunion gatherings. They all cheated death! Happy happy, joy joy… right?

]]> Well, not exactly. When our reporter Emily Frances interviewed some of the passengers and crew at the premiere of a documentary on the Hudson landing several weeks ago, I was completely taken aback to hear many of the survivors talk of their ongoing bouts post-traumatic stress, depression, and phobias set in motion by what they’d been through. Here’s an article worth checking out:

“Months after the crash, Doreen Welsh had a panic attack when she inhaled a little water in the shower. Anastasia Sosa no longer finds swimming fun - it feels too much like survival training. And Jorge Morgado can't bring himself to get back on a plane.

“A year after the 155 people aboard crippled US Airways Flight 1549 survived a splash-landing on the frigid Hudson River, some are suffering the psychological aftereffects of their terrifying descent and harrowing evacuation.”

If you’re like me, you’d like to think—you might even assume-- that every person who was on board that plane gets out of bed each day with a big smile on their face, just happy to be alive, when, according to all reasonable expectations, they shouldn’t be. But I’ve learned from reading about what these people have been through, is that it doesn’t work that way. Trauma is trauma, even if people survive it. It’s a fascinating lesson in how the brain processes fear, in both the short and the long term. And I expect it’s something psychologists will be studying for years to come.

Leave me your thoughts: are you surprised that so many people who lived through the Hudson landing are still haunted by fears to this day? If it was you on the plane, do you think you’d still be wrestling with post-traumatic stress?

Mets Champs In Fight Against Autism

2010-01-14T22:25:00Z

The Yankees got the parade up Broadway for winning it all last year, but on days like today, I want to have another parade for the Mets. I know, I know, they’ve disappointed on the field more than fans would ever like, but those same fans can take pride in the constant public service efforts made by the organization and its players.

]]> Today, three Mets—Pedro Feliciano, Omir Santos, and Howard Johnson visited the New York Child Learning Institute, a school for children with autism in College Point, Queens, just down the road from Citi Field. It’s where my son, Liam, goes to school, and every day, my wife and I are grateful that he does. It’s a fantastic school, and today the kids, as well as the wonderful teachers and staff at NYCLI, just had a ball. I’m including a little video here so you get an idea of what it was like.

The visit was also an effort to preview the next Autism Awareness Day at Citi Field. It’s set for Saturday, May 8th this year, and as soon as a website for ticket sales goes up, I’ll pass it along to you. If you have a child with autism in your family or in your life, I urge you to come to that game; it’s a day when people with autism and their families and supporters can go out and have fun at the ballpark just like anybody else.

And finally, just to let you know how many people DO have autism touch their life: in chatting with Omir Santos today, he told me the visit meant a lot to him, because he has a cousin with autism. He said when he looked into the faces of the NYCLI students, he also saw his cousin. That meant a lot to me, and I think being at the school meant a lot to Omir, as well. Thank you, Mets, and thanks to all who help to improve the lives of children with autism!

Tears for Haiti

2010-01-13T21:50:37Z

The phrase “life is not fair” could serve as Haiti’s national motto. I’ve never been there, but as a news person have watched and reported over the years as one political, economic, and natural disaster after another struck the poverty-stricken island nation. Now comes a major earthquake, causing major destruction, and massive loss of life.

]]> In the PIX newsroom last night, we were talking about how we didn’t know that Haiti was even susceptible to having earthquakes. I’m sure that was ignorant from a geologist’s point of view, but who could blame us? There hadn’t been a quake this big on the island for 200-years. Even Haitians who must have thought they’d seen every misfortune possible hit their country must be having trouble processing this. And the pain and worry felt by Haitian immigrants living here in the New York City area, and other parts of the U.S.? Unimaginable. Living far from your homeland has to be one of the most difficult of all human experiences; living far from your homeland that was just hit by an epic natural disaster, where you can’t contact the people you left behind to find out if they’re alive or dead? The worry, the guilt, and the anguish would be hard to bear.

I’m going to see some of those people myself in a few minutes; we’ll be broadcasting “PIX News at 6:30” live from the Haitian Consulate on the east side. I will carry in my heart the good wishes I know all of you want to convey to those suffering from what must be immense worry and fear.