boarding the Secretary of State’s plane
Today I embark on a decidedly old-media journey. I’m heading to the Middle East with the Secretary of State, that will include stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, and the West Bank. Once again NBC is VIP pool for this trip, which means we represent all of the US TV networks.
On this trip, I won’t be doing any video blogging. On the last trip, there was concern expressed by some of the other networks that my mini-DV footage wasn’t immediately distributed to the pool. NBC did distribute the video, and for the life of me, I cant’ imagine that my blog video will do anything other than sit in libraries unused. So for now, I’ll maintain video silence.
Besides I’ve brought work to do on the plane. It’s a long flight, and Chris Brogan reminds me that I’ve got plenty of work to do!
Sadly the NBC News family received horrifying news today. Friend, colleague, and former producer for Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams, Eric Wishnie, was killed in an accident in New York City early this morning. I’d worked with Eric on many occasions, always on extremely high pressure jobs involving anchors, Presidents, and other VIP’s. Despite the pressure cooker environment of these assignments, Eric was always extremely generous and thoughtful. I can tell you from years in the biz, at that level you don’t have to be kind. It’s just the few remaining PROS who are.
So that’s all from the flight line of Andrews AFB. The Secretary of State is on her way. Next stop, the Middle East.
