Prior to the 80s, when it came to the news, sources were limited. For most Americans, the daily newspaper was the go-to medium for “reliable” information. At least, that’s what we thought at the time. We had no reason not to trust The Boston Globe, New York Times, Chicago Tribune and countless other big city newspapers. From the late 50s to the end of the 70s, people gathered around the tube and trusted the word of Huntley and Brinkley and Walter Cronkite. We received our news in a nice, neat, no frills package—no gimmicks, no opinions, no expert panel—just the news. Cronkite was once referred to as “the most trusted man in America.” He kept us updated on big news events including the moon landing, JFK assassination, Vietnam War, and President Nixon’s resignation.

Nixon, on the other hand, was one of the first notable persons to refer to reporters and journalists as “the media” as his distain for the press blew up after the release of the Pentagon Papers and during the investigation of the Watergate break-in. In 1972, Nixon told his confidant Henry Kissinger, “never forget, the press is the enemy, the press is the enemy…write that on the blackboard 100 times.” It may have been the first instance where the “reliable sources” we’ve counted on were being brought into question. The cracks now appeared in the foundation.

When News Became Not News

Once the 80s awesomely rolled around, we became inundated with talk shows, including the new category of “shock” or “trash” TV. Led by Jerry Springer, Geraldo Rivera, and Maury Povich, the airwaves were filled with topics revolving around sexual perversions, religious cults, and lying, cheating spouses duking it out on live television. After years of trusting the words of talk show greats like Joe Franklin and Edward R. Murrow, the infestation of the tabloid shows also brought into question the legitimacy of the content being served before us. Crack.

But, some shock hosts were legitimate news reporters prior to this nose dive into garbage entertainment. Springer was a political campaign advisor for Robert F. Kennedy before he was hired as a news reporter for WLWT (NBC) in Cincinnati, Rivera broke in as a reporter for WABC-TV in 1970, Povich was a news reporter for WWDC and WTTG in Washington, D.C., and his wife Connie Chung, was a long-time, respected journalist on several networks.  There was also Morton Downey, Jr., a disc jockey and wannabe singer who had a short stint on KFBK with a talk show and was soon fired and replaced with Medal of Honor recipient, Rush Limbaugh. Phil Donahue, who started his talk show in the 60s covering respected topics in current events and politics, later followed suit with the trending times and covered many taboo topics in the 80s.

The fact that people actually watched this gunk was only part of the problem, but some actually believed what they were hearing and seeing. And why not? Many of these talk show hosts, as we mentioned, were journalists and reporters at one time. The non-believers, remained faithful to Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings when it came to reporting truth to the masses. They were the big three of network news throughout the 80s.

The trash TV era still reigns strong today with Povich, Springer and a host of new “personalities” paired with a slew of “Judge” shows which spawned from the 80’s hit “The People’s Court” featuring Judge Wapner. Judges! Who can be more reliable and truthful than a judge…right? The seeds were planted and the weeds had grown high, camouflaging reality with an alternative façade that would soon be called…well, “reality TV.” Crack…crack.

The Birth of the 24-hour New Cycle

With the launch of CNN in 1980, the era (or error) of 24-hour news cycle had begun. CNN’s broadcasts started out with opinion-free news from well-respected journalists such as Bernard Shaw, Lois Hart, Dave Walker, and later, they added well-known radio interviewer Larry King.  But out of tragedies such as the Gulf War, O.J. Simpson murders, and the attacks on 9-11, came new shows that made Wolf Blitzer, Greta Van Susteren and Nancy Grace household names.  MSNBC and FOX News both launched in 1996 and we were now drowning in a 24-hour spin cycle of information. Not all necessarily news, but entertainment created for ratings and to keep your attention by any means possible.

By 2007, MSNBC had been accused of leaning left in the political spectrum. They soon parted ways with Tucker Carlson, who later joined FOX News, and adding liberal commentator, Keith Olbermann. FOX, on the other hand, was not shy about its right-leaning agenda as they placed Republican media consultant Roger Ailes at the helm as its CEO.  As the Network thrived, Alan Colmes left the highly praised Hannity & Colmes show as the liberal commentator. He was not replaced, and FOX News seemed quite comfortable in their conservative threads.  Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly went on to develop extremely popular shows, which are often mistaken for news, along with The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, Don Lemon’s CNN Tonight. Today, most of these shows focus entirely on politics and report very little on national or international events unless they are of high-importance (like global pandemic).

The years of Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings were now gone for good and, though anchors such as ABC’s David Muir and NBC’s Lester Holt, are trying to maintain a format similar to the big three, many siphon their daily information from cable news and consider these outlets to be their “reliable sources.” Crumble.

The Death of MTV and the Birth of Reality TV

Not too long after Walter Cronkite said his last, “and that’s the way it is…,” MTV (Music Television) launched in August of 1981. After many successful years of chart-topping music videos, MTV decided to go into uncharted territory (no pun intended) by adding game shows and other programming to its lineup. In 1992, The Real World debuted which followed the “unscripted,” “real” events surrounding a bunch of teenage friends. What significance does this have to the search for “reliable sources?” Well, MTV may be the true epicenter of the “reality TV” explosion. The success of The Real World led to a massive change in the way we watch TV today. From Survivor to Keeping up with the Kardashians, so much of what we watch today is based in this false “reality” format. Even shows about animal doctors, treasure hunts and polygamist families are set up so to appear to be happening in real time. MTV realized the goldmine it had discovered and ditched their music format around 2001.

The important point in bringing up MTV is that so many of these “reality TV” shows that spawned from The Real World have the essence of believability to them. People believe that treasures are found on Storage Wars and Pawn Stars or that ghosts were found Ghost Hunters. Producers want you to believe that what you are seeing and hearing is real. I think that’s important to note.

A New Medium of Misinformation

By the early 90s, a new medium launched in the form of the World Wide Web.  In the beginning, there was very little regulation and the internet was filled with bad neighborhoods of hate groups, perverse pornography and conspiracy theory sites. It didn’t take long for people to become swayed away from their normal “reliable sources” and get caught up in a whirlwind of far out-of-the-box points of view and flat out false information.

Then came the birth of social media. After MySpace died a quick death, Facebook launched in 2004 and soon people could create their own little bubble of friends and family to share ideas, politically opinions and photos of breakfast, lunch and dinner. But, there were no regulations in place stopping people from creating groups and memes promoting false information. Now, the majority of users certainly would never replace the newspaper or evening news with something Uncle Bob said on Facebook, but as the platform grew, so did the amount of misinformation. After the 2016 election, Facebook was put on trial to respond to why its platform did not stop Russian groups from posting misinformation campaigns.

In addition, posts from deep web, extremist groups to opinion blog posts were going viral leading to dangerous levels of falsities. Twitter emerged in 2006 and reduced the world’s attention span to just 140 characters. Twitter allowed for everyday people to connect with celebrities, sports figures, journalists and politicians and curate specific subjects with the help of the #hashtag. In the midst of what looked to be the decline of the platform with the emergence of Instagram, Snap Chat and Whats App, Twitter became the communication tool of choice for President Donald Trump. They soon up the ante to 280 characters. From 2016 on, Trump used the platform to reach his base and encouraged them not to believe traditional news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC and newspapers such as The New York Times and the Washington Post.  He referred to their coverage (which often did not favor the President’s agenda) as “fake news”. He often called the press on Twitter as “the enemy of the people.” Sound familiar?

And there it is, now the “reliable sources” of information we depended upon had for so many years had been called into question, this time on a greater stage, as Donald Trump continued campaign rallies long after winning the presidency. Now what? Crack, crumble, crumble.

The Division

With the election of Donald Trump as the 45^th President of the United States, the country became more divided than ever. Many longtime friends were lost on social media due to picking opposite candidates. Dinner tables became quiet and I wouldn’t be surprised if some marriages broke up. But, something else happened. The cable news networks went after each other too. Before, there was this unwritten rule about mentioning competing stations or seeming uncivil to the news anchor across the isle who leaned a different way. Trump’s attacks on news media outlets, newspapers and journalists called into question whether the “reliable sources” many depended upon for years were actually telling the truth or were they spewing “fake news.” CNN anchors attacked the credibility of FOX News anchors and visa-versa. Anchors such as Sheppard Smith who refused to follow a particular agenda when reporting the news, left FOX News after 23 years.

Just reading Facebook posts, I have never seen such division based on what a particular network was telling them. People went about their daily lives and spread information based on what news network they found to be a “reliable source.” Now the calls were coming from inside the house. Crack, crumble, crack.

A Tested Time of Crisis

So, now in a world where everyone is getting their information from different outlets, what happens when a real crisis hits and people need a “reliable source” to depend on for their own well-being?

Say hello to COVID-19, aka the novel coronavirus, the first pandemic to hit the world since 1918. At the beginning of the crisis, cable news organizations were greatly split. CNN and MSNBC were being accused of spreading fear and overreacting to the capabilities of this virus. Some FOX NEWS and right-wing radio hosts claimed reports about the virus were an attempt to bring down President Trump. During a rally in North Carolina on February 28, Trump called the left’s criticism of his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 response as “their next big hoax.” Oh, there’s more…

On March 9, FOX Business reporter Trish Regan said the coronavirus was “yet another attempt to impeach” Trump.

On March 10, Sean Hannity said on FOX News that the left was using the coronavirus as a “political weapon.”

The folks on FOX & Friends on March 13 touted that it was “the safest time to fly” despite warnings about COVID-19.

The aftermath, Trish Regan was fired for her comments, everyone else comfortably kept their jobs.

It was during this moment I realized the true damaging effect of having too many sources of information.

Folks on the right relied upon the President’s words and the conservative media as their “reliable source” of information. While others depended on left-leaning networks, podcasts, blogs, websites, and so on as their “reliable sources” of information.

So, here is the vital question: How do we get important, TRUE and reliable information to the masses during a crisis when everyone believes what they want to believe?

Whether it’s Anderson Cooper, Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity or whoever, in an emergency like a pandemic, earthquake, hurricane, war etc., people should be able to depend on TV news anchors and personalities to supply them with reliable, truthful information.

Even on April 17, 2020, as I write this story months into this pandemic, information is all over the place. Many who watch CNN believe testing for COVID-19 is lacking and opening up government is too risky as FOX News viewers are being flooded with “open up America” stories as protesters take to the street and the President touts “liberate America.” How does it end? What does your reliable source tell you? Only time will tell. And that’s the way it is…

September 2012

Time to say, “Not in my backyard!”

When it comes to terrorism and hatred, we often focus our attention overseas. Yet, everyday, in our own neighborhoods, Americans are displaying acts of hate toward non-Americans and Americans alike. What’s the reason for this hate? It’s because as humans, we are all different. We have different views in the areas of race, religion and sexual preference and what seems ok to us, doesn’t sit well with others. And instead of just being tolerant and accepting of other’s belief systems like many, some individuals and groups feel this way of life is wrong and must be stopped by any means possible.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, in 2010, 1,949 law enforcement agencies reported 6,628 hate crime incidents involving 7,699 offenses. There were 6,624 single-bias incidents that involved 7,690 offenses, 8,199 victims, and 6,001 offenders.

2011 stats are still being broken down, but nevertheless, the stats are astronomical:

 

Racial bias

In 2010, law enforcement agencies reported that 3,725 single-bias hate crime offenses were racially motivated. Of these offenses:

• 69.8 percent were motivated by anti-black bias.
• 18.2 percent stemmed from anti-white bias.
• 5.7 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).
• 5.1 percent resulted from anti-Asian/Pacific Islander bias.
• 1.2 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native bias.

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement.  A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

• 65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
• 13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
• 9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
• 4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
• 3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
• 3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
• 0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.  (Based on Table 1.)

Sexual-orientation bias

In 2010, law enforcement agencies reported 1,470 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias.  Of these offenses:

• 57.9 percent were classified as anti-male homosexual bias.
• 27.4 percent were reported as anti-homosexual bias.
• 11.4 percent were prompted by an anti-female homosexual bias.
• 1.4 percent were the result of an anti-heterosexual bias.
• 1.9 percent were classified as anti-bisexual bias.

 

Hate crimes is one thing, but also in the mix are organizations that develop out of pure hatred for a group of people. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an American nonprofit civil rights organization, noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; its legal representation for victims of hate groups; its monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and its educational programs that promote tolerance counted 1,018 active hate groups in the United States in 2011. Of those, 84 of them are in California alone. That’s the largest amount in one state.

Now the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list includes anything from Neo-Nazis, to groups who want to keep illegal immigrants out of the country, to religious groups that feel homosexuality is a sin. Everyone’s opinion of what defines “hate” varies. Going through the list yourself, you can form your own opinion on who the true haters are.

That being said, for the record, I believe in freedom of speech. But, I also believe hate can lead to violent acts against our citizens (as seen in the stats above) and I believe that people need to be aware that these organizations exist in their neighborhoods. So here is a rundown of a few:

 

1. The National Socialist American Labor Party, (Neo-Nazi) resides at928 N. San Fernando Blvd, Suite J143, Burbank, California  91504(americasvoice@nsalp.org). They don’t advocate any illegal or unethical activities, but you can listen to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” on the website and see many other racist remarks and deplorable cartoons. Wow!
2. The American Third Position, (White Supremist) are based in Vegas (american3rdposition.com), but have groups in California including in San Diego and Westminster. Their Mission Statement spouts: Parts of our beautiful country now resembles Third World communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. White people are already the minority in many cities and counties…enough is enough! Unreal, and they have a Presidential Candidate who you will never hear of.
3. The Institute for Historical Review,P.O.Box 2739 Newport Beach 92659 ihr@ihr.org describes itself as a “public-interest educational, research and publishing center dedicated to promoting greater public awareness of history.” According to their “history,” big chunks of what really happened during the Holocaust are missing. Their so-called “scholarly body” has links to Neo-Nazi affiliates.
4.  Concerned Citizen’s for the First Amendment, Hemet,(anti Islamic)why does this sound familiar? Oh, maybe because this is the organization run by Steve Klein, the consultant on the film whose trailer portrayed the prophet Mohammed as a philanderer who advocated child abuse. The 13 trailer sparked deadly protests in the Middle East which led to the death of U.S. diplomats in Libya.
5. Voice of Reason, Pasadena, Radio broadcast of white supremacy. Look at the line up: Jamie Kelso is formerly from the Church of Scientology, now a white supremist. Here’s a connection, he is a director at the American Third Position (mentioned above). Also, the Marc Weber Report. Marc Weber is the director of the Institute for Historical Review (also, mentioned above).

Oh, how it all comes together to one big happy family of hate. For the whole list, visit: www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map#s=CA.

Hatred is something that shouldn’t have to be tolerated, and though these groups are protected by the First Amendment, there are ways to take action:

1. By supporting those who are victims of hate crimes
2. By reporting instances of hate crimes in your community
3. Get involved: http://www.splcenter.org/get-involved/your-community

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.—Mahatma Gandhi

Customer Service? What’s That?

These inspiring words from Gandhi give us a pretty precise idea of what the philosophy of customer service was in a time really not long ago, but seemingly so far away. Other old-school notions such as “the customer is always right” has faded away like Gandhi himself, which leads us to the ultimate question: What happened to customer service?

I worked in a department store in Philadelphia called Strawbridge & Clothier. Strawbridge’s, as it was locally called, was a multi-level beautiful structure in a style similar to the old Macys stores. The merchandise sold was considered classier and the ambience a bit classier too. You felt welcomed when you walked into this family-owned establishment and were often greeted by the Strawbridge family themselves, who chose to be among the shoppers over hanging out in a luxury penthouse suite.

Today, you are lucky to get a greeting in most stores. Instead are followed by leech-like employees looking to make a commission, or watching your every move to make sure you don’t shoplift a pair of $20 underwear. Cash register personnel are often low paid, miserable individuals who spend their hours day dreaming of that “someday” that they will get out of “this place.” The days of “thank you” and “please come again” have gone away thankless.

Not the best example (but one I’ll use anyway) is my recent experience at 7-11. The attendant seemed perturbed that I was actually asking him a question about a product. I guess I threw off the conversation he was having with the voice at the other end of the Bluetooth attached to his ear as he looked at me grimly and said, “I don’t know.” The woman behind me stepped up and said what I should have, “Just because you are a miserable person doesn’t mean you need to take it out on customers.” How true?

Ah, the cell phone, Bluetooth and self-service—yes, technology has played a part in the demise of customer service. Supermarkets have added self-serve areas. Now we have to scan and bag out own items. Gas stations are mostly all self-service and attendants have developed a reputation for ripping people off. (Did you really need a new filter?)

It is hard to speak to a real person these days, and often when you do, you are speaking to someone in another country and language barrier hold us hostage in longer, drawn out calls of re-explaining your situation.

Despite the banking bailout 3 years ago, Bank of America (America no less) has been on the firing and hiring binge—firing Americans and hiring overseas, mainly in the Philippines—where they can get cheap labor. Oh, and they get what they pay for. Wells Fargo followed suit outsourcing jobs to India and the Philippines. Then there are the robots, or automated customer service systems, where a real person is eliminated and replaced with a option of push-buttons and a voice command system. In many cases, the voice command system fails to do one important thing…understand your voice. 

In a study released in April 2012 by the research firm, Vocalabs, 11.14% of Hewlett Packard customers complained about language barriers, followed by 7.28% of Dell customers. Citi Group was cited as having the worse automated customer service system, with Verizon in at a close second. Among the highest complaints from frustrated customers using automated customer service systems:

1. The system didn’t have the option they were looking for.
2. They had to call back and start over.
3. It was hard to reach a real person.

I had this experience recently with a company called Bill Me Later. When I called, the option I needed was not an option at all, and there was no prompt to speak to a real person. After hitting “#” and “0” several times, I finally tricked the system and someone answered. The other thing I noticed about my experience with Bill Me Later, is when I said the words, “I’ll never use this service again.” There was no effort made by the call rep to maintain me as a customer. It’s equivalent to saying, “So what? Leave.”

Back to the Gandhi quote: We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.

 A concept that has totally gone out the window, especially in the food service and clothing industries. Have you ever been at a counter ordering food and felt rushed to give your order and step aside? Or had some snooty clothing store person treat you like you should be privileged they let you walk in their store? Attitudes like this are all to common in today’s world.

But is it too late to change the gruesome fate of customer service? No, bottom line, the numbers should reflect how much good customer service means to people. A company called BIGinsight compiled a list of companies for its Customer Choice Awards.

The Top 10:

1. Amazon.com

2. L.L. Bean

3. Zappos.com

4. Overstock.com

5. QVC

6. Kohl’s

7. Lands’ End

8. JC Penney

9. Newegg.com

10. Nordstrom

Now according to Forbes, Customer service in the conventional sense has generally implied face-to-face communication: greeting a customer; providing him/her with product information, demonstrations, additional options, or size assistance; suggesting add-ons or complementary products; and finally, completing the sale. Historically, the best opportunity to cultivate great customer relationships is within an environment where personal interaction between the retailer (i.e. sales associates) and customers is at its peak: a physical store.

That being said, how could an online service top the charts? Well, simple put, it adjusted to the times and gives people what they want now, which is quick, reliable service, a good automated system, and the option to have a customer service rep call you. Good thinking! And it’s working.

Topping the list of poor customer service are banks, insurance companies and telecommunications companies. The MSN Money Hall of Shame lineup includes: Bank of America, (remember them, they were mentioned earlier), listed as the worst in customer service. Also in the top 10: AOL, Citi Bank, Comcast, Chase, Farmer’s and Progressive Insurance, among others.

But why banks? Bankers were always portrayed in old-time movies as great customer service providers to the people. Right?  In a recent Time magazine article, banking analyst Dick Bove explains his theory, “For the last 40 years I believed the quality of the product was the key determinant to the success of the company,” he says. “There’s no evidence in the U.S. banking system that offering a labor-intensive personalized service is successful in terms of letting the banking intuitions survive. It’s very costly with virtually no benefit,” Bove says.

So maybe for your banking experience, there may be no hope for quality customer service. But the banks too may crumble. And, someday, somehow, maybe some of the immortal words of yesteryear will reign once again. Like Walt Disney once said, “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” That’s what true customer service does!

This may need a part II