Expert: Patrick J. Murray - 5/13/2011

Question
Hi Patrick,

I have been reporting for an online news site for almost two months now and have amassed a lot of footage.  The guy I'm working for (you could call him the news director) won't give me my videos.  I mean, he's been claiming he would for weeks, but every time I back off, then ask again he gets angry and gives me some excuse.  Yesterday was the third time I approached him in a nice, non-confrontational way, just repeating that I need it for my portfolio, but it's the same story.  One of the times he even said acted suspicious and said, "It sounds like you don't want to work with me anymore." (True I don't, but I never gave him a hint about that).  

Regardless of what he thinks, I have a right to my stuff.  Every reporter who works at a station gets their footage to add to their demo reel.  This is outrageous.  Yesterday, he came up with a new excuse, that my timing wasn't good and he was borderline yelling at me.  He is definitely protesting far too much.  

I really don't know what to do at this point and would greatly appreciate your advice.

Thanks,
   Sky

Answer
Hey Sky,

Thanx for stopping by.....

Sounds like your news director is a little testy - yikes! Probably working a lot and stressed to the max...

I will guess that your news group has undergone a lot of folks who have left or there has been some transients in the group for them to act like that. And if you bring up the idea of acquiring your material for your portfolio, this represents yet another person heading for the door... I could be wrong but that's what it sounds like...

So if you are getting no assistance in your quest there, I would ask, do you have an operations manager or another editor who could retrieve your material without the news director knowing? I am used to news rooms where the director oversees the product, but rarely is involved in the hands on as other folks will perform that part of the job. Those folks then dub off material or even the reporters themselves have access to make copies.

I would ask if you have that opportunity - to somehow burn a DVD off the originals located somewhere in the server you are using. If not, you may have to continue going to the gatekeeper to see if you can get in to retrieve them.

Now if everyone else has access and you don't, that is another issue. He cannot play favorites nor can he exclude you from that group of folks he does allow to retrieve material. That would actually be illegal. If he withholds it from everyone, then that is a different story.

Is there something else afoot here? Some other issue that is between both of you that is creating this air of friction that you can think of? From my end, I have to figure that if everyone else is receiving their video, and you ardent with the above explanations, some other dynamic may be happening here.....

I hope this sort of helps, but ultimately you know it comes down to you and your superior and the relationship that you forge together. I hope that the air gets cleared for you and you can continue to pursue putting together your portfolio.

If you have any other thoughts on this, stop on back and we will see what we can do! Best of luck!

Patrick Murray