Media Savvy: Hard times for hard news

Naj Alikhan stood in a rural Yolo County field in the predawn hours, waiting to begin his live shot. He had the look and demeanor of a serious broadcast journalist – dressed in coat and tie, holding a microphone in one hand and a notebook in the other.

It was early August 2005, and Alikhan was reporting on West Nile virus spraying, a subject that had caused considerable controversy at the time.

But this was "Good Day Sacramento," Channel 31's popular morning show, where the silly always trumps the serious. So while Alikhan was waiting for his cue, practicing the correct pronunciation of the pesticide "pyrethrins," one of his producers was whispering another type of advice in his ear:

"C'mon, Naj. Do it. It'll be great. Just slap your neck in the middle of the report. It'll be hilarious."

Naj didn't do it.

Alikhan, 30, filed a straightforward report, sans mosquito slapping, then headed with his photographer back to Sacramento to chase down news about a car crashing into a suburban garage.

Yes, this was what it was like being a serious, hard-news reporter on a show that, during this month's sweeps alone, featured Mark S. Allen setting himself on fire, Chris Burrous delivering beer to the homeless and any number of reporters breaking into dance moves at the drop of a cliché.

We use the past tense here because, about a month ago, Alikhan walked away from the morning madness.

His contract with "Good Day Sacramento" and CBS sister station Channel 13 ended and, in the euphemistic world of local TV news, Alikhan found himself "on the beach" – meaning looking for another TV job.

Though he now is gainfully employed in the press office of the Service Employees International Union chapter in Sacramento, Alikhan is a newsman at heart.

The problem, some would argue, is that the news has changed, that local TV reporters who play it straight are shunted aside for those with flash and panache and who entertain more than inform.

Alikhan is not the only recent local example of hard news getting the short shrift.

When Channel 3's award- winning investigative reporter Josh Bernstein left for a similar position in Phoenix, he decried the lack of serious enterprise reporting in Sacramento.

"I'd like to see more commitment – not just here at KCRA but at every station in Sacramento – to investigative reporting," Bernstein said of his experience in this market. "That's a way a station can make its mark in this market, because, frankly, we don't see much of it here."

Lovers of hard news likely took note of the recent exodus of three of Channel 13's most dogged reporters – Charlotte Fadipe, Bridget Cannata and Serene Branson.

"I grew up here watching the guys at Channel 3 and News10, some of whom are still there," Alikhan says. "There was a way to do the news. You give it credibility. You take it seriously."

A dream job

For Alikhan, returning to his native Sacramento in 2004 to work was a dream come true. He had been on the staff at WCNC in Charlotte, N.C., an NBC affiliate that has a solid reputation in the business.

"One of the reasons I came back here was that KMAX (Channel 31) really wanted to increase the credibility of the news operation," Alikhan says. "Did I stick out like a sore thumb? I did. I was the only one who wore a shirt and tie every day. I think the viewers respected what I did."

But there were times Alikhan had trouble respecting what he did.

His first week at Channel 31, he was pulled off a car crash on Interstate 80 to do a live shot at the California State Fair.

The assignment: feeding a bear cub with a baby bottle.

Memorable moment of the assignment: "There was this baby tiger sniffing me from behind the whole time," he recalls, laughing.

You might say that served as Alikhan's baptism into "Good Day's" soft-news aesthetic.

"I remember calling some of my colleagues in Charlotte and saying, 'Please, for the love of God, do not let any of the hard-news people see that (bear cub) clip online,' " Alikhan says. "One friend e-mailed me back and said that everybody in the (Charlotte) newsroom was called over to see it."

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Sam McManis, (916) 321-1145, or e-mail him at smcmanis@sacbee.com. Read his blog postings at 21Q (www.SacTicket.com/21q).