I first met Hal [Fishman] sometime in the late 1980’s when I was trying to get a job at KTLA. He was an icon. I had grown up watching him deliver the news back when Channel 5 was part of Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasting.
Hal viewed my audition tape and decided I looked too young.
"You don’t have enough credibility," he told me. "Maybe you ought to wear glasses."
Well, I do wear glasses now… not because of Hal’s advice but because my eyesight’s getting worse.
The story demonstrates how much Hal cared about credibility. He was passionate about it. He believed in Journalism and The News, capitalized. Those of us in broadcasting had an almost-sacred task of delivering important information to the viewers so that democracy could survive.
Joe writes: "Would you rather have Lauren Sanchez on channel 13 telling you about the mayor’s sex problems with a suggestion that she is available for you to boink or Hal Fishman telling you the same thing but with a condescending smirk."
