Alissa Krinsky
TVNewser Contributor
ABC’s Bill Weir is co-anchor of Good Morning America‘s weekend editions, and a correspondent for various ABC News programs. He also anchored ABC’s limited-run i-Caught program, showcasing internet video. Weir, a Milwaukee native, began his television career at KAAL-TV in Rochester, Minnesota, before moving on to stations in Green Bay, Chicago, and Los Angeles. He’s a graduate of Pepperdine University.
1. TVNewser: After asking for three years to report from Iraq, my first trip there — reporting on the war’s fifth anniversary in March — was…
Weir: A chance to see every human quality — fear, hate, greed, honor, compassion — amplified. You lose all faith in humanity by noon and have it restored it by nightfall. It is a physically awful place, but the rubble and sewage are nothing compared to the complete lack of trust between Iraqis, contractors and troops. Until I went out on patrol, I didn’t fully understand that the real mission impossible is overcoming five years of bad blood. Many of the same soldiers who kicked down doors in the invasion are now having tea with last year’s enemies. I have fresh awe for the troops who continue to step up while their mission keeps changing.
And I have new respect for the people who spend months, sometimes years, in Baghdad bureaus. The simplest story is a logistical nightmare. Before you can visit a neighborhood, a security team spends three days scouting the route to make sure the checkpoints aren’t manned by kidnappers in uniform. Once you finally get through the multiple vehicle searches and pat downs, you have 20 minutes to shoot the piece and get out before becoming a sitting duck. The military bureaucracy is maddening, the heat is relentless, blowing sand fills the air, the food, your clothes…and if anyone asks, I’ll take the first flight back tomorrow.
2. TVNewser: Having filed reports from other far-flung locations (including Tibet, Egypt, Dubai, China, and Madagascar), my most interesting assignment so far at ABC News:
Weir: Riding in a 1972 French helicopter across the width of Madagascar, twenty feet off the tree tops with the doors off. We landed in villages where a bicycle is considered cutting-edge and the locals treated us like The Beatles at Shea.
In terms of exotic flair, Madagascar has it all: plants and animals that live nowhere else in the world, paranoid politicians, crazed gem hunters, environmental catastrophe.
But in terms of scope, it’s hard to beat the economic story in China and India right now. My favorite cocktail party stat is this: India and China have 2.5 billion people combined — eight times more than the U.S. — but they only have 10 cars for every 1,000 adults. America has 1,200 cars for every 1,000 adults. Think the price of gas is high now? Just wait until they really start to live like us.
3. TVNewser: The i-Caught show and website have capitalized on the viral video phenomenon. The impact of this development on the TV news world is…
Weir: …Either an incredible opportunity or a death knell for our profession. If Politico.com can give The Washington Post a run, it is only a matter of time before a savvy vlogger uses reporters on video cell phones to reinvent the newscast at a tenth of the cost. But until the economics shake out, it is more of a resource than a game-changing threat.
YouTube is nine parts echo-chamber, one part inspiration factory, but if you can stand an hour sifting through the clips you’ll find five story ideas. We do a segment on Good Morning America Weekend called ‘Your Week in Three Words.’ Viewers upload clips of themselves holding hand-lettered signs like “It’s not cancer” or “Miss my Marine.” One week’s messages will influence the next, and the conversation continues. It is simple and powerful and it is just a taste of what’s possible if we can harness the flood of user-generated content.
4. TVNewser: I’ve reported while underwater at the Great Barrier Reef, and from literally on top of Golden Gate Bridge, experiences I found…
Weir: Exhilarating. Especially when the bridge workers showed me how to answer coffee-and-nature’s call from a tiny platform 800 feet above San Francisco Bay. Wind permitting, it is now my goal to do the same atop the Sphinx and the Eiffel Tower.
5. TVNewser: My Midwestern upbringing — and my time spent working for stations in the Midwest — shaped me…
Weir: Humbly. I still have the urge to get in the front seat of a cab. And since a bratwurst doesn’t require cutlery, I find multiple forks confusing.
But I have nothing but fondness for my early career memories: One-man-banding in the snow with those 95 lb. Ikegami cameras and decks. Live shots from the Spam Jamboree in Austin, Minnesota. Driving to the Upper Peninsula to interview a guy who shot a 13-point buck through his kitchen window. And Chicago! Everyone should do their best to work on the air in Chicago at least once. You’ll never go thirsty.