So there’s print journalism –a noble and wretched profession I once practiced -and then there’s tv news, which has been scientifically proven to kill brain cells and make you stupid. Other than weather reports, local tv news is informative in the same way that cigarettes are nutritious.
So it’s almost unremarkable that Giovanna Drpic, a reporter for CBS46, has been given a brushback by the Georgia State Senate’s Press Office. (I know what you’re thinking. ‘How do you pronounce that?’ and ‘What the heck is a CBS46?’ and ‘Hassinger must be high on cough syrup again.’ Bear with me, please.)
Giovanna Drpic is the political reporter for a local TV station in Atlanta called “CBS46.” If you’ve never heard of “CBS46” you’re in the same boat as 99.8% of everyone in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area, because on a scale of 1 to 10, WSB ranks 14, WAGA ranks around 8, WXIA is a 4.5 and CBS46 is the letter “S.” As in “Sucks.” Georgia has 56 State Senators, or roughly double the number of viewers of CBS46 on any given day. Ms. Drpic, a proud Croatian American who landed at Atlanta’s most obscure TV station after stints in Huntsville, Memphis, Orlando and New York, appears to have some professionalism issues that led to a warning from Georgia’s Senate Press Office (SPO) that said in part:
“…you reportedly ambushed a Senate Member for an interview despite ignoring specific instructions from SPO regarding the interview… You responded by barging in with your cameraman and insisted on rolling film… When reminded that we’d requested a meeting… you became combative.”
Full letter below.
This isn’t the only time that Ms. Drpic has been called out for obnoxious, unprofessional behavior (the letter from the SPO refers to “the second time in as many sessions…”) and she’s been the subject of handwringing and eyerolling for other lame stunts since she before she became a “political reporter.” And while any reporter in Atlanta can be aggressive in “asking the tough questions” or “holding the powerful accountable,” it appears to be her shtick, and CBS46’s effort to regenerate the ratings of Ben Swann’s tinfoil hat.
That’s probably not going to work, as she’s no Dagmar Midcap.
Maybe that’s how they do it in Croatia, or Huntsville, but acting the clown with the media staff who are in the business of helping reporters get access to the politicians who make news will guarantee that access goes away, and that one’s latest stint at a ratings-free TV station in the 9th largest media market in the country ends quickly. Because even if you are unschooled in courtesy or basic human decency, you have to learn to pretend that you are.