workplace

Ah, the office holiday party - it's a delicate operation. After all, you know these people - in fact you probably spend one-third of your life with them - but do you really know them? Do you want to? If my experience is anything to go by, it's only sheer effort that's kept your opinions of how the boss really ought to run the company quiet. Ditto your feelings on your cube neighbour's BO, ugly baby or sloppy work.

And yet, every December the powers that be decide to round up this unruly group in a hall or hotel conference room, serve them drinks and expect them to get along without embarrassing themselves.

If it wasn't for television, it would be impossible.

Shocking Public Service Announcements (PSA) are common in Canada. For example, a few years ago in Quebec, we had a TV ad that contained real footage shot during a daring car stunt that went terribly wrong (the teenage driver died while doing the stunt) so that teens would be "scared straight" by seeing how stupid and deadly reckless driving can be.

The latest shocking PSA TV ad campaign comes from Ontario and is called "Prevent It." These PSAs, which have been airing for a while now, feature shocking and gruesome scenes showing what can happen at work if you don't ensure safety is everyone's primary concern.

Another State member makes good. Like Michael Ian Black, David Wain, Thomas Lennon and Michael Showalter before him, former sketch comedy troupe member Ken Marino has signed a pilot deal with Comedy Central.

Marino, who has been guesting on Reno 911 and Veronica Mars as of late, has signed to create Out of Bounds, a behind-the-scenes workplace comedy. The setting - a Long Island sports radio show. Marino will portray one of the hosts of "Ball Talk" - a small market show with big time aspirations. The funny comes from the hosts' extreme publicity stunts and interviews between an in-character Marino and the not-in-character star athlete guests.

Men are becoming the minority in newsrooms across the country. According to the Radio-Television News Directors Association, 42% of anchors are men. That's down from 46% in 1996. One of the reasons? The ultimate goal for many male journalism students is in sports. But, sports is a dying genre at local news stations across the country. Another reason, stated in an article in the Boston Globe, is that anchoring isn't really as manly as it used to be back in the days of Walter Kronkite and Edward R. Murrow. They were a breed of anchor who came across as tough on government corruption, whereas anchors these days are pretty boys who are more even-tempered and less aggressive. News readers, really.

While it's nice to see that women are kickin' butt in television, it's also a sad commentary on the role of the anchorman in our society and in news in general. These days the anchors are hired as personalities, not news gatherers.