Another firefighter animation video makes TV. Albuquerque chief gets the xtranormal treatment. But Dave wants to know is it news?
The text to movie animations from xtranormal have been out for a while. You can see many versions using the firefighter character on Facebook and YouTube. You will even find a few from me produced during my reckless youth, long ago (okay, it was last year or earlier this year, but that nasty Fire Critic was asking for it). They have been used by firefighters as an often anonymous way to poke fun and/or vent frustrations. On a couple of occasions the videos have made news. Usually involving a complaint that someone went too far and disciplinary action was taken.
On Friday, another fire service related xtranormal video made the news. This one in Albuquerque, New Mexico where firefighters have been battling it out with their chief and the mayor over a variety of issues. This is the same department where there was an order by the chief earlier this year to have stickers with the letters "FMB" removed from city apparatus (mentioned in the clip above). While some claimed it stood for "forever my brothers", others said the "MB" portion stood for Mayor Berry (and the "F" did not mean friend).
Maybe I am just too old fashioned, but I really don't believe the animation deserved its own news story. But I could see it as a mention in part of a larger story illustrating the various issues and tensions between the fire chief and his firefighters.
Because I don't think the video is that newsworthy, I am even questioning myself about running it, and fully realize I am opening myself up for criticism for giving it wider play. But I think it provides an important illustration for all of us. It shows how some anonymous person, known only as brotherfirefighter on Youtube, can sit in front of a keyboard and suddenly get noticed and become news. Not just on the Internet, but on that old fashioned medium known as television.
I am not offering an opinion on who is right and who is wrong in this labor versus management battle, but I think the TV story says more about the judgment of the news media than it does about the problems in Albuquerque. It's not like people attacking their bosses through these animations is some brand new phenomenon that will surprise and shock TV viewers (or maybe I missed the part of the story about xtranormal just arriving in New Mexico).
Whether this was a video attacking the fire chief or one attacking the union, it is just another challenge everyone faces (including me) in managing their reputation in an era when it can be destroyed at the speed of light.
Above is the KRQE-TV news story. Below is the xtranormal animation. Let me know your thoughts.
Here's an excerpt from KRQE-TV's website:
The video’s message is clear, there are firefighters that still want Chief Jim Breen out. The video was just posted on Youtube, and paints Breen as Mayor R.J. Berry's lackey.
“Our city is lacking resources everywhere but my boss wants me to cut those positions out of the budget,” the character representing Breen says. “And who am I to argue with him?”
The fire chief would not comment on the anonymous video, but the mayor sent us a statement saying, "Albuquerque has a great fire chief in James Breen. Anonymous, misleading and misguided attacks do not warrant a serious response."
