Long-time news journo Jane Velez-Mitchell, who hosts "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" on HLN, recently chatted with Soup Cans about her career and her recently published book, “IWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life.” Keep reading to find out what she had to say about those topics as well as what it's like to be an openly gay television news journalist and more.
What message do you want people who read your new book to come away with?
I want people to realize that every consumer choice they make throughout the course of their day is not just a personal choice. It is a political, environmental and – more than anything else – a moral choice.
So, if you don’t believe in cruelty to animals then don’t subsidize factory farming by buying meat from factory farms. If you don’t want our oceans to fill up with plastic, don’t use plastic bottles or plastic bags, it’s that simple. I would also like to encourage people to opt for honesty. It’s almost always an option even when you don’t think it is.
You write that you’re still searching for your ultimate bliss. Do you know many people who have found their ultimate bliss early in life?
I can’t speak for anyone else but me. My bliss comes in the form of a daily reprieve from the horrors of alcoholism and the opportunity to do something for the voiceless on a regular basis. Also, occasional karaoke! As for stuff and status, I tried that and it didn’t work!
In what way do you think addiction caused you the most pain in life?
When you’re an addict you’re not really there. The dichotomy of addiction is: the happier an alcoholic acts, the more she is desperately trying to escape painful feelings! But, the pain just festers. So, now I get to sit through the old feelings in sobriety and process them the way I should have originally.
Has your mother read your book? If so, what's been her reaction to your candidness?
My 93 year old mother is the last generation of vaudeville performers. Her reaction to my book and my coming out was: “Darling, when I was with Xavier Cugat, we were all like that!”
Does Jane think being an uncloseted new journo has been a bad thing for her? Find out after the jump...
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Soup Cans Interview: Jane Velez-Mitchell
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Soup Cans Interview: Courtney Friel
Courtney Friel is one of those television reporters who, even though she's not yet 30, has seemingly worked just about everywhere. You've probably seen her on E! Entertainment, the Oxygen Channel, Extra, KPSP in Palm Springs, Court TV, the Travel Channel and everywhere in between. These days you can catch her on Fox News Channel, where she is the cabler's popular entertainment reporter. She spoke to Soup Cans about a slew of topics including what it's like to be married to a journo who works for a non-FNC cable news network (hint, it's not MSNBC) and she also addresses rumors of rumored Dynasty-like clashes in the studio with one of her colleagues.
How did the gig with Fox News come about?
Well...I went on a date with Roger Ailes...OMG- I'm joking!! Actually- the process was pretty standard. My agent sent FOX a DVD (which had 2 reels on it- entertainment and local news). Then- I flew to NYC for an interview. Next- I got an offer- so I left LA and moved to the Big Apple! I’m in my third year at FNC already!
Rachael Ray recently said she doesn't regret the sexy photos she posed for in FHM in 2003. How do you feel about the bikini pictures you posed for in FHM & Maxim a few years back?
I’m lucky I even had the opportunity to be in those magazines...which only came about as publicity for the show I was hosting at the time- the “World Poker Tour” on the Travel Channel.
Any truth to the report on some websites that there is on the set animosity between you and Julie Banderas?
I just ran into Julie and we laughed about this "rumor." We were on a weekend show together for 6 months and “message boards” imagined a catfight. We hang out socially. I pretty much like and get a long with everyone. I’d rather have a drink with my co-workers than compete with them! I feel really blessed to have met so many great friends through FOX.
After the jump, Courtney lists some of her favorite travel destinations and reveals the nickname she's been anointed by America's favorite prime-time curmudgeon, Simon Cowell.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Soup Cans Interview: Paul Mueller
Paul Mueller has been in the television news business for 15 years and during that time, not once has he felt the need to come out of the closet. That's because he's always been open about his sexuality. The openly gay news anchor has toiled on news desks all over the country but has recently found his way back home on home turf in New England, this time anchoring over at ABC affiliate WLNE-TV. Mueller spoke to Soup Cans about his life as an out news anchor and he also shared with us his thoughts about the recent departure from WHDH of his friend and long-time Boston anchor Randy Price. Mueller told us that "Randy has ended yet another chapter of his life." He added, "If I know Randy, he has many more chapters to go. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see him pop up at another station in Boston in the future. Not only is he one of the few remaining distinguished journalists on the Boston landscape, he's also a very good guy who's always willing to help young journalists further their career."
Why is it that there are so few visible gay news anchors?
Why are there so few visible gay anchors? I think this is, in part, because most general managers would rather hire a straight man as their main anchor. Sure, the gay and lesbian community has come a long way in the last few decades but as one of the main faces of the station, I think management tends to avoid gay men and lesbians as they cater to their audiences. Of course, there are a handful of gay anchors I know. Some are out, others are not. I've always been very forthcoming about my sexuality with management. Being gay just adds an extra dimension to a person's personality. As for management at my station, I think being gay was actually a plus when being chosen as the early afternoon anchor and lead nightside reporter. There are plenty of gay reporters out there but, of course, they are in very different roles. They are not the main faces of the station.
Read on to hear Mueller's thoughts about ditching the news business, why an anchor's "coming out" is his/her own prerogative and how he has to explain to some of his admiring viewers that just because he's missing a wedding band from his ring finger doesn't mean that he's looking for a wife.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Soup Cans Interview: Brian Unger
Soup Cans editor Steve Pep recently had the chance to speak to multi-hyphenate (humorist, producer, writer and commentator) Brian Unger. The former "The Daily Show" correspondent, who has on occasion filled in for Keith Olberman on MSNBC (someone please give this guy his own cable show already!), has been making the country (especially us) laugh with his terrificly witty and deadpan "Unger Report" on NPR. But enjoy that feature on the radio while you still can - Unger's final day at NPR is on March 20.
What is the process for coming up with stories for your "Unger Report" segment on NPR's "Day to Day?"
This is a good question, Steve. Adequately preparing the Unger Report for NPR listeners weekly -- each Monday morning -- is a delicate waltz. First, I prospect for stories and monitor their trajectory and sustainability in the week's news cycle. I think of the news cycle as a sewer pipe with stories flowing through it. Some stories ripen mid-week, and rot. Some lose their potency, their news value because CNN journalist Rick Sanchez beats them to death with his journalism stick. Other stories sustain longer and flow through the news sewer pipe for the entire week, but after those stories have been handled, consumed, talked out, mocked, or satirized by Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, Colbert, Stewart, the cast of SNL, Maher, Olbermann, Ferguson, O'Brien, Shearer, Garrison Keiller, Peter Sagel, Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, 2.6 million bloggers, my friend Neal, and, finally, Carson Daly, there's really little left to say. The echo chamber in the sewer pipe is deafening when you're standing alone at the end of it, Steve.
And by week's end, the news buffet, the journalistic cupboard, or sewer, is bone dry, empty and bare, certainly by Sunday morning. Whatever crumbs, or waste residue, are leftover, George Will usually consumes later that morning. That leaves me, Brian Unger, still, with nothing to say. So I'm typically in a desperate search for a topic, issue, or story with an iota of interest or appeal. Sometimes I just call in sick. Of course, none of this applies if a story breaks on Friday night, or over the weekend in which case I get first crack at news, and in essence, become a humorous Cronkite-like figure for people stuck in traffic listening to public radio.
Keep reading to find out what Unger has to say about Keith Olbermann, his stint on the Fox News Channel (and not the hit show "24") and a lot more.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Soup Cans Interview: Lynne Russell
The Washington Post pretty much summed up how scores of people felt (ourselves included) when Lynne Russell left CNN Headline News in 2001 after 18 years at that network's anchor desk. “We are, frankly, devastated by the news… Lynne Russell is leaving…the future seems a little sadder” said the Post. Since her departure from CNN, Lynne's been keeping herself busy (as always) selling her own brand of silk lampshades, hawking real estate and hosting her own radio talk show. Soup Cans recently caught up with Lynne to talk about her professional and personal life as well as her new adopted home of Canada.
What are the biggest differences between anchoring a news desk in the US and anchoring one in Canada?
Good question. First, let me say that I wouldn’t trade anything for the people I’ve worked with in the broadcasting industry in Canada. I have made some very dear friends. It’s interesting that there is a flow both ways across the border. As you know, there are many Canadians on the air in the States… although I might be the first American, and probably the last, to anchor the CBC (more on that in a minute). After nearly two decades with CNN - and then 5 years traveling and writing - I went back to TV news here in Canada, because it’s a hard habit to break. I did not expect it to be the same, and it wasn’t.
It’s actually difficult to compare the networks I know first-hand, since CNN is an American commercial network that’s all about immediacy, and CBC is Canadian government-run, without a breaking news approach. It is the BBC in a hockey sweater. Here are a couple of differences:
American networks do not promote themselves as lending a particular nationalistic viewpoint to the news (whatever one might think actually happens!). Yet CBC “Newsworld” promotes itself as providing “news with a Canadian perspective.” To me this is an astonishing admission, a disservice to the viewing public and exactly the opposite of what it should be. A journalist’s job – privilege and responsibility – is to tell the story, explain why it’s important, and then shut up and allow the public to draw their own conclusions. I have faith that they are very capable of this.
Then there’s breaking news as a priority: Even at small local stations, there will be at least a reporter on call in the evenings, to chase down facts and interviews when news happens. At the CBC that was not the case, as a large staff focused attention on the late evening program (which left me tap dancing around stories, and left the public uninformed unless they tuned to the other networks, which were indeed airing more information). That late evening program is the network’s “showcase”, an hour-long, slow-moving compilation with a documentary feel, that runs several more times in the course of a day. It’s very nicely done – some of it is brilliantly produced – but just don’t call it news.
Most telling, I suppose, was the day in 2006 when a Canadian was tragically killed in an American friendly-fire accident in Afghanistan, and I was abruptly replaced on my scheduled newscast by, well, by a Canadian. I wondered why there were two of us sitting in Makeup…
So yes, it was an experience. As they say in Jersey (and my family does), what’re you gonna do?
Read on to find out what Lynne has to say about The Patriot Act, Chuck Roberts, the legendary Jane Russell and the current state of TV news. We've also included a picture she kindly sent us of her most recent hairdo (we were in awe of her ever-changing hair in the 90's. So sue us.).
Friday, January 09, 2009
The Soup Cans Interview: Benoit Denizet-Lewis
So far, 2009 has been a big year for openly gay New York Times journo Benoit Denizet-Lewis. Over the past week, he has come out as a sex addict in a talked about Times essay (when we asked him if coming out as a sex addict was more difficult than coming out as a gay man he answered with a resounding "hell yes") and his debut book landed in bookstores all across the country. In America Anonymous, a compelling and intimate look into the all-consuming world of addiction, Denizet-Lewis follows eight people trying to regain control of their lives. We chatted with about the book, it's subject matter and the author's own struggles with addiction.
What was it like for you to immerse yourself so intimately in the lives of the eight men and women you followed, some for as long as three years?
Expensive! =) I wanted to write about people from all across the country, so I spent a lot of time in trains, planes, and automobiles. I also wanted to profile different kinds of people--from a bisexual bodybuilder to an alcoholic grandfather to a college sex addict. It was an honor to be allowed into their lives for the years I followed them.
What do you hope the reader will take away from America Anonymous?
A more nuanced and empathetic understanding of addiction in this country. Addiction is our costliest and most misunderstood public health problem, one that exacerbates or triggers many of our most pressing social problems--skyrocketing health care costs, crime, poverty, and our overcrowded jails and backlogged criminal justice system. But we don't treat it like a major health problem, partly because we can't agree on what we're talking about (is addiction a disease? A moral failing?), and partly because the millions of Americans in recovery have been talking to each other for years in church basements and have failed to create an advocacy movement demanding that we start treating addiction like we do other illnesses. I also hope readers will come away with a greater understanding of addictions to things like sex and food. I wanted to write a book that went beyond drugs and alcohol and really looked at a whole host of behaviors that neuroscientists are now beginning to see as true addictions that affect similar parts of the brain as drugs and alcohol. Finally, I hope this book will put a dent into the shame, stigma, and confusion that still color our cultural understanding of addiction.
In the book, you talk very openly about your own struggle with sex addiction and trace one of the primary causes of the addiction back to a lack of love and understanding from your parents. What's been their response to this revelation?
It's really anyone's guess where my sex addiction came from. We know there is a genetic predisposition to alcoholism, but was I genetically predisposed to sex addiction? Or was the fact that my mother never hugged me or said she loved me to blame? Or is it something else that caused this? Why can I take or leave drugs and alcohol but can waste entire days and weeks in online chat rooms looking for sex, no matter the consequences? I like to say that anyone who tells you they have addiction all figured out is on crack. Addiction is very, very complicated, but we can learn a lot from the stories of the eight people I follow in America Anonymous. As for my parents, they are two of my closest friends today and are incredibly supportive.
After the jump, more talk about addiction and Denizet-Lewis reveals his crush on a certain silver fox.
"The experience you recount is precisely what my life has been plagued with over the past few years. It is the first time I've read someone's experience that so acutely resonates with me. I'm nineteen yet have had about 150 sexual partners. If somebody met me, you would never know about this part of my life. The late nights turning into sleepless days on the Internet, immediate gratification upon entering a gay chat room, and the compulsive obsession with pornography you describe have had a major impact on my life. I am now HIV+ and have lost track of time for days at a time in the pursuit of sex.
In the past year and with my first ever boyfriend, I have tried to pare down my sex addiction. Unfortunately, it flared up only six months into my relationship. I cheat on someone whom I love dearly and cannot understand why. I was targeted by what were essentially pedophiles when I was 10 in online chat rooms. I had sex with a much older man at the age of 14. Upon reading your article, I wonder if this could be part of why I am like this.
I apologize for the litany of personal information and the rant. It's just a relief to hear that somebody else, a young intellectual gay man no less, was in the same boat. I'm not sure where to go to find help, or what exactly that help is, especially as a young gay man. Anyway, thank you for writing, your words brought tears to my eyes."
As an openly gay journalist yourself, are there any gay journalists whose work you admire?
There are so many. The three that come to mind first are Michael Joseph Gross, Andrew Solomon, and David France. They all do remarkably important work. When it comes to television journalists, I've always had a bit of a crush on Anderson Cooper. =)
Now that you've completed your very first book, what can we expect from book number two?
In January, 2010, Simon & Schuster will publish American Voyeur: Dispatches from the Far Reaches of Modern Life, a collection of my previously published magazine writing. I also recently signed another deal with Simon & Schuster to write a book about dogs and humans tentatively titled, Dog Country: Travels Among Canines and Their Humans. I love dogs, and it's a book that's about as far from addiction as one can get, so I'm actually quite happy about that!
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