Meisner, Mort

WXYZ: TV news assignment desk.

References:

• Mort Meisner Associates

• WXYZ 2013 Alumni Reunion

  

• Sloat Leaves Channel 2

  Christine Sloat, the new director at WJBK-TV, Channel 2, resigned Monday, citing creative differences with top management at the station.

  

• Enough to Be Dangerous: One Agent’s Life in TV News and Rock & Roll by Mort Meisner

  

  Mort Minces No Words

  As a child in racially turbulent Detroit, Mort Meisner witnessed an attack on a black boy as white parents shouted the n-word and threw rocks to protest bussing to integrate his elementary school in 1960.

  A short time later, seven-year-old Mort stood helpless and crying as white teens yelled slurs at his Jewish mother while attacking her. This – and the vicious beatings that his father inflicted on Mort, his brother, and his mother inside their run-down home – instilled in him a deep disdain for hatred, violence, and discrimination.

  Then, a passion for sports and storytelling inspired Mort to study broadcast journalism at the University of Detroit by day, while working as a rock ‘n roll promoter for famous musicians by night. The wild hedonism of the 1970s rock scene, along with the tragic and troubling chaos of his childhood, laid a unique and bold foundation to launch Mort’s career as a renegade for positive change in the TV news industry.

  Enough to Be Dangerous chronicles Mort’s against-the-odds success, and his courageous quest to call out sexism and racism in newsrooms in St. Louis, Chicago, and Detroit throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

  Compelling and Honest

  In this hard-hitting memoir, Mort exposes rampant racism amongst TV news managers who dubbed black male reporters as “garbagemen” and assigned them the worst stories of the day. Mort fought to change this, but at times realized he was fighting an impossible battle against a racist system, even when he took his case to the EEOC.

  Mort also spoke up and out against degrading treatment of female reporters and anchors. And he was never afraid to take his complaints to the leaders of America’s major media networks.

  With stories that will make you laugh, cry, and cringe, Mort bares his soul on the pages of Enough to Be Dangerous, by sharing his struggles with cocaine addiction as an attempt to soothe wounds inflicted by his parents’ abuse and the wrongs of the world. He also shares poignant moments about his family, and revelations about the power to heal.

  Now a leading broadcast news talent agent for journalists across America, Mort Meisner invites you to dive into his timely insights and experiences that echoes today’s headlines about journalism, racism, and sexism. The book balances the somber stories with scenes that titillate with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll.

  When you read Enough to Be Dangerous, you’ll get an unforgettable peek into a life fully lived and a legacy that’s leaving a powerful imprint on TV news and people everywhere.

  References:

  • The Oakland Press, Monica Drake, July 13, 2020 – Former news executive Mort Meisner speaks out against newsroom racism and sexism in new memoir