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I hesitated to weigh in on the dispute captured on video between Buffalo News education reporter Mary Pasciak and Elena Cala, the assistant to Buffalo Schools Superintendent James A. Williams.

That’s because I know both of them.

Pasciak is a former colleague at the News and remains a colleague since she also is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College, her alma mater.

I was reminded how little I really know her by hearing her pronounce her last name in the video and realizing I’ve said it wrong for years.

I don’t even know Cala as well as I know Pasciak. I haven’t seen her in years and when we last talked I believe she had a different last name.

The incident — available to see on The News website — also seemed to be a little too “inside baseball” to address.

Then Channel 2 anchor John Beard delivered a commentary – his “2 Cents” – that praised Pasciak’s determination in doing her job.

So I clicked on the Buffalo News video to see how Pasciak and Cala handled themselves when the reporter sought a comment from the superintendent after the Board of Education decided he could stay in his job for the final year of his contract as previously planned.

Pasciak arrived at Cala’s office with News videographer Joseph Popiolkowski. She introduced herself on the video before going into Cala’s office.

She wasn’t exactly being Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” fame (see above). She was pleasant as she explained she was seeking a comment.

Cala was not so pleasant. She was almost instantly annoyed. She put her hand on Joe Pops (that’s his News nickname) camera and complained about his videoing her. She laughingly suggested they “stormed in” the office.

Bad move. Beard used the shot of the hand on the camera in his piece.

It is never a good idea for someone in Cala’s position or any position to put a hand on a camera. (Remember the incident involving Congressional candidate Jack Davis?)

It also didn’t stop Joe Pops from continuing to record a textbook example by Cala of how not to do public relations.
Pasciak was calm throughout, determined to do her job.

Cala was condescending and had trouble justifying why Pasciak was being excluded from previous interviews.

In fairness, it was easier for Pasciak to be in control because she knew what she was going to do when she went into Cala’s office.

Cala was reacting to what some people might consider an ambush interview — a gentle ambush interview if there is such a thing. In the end, she ambushed herself.

She should have killed Pasciak with kindness. Better yet, she should have been honest with her rather than come up with a silly excuse and suggest the reporter would have gone straight to interview Williams rather than board members if it hadn’t been such “good news” that he was staying.

“You made your choice,” Cala told Pasciak, as if going to the board first eliminated the possibility of talking to Williams.

Cala should have told Pasciak the obvious – Williams hasn’t liked what she and others at the News have written and intentionally excluded her from previous interviews that day.

A strong public relations person also would have advised her boss that denying access to a media outlet is never a good idea because other reporters and anchors like Beard generally support each other when it comes to the public’s right to know.

After all, members of the media realize that they could be the next one excluded if they write or say something a source doesn’t like.

The whole scene was a reminder of how much newspapers are turning into TV.

In the old days before The News sent videographers on stories with reporters, Pasciak would have been treated as badly or worse and it would have resulted in one or two sentences in a story about being denied a comment. The printed word doesn’t speak as loudly as video in this case.

Video is the great equalizer for newspaper reporters, who can now show how rudely they are being treated in video blogs.

After decades of being told that they should not be part of the story, newspaper reporters can declare that rule null and void on certain occasions.

I’m not sure it is a good thing in the long-term or that it helps the public in any way. The treatment of reporters by public employees is the kind of thing that Beard and others think is more important than readers or viewers.

The one person who should look at the video and learn from it is Cala, who made “her choice” on how to treat Pasciak and might not have realized how inappropriately she behaved.
pergament@msn.com

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