Reporter's Notebook: Giving thanks this holiday season
With the holiday season upon us, what better time to reflect on the things and people for whom we are most grateful. In today's Reporter's Notebook, "CBS This Morning" co-host John Dickerson gives thanks to everyone who makes it possible to roll out two hours of morning television every day.
There are many ways to prepare for Thanksgiving: Brine the turkey, chop the wood for the fire, do the research for the political fights you'll have around the table.
I prepare for Thanksgiving by making a list of the things I'm grateful for. It's based on an essay from years ago by Roger Rosenblatt.
It contains items big and small -- the New Yorkers who texted us when they found our lost dog. Stumptown Coffee Roasters. At the top of my inventory this year are the people you never get to see at "CBS This Morning" but whose work you see every time you watch the show. If there's a piece you liked, or a question that helped you learn something, or simply if the show has become a part of your morning, it's these colleagues you have to thank.
They interrupt their plans to chase stories and bring you the people at the heart of them. They create entire villages in random spots to bring you live reports. They capture just the right shot and make sure the sound and lighting sing. They sit in windowless edit rooms solving a thousand puzzles under hairy deadlines. They stay up all night as stories break while you sleep. They track information so we get it just right, and their graphics helps make the complex understandable.
They churn page after page of scripts, tweaking words sometimes until just seconds before we say them. They make our hair and makeup and clothes look just so, in order for us to be at our best for the crew that manages the cameras, cables and chaos during the live broadcast.
Those of us in front of the camera work hard to do work that is worthy of that collective dedication.
So while you gather around your table all those you are grateful for, we are grateful for all those gathered around our table each week. And one final note of gratitude: to all of you out there watching. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.
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