The Emmy awards this past Sunday reminded me of my hypocrisy. It always does. Most television viewers identify the Emmy ceremonies with entertainment programs. The awards have been been around for 62 years and I tried to calculate how many of these presentations I have watched. By adding together the minutes I glimpsed at the shows while channel surfing or passing TV sets in department stores, I haven’t accumulated enough time for even one night of viewing.

But there is such a thing as Emmy awards for television journalism—not only at the network level, but for local news. And in terms of pretentiousness and self-importance, the presentations of Emmys for news reporting have acted as sort of bookends for my “award-winning” career as a muckraker. 

In 1977, I received a New England regional Emmy for outstanding investigative reporting. In the preceding five years, I had already collected several major  national journalism prizes, including two Peabody medallions. But this was the first awards presentation in which I was expected to dress like a penguin in a rented ensemble from Mr. Tuxedo. It was a risky investment since I was only a nominee.

The winners were to be announced at this—the first ever Emmy event for New England local news. It was even being televised, apparently based on the assumption that there were viewers who actually gave a shit who won.

When I arrived at the hotel ballroom and read the program, I was shocked to discover that the very first awards category was investigative reporting. It may have been the only time in my career I hoped to lose. Given the fact that I had missed seeing the national Emmy shows for entertainment for thirty years, and because there was no precedent for accepting local trophies, I was clueless of what to say if I won. And as luck would have it, I was the winner of the first ever New England regional Emmy.

And how did I react? Just like some dumb-ass at the Academy Awards. I had seen Oscar presentations. So while trying to appear humble, I rattled on, giving thanks to co-workers, etc. It was a missed opportunity. In retrospect, I should have asked why the hell were we inflating our already oversized egos. Instead of giving our easily earned money—television doesn’t require heavy lifting—to Mr. Tuxedo and dress designers, why not make contributions to our favorite charities. But like I said, I’m a hypocrite. I was happy to get the damn statue, which is on a shelf behind me in a home office that could be mistaken for a self-worship shrine. 

Anyway, on the night of the first New England Emmys, all the winners following me to the podium echoed my hokey sentiments in their acceptance speeches. And I assume the custom continues. However, there was a mini-scandal connected to the 2008 presentations involving an award given the Fox “News” resident asshole, Bill O’Reilly.

He was presented the “prestigious” Governor’s award, causing a controversy that was subject of a story in this month’s Columbia Journalism Review. I am providing the citation. But for non-news junkies I have excerpted the gist of the magazine article.

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_oreilly_factor.php?page=1

According to Timothy Egan, then the president of the academy’s local chapter, “Bill O’Reilly was selected because he hosted the top-rated talk show on cable seven years running. He worked at TV stations in Hartford and two in Boston. He wrote for The Boston Phoenix. And he holds master’s degrees from Boston University one from [Harvard’s] Kennedy School of Government. He is someone who understands New England’s journalism industry and honed his skills here.”

To some participants, though, O’Reilly was an odd choice. For all his success as a media superstar—cable TV host, newspaper columnist, and best-selling author—O’Reilly has long been dogged by critics turned off less by his conservative politics than his inflammatory rhetoric and bullying tactics.

Barry Nolan, a veteran New England cable TV personality and talk show host was particularly incensed by the O’Reilly award. In fact, there was concern he would disrupt the event. Instead, he skipped the tuxedo and showed up at at the presentations armed with six page hand-outs that were passed among the tables of the 400-plus guests. Nolan then departed before the awards ceremony began.

In case you haven’t heard, the thin skin of Bill O’Reilly is a medical marvel. Two weeks after the New England Emmys, he launched an attack on his critic. Bond’s bosses at Comcast Cable then displayed their mini-testicles by firing the longtime employee. Oh, for the good old days when the biggest controversy at the New England Emmys was the steak being too tough.

Actually, my prize-winning days are over. In 1995 as CNN’s Senior Investigative Correspondent, I was nominated for a national Emmy for exposing Whitewater as a bogus scandal. Sitting in the ballroom of a Manhattan hotel surrounded by network celebrity journalists and lesser lights of my ilk, I had a “who really cares” feelings. Good thing to, because I didn’t win. But even before the winners were announced I had decided this was my last awards ceremony. And I’ve not been back since.

Come to think of it, I haven’t been invited. Have a safe Labor Day weekend.

My memoir, Odyssey of a Derelict Gunslinger, is available at amazon.com and independent bookstores. It offers much more than $19.99 worth of laughs. The book is an account of my illustrious (I choose the adjectives) career.