“Get out of my shot!”
Television reporters have been yelling these words for years. They occur when civilians are not invited to live broadcasts.
Most people who go there don't attack – trust me about this because I went there – and they usually resign from the shot with a fuss. As they say, the sharp words are another day in the office of this profession. They shouldn't bring you into serious trouble – which means that uttering that phrase can literally fire you unless you report it on the New York Stock Exchange.
That's what happened to 50-year veteran broadcaster John Terrett, whose results include minute-by-minute coverage of the BBC's 9/11 terrorist attacks.
For the past eight years, Terret has reported on the US subsidiary of Beijing-based CGTN News, covering the market and the US economy. He does so from the NYSE floor.
That is, until this past Monday, after NYSE officials complained to their mainland boss that Terrett had Kojon to tell someone (NYSE employee) to get out of his shot and do it that quickly.
Again, such dust ups are common and the NYSE is like what televisions do these days, so the NYSE needs to fully understand. There hasn't been much deals happening on the iconic floors of the headquarters at the walls of Lower Manhattan and the corner of Broad Street. Traders have been replaced by computers and television reporters. News organizations are energizing market coverage with a largely fake atmosphere in the NYSE.
So when the news came across my desk, I thought the fire was very strange. So I asked the NYSE for an explanation, just like I did CGTN. Both declined to comment.
Terret gave me his version. A few weeks ago, while making a live hit on the floor, he noticed that NYSE executives were on tour and about 20 people were busy with his shots while he was airing. He got mad – again I've been there and he told them to move together as this isn't fun for reporters or viewers.
That was supposed to be it.
But that wasn't the case. Apparently the NYSE guy wasn't satisfied with Terret's reaction. His boss wrote to CGTN's Terret supervisor that he did something naughty, which could result in the network losing the privileges of the floor studio.
That's exactly what happened earlier this week. Terrett was fired for a cause, he told me, after he learned that CGTN had ended its floor contract.
Full disclosure: I know Terret. His daughter is my producer at Fox Business. Is he a bit thorny? Yes – and me and other reporting experts can do that too. Especially when someone is interrupting your live hit. Was this the first time he said to someone in sturdy language so he wouldn't get in his way? Of course it's not.
Another full disclosure: My experience was that people who run the famous NYSE (now owned by the Atlanta-based InterContinental Exchange) are oddly dominant bunches.
They can try to control every part of what little news is going on there and become a bully about it. I remember when they literally pushed Fox business reporters to the floor after asking the CEO questions during a list of tech companies.
Yes, they can become jerks, but some of me understand the delusions. The so-called large commission, once the epicenter of capitalism, is now owned by computer companies in Atlanta, regardless of boundaries.
With physical trading in stocks going the buggy whip path, the NYSE itself is largely computerized. The main reason the building hasn't transformed into a condominium like other parts of downtown Manhattan is that it has been converted into one of the largest television studios in the country.
But the location is still quite beneficial. So the computer nerd who runs the exchange might be able to spend a bit of money on sensitivity training the next time they are thinking of defeating the reporter to do his job.
