Yesterday, FTVLive posted an email from a TV newsperson that was responding to a video by comedian Hasan Minhaj and his take on local TV news.

You can watch the video and see the mail at this link.

Today we are posting another email with is a response to the response to the video (you still with me?):

Good morning,

This is kind of a response to the response to the Hasan Minhaj video. This is meant as a civil response. No back-and-forth keyboard fight. This may open up a discussion because this is interesting.

I believe the news person's response may be a bit defensive, seems to be taken too personally, and deflects from the main message at hand: the potentially dying newspaper industry.

The topic of the video was not about local TV news. It was about newspapers. The local TV news clip was meant as a joke from a comedian and we should be able to take a joke. We call ourselves 'thick skinned' all the time. I am aware it is human nature to make things about you. I try to be conscious when I do that too.

The news person kind of went further and further down the rabbit hole to distract from the main message by seemingly making local TV news more important. Example's like: "local TV newsers who were killed while doing their jobs" or "people whose lives were saved after watching meteorologists track tornadoes in their communities." Those are great points that deserve a story of their own.

The news person mentions Hasan "failed to do his research." I respectfully disagree. He did so much research to bring attention to his viewers on the struggles of local newspapers. His viewers are smarter on that topic now than before they watched the video. What is the problem with that? His viewers are more news literate and they may then become smarter local TV news viewers as a result. This attention may lead to a piece on the struggles of local TV news, attacks on journalists as well.

Newspapers are in trouble. I do hope to see more stories and attention on this topic. If local newspapers die, that may negatively affect the ability to do local TV news. Losing newspapers would be an incredibly bad hit, as you know.

I think going forward, instead of attacking each other, let's put our ego aside, work together on the same team. It should not be a 'who is better at news' competition (even though money and ratings make it that way). Local TV journalists, newspapers, and comedians/viewers holding us accountable. We need all of it to be better. We got to listen to the public to help us be better.

Thanks for listening and be well and hope to see more on this topic. More conversation to better ourselves is a good thing,