For the past seven years, Chicagoans have been given the "inside" stories on topics that cover ground where other journalists have feared to tread. The difficult, the clandestine, the controversial, the intriguing. Whether it's a new "real-life" reality TV experiment, the revelations of what really goes on at so-called "rave" parties, or an expose of LA's host of celebrity stalkers and their eye-opening activities, Mark Saxenmeyer of Fox News Chicago tackles the subject and delivers stories that combine his journalistic talents and bear the signature of an irrepressible curiosity and relentless drive. Work that has garnered Saxenmeyer six Chicago Emmy awards, two Peter Lisagor Awards and three United Press International Midwest Region Awards. Factor in five Chicago/St. Louis Associated Press Awards, including "Best Reporter" for 1997, and it becomes clear that Saxenmeyer is a journalist who warrants close watching.
An only child, the mercurial Saxenmeyer remembers "interviewing" members of his family and neighbors with an invisible microphone at an early age. Born in New Jersey, Mark graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1989 with a degree in broadcast journalism. Saxenmeyer's career path began with internships at two CBS affiliates, WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn., and WISC-TV in Madison, Wisc.
Saxenmeyer grew up in Des Plaines, Ill., and Minneapolis, leaving his mark as one of The Minnesota Public Schools' outstanding alumni of 1997. Prior to his being hired by WFLD-TV ( Fox ) Chicago in 1994, Saxenmeyer served as a general assignment reporter at KOVR-TV in Sacramento, Calif., a post which garnered him two additional Emmy awards. Most of Mark's family still remains in Minnesota.
I found Saxenmeyer to be enthusiastic, witty and refreshingly outspoken. In this exclusive interview, Mark shares his take on his career, life lessons and he also shares some deeply personal reflections as well.
DAVID GUARINO: To the best of your recollection, Mark, did you always want to be a journalist?
MS: Well I knew I wanted to be a journalist because when I was a kid I was really big on my neighborhood newspaper. I lived on Drew Avenue, and I did The Drew Tribune. I went door-to-door and I interviewed all the neighbors and found out everything that was new in their lives.
DG: And Drew Avenue was where?
MS: Drew Avenue in Bloomington, Minn. Then my family moved to the Scarborough Townhouses and I did The Scarsborough Scoop. And I went around and I interviewed everybody. And it would be like, "The Johnson family just got back from a trip to Palm Springs. Mrs. Johnson has a very nice tan. Mr. Johnson says he's glad to be back." It was ridiculous, you know it was really funny to them. And then I was Editor in Chief of my junior high paper, my senior high paper and my college paper. So I had a background in print journalism. I wanted to go to broadcast because part of me wanted to be an actor. I always thought it would be exciting to be on TV but I can't act. I can't pretend I'm a tree and I can't do all the weird things actors do. If you're a really good actor you can easily become someone else and I can't do that. So it's a good combination of journalism and presentation. That's why I chose journalism.
DG: So you are a Special Assignment Reporter for Fox, Mark.
MS: It means that primarily I don't do daily or breaking news. I do that usually Sundays and the rest of the week I work on projects; and primarily I work on projects that air mostly in the sweeps months. Those months would be November, February, May. The rest of the months you don't see special promotions. Special assignments and features are my responsibility for the most part. For example, rather than do another news report on a baby in a dumpster, let's put it in context. Let's do a story about how many have occurred in the last five years. What are the demographics? Why is this occurring, why dumpsters? That would be a Special Project. And in fact there's a new law, I think, coming out to prevent abandoning babies and dumped babies. And I've actually pitched doing an in-depth report going back and visiting some of the women who've done this; what was going through their minds, why did they do that? Why not drop the kid off at an orphanage or at DCFS? So that would be putting that story in perspective, giving it some meaning and having people understand. So Special Projects are things you don't see anywhere else. That's kind of my niche; stories you won't see anywhere else. Stories that nobody else either wants to do, or has the guts to do or has the time to do.
DG: Does this mean you would only be on the air during sweeps periods?
MS: I'm on, if you averaged out the number of stories I can do in a year, I'm probably on twice a week.
DG: At one time you used to do regular street reporting, correct, Mark? Now you basically do special projects for Fox, which means a lot less daily exposure. Has that been a welcome change for you or has it been difficult?
MS: David, I've done forest fires, I've done the riots, and I've done Nelson Mandela. I did general news for a long, long time. I've done daily news. I've done almost every story you can do. I don't care if I do any of them again. I don't have a particular interest in that anymore. In fact, if I had to go back doing straight news stories; if someone here said, "Mark, Special Projects has been canceled, you're going to have to go back to doing daily news," I'd have to think twice about continuing in this career. I don't care to be on TV every day, I don't need to see my face, and it doesn't bring me joy. I like to do what I do, and I'm very happy with it.
DG: What is one of the most frustrating things you have had to deal with since coming to Chicago and Fox News?
MS: I really enjoy working here, the people are great and I've made many friends. But within the media itself, I have a real problem with certain people disparaging me for aspects of my personal life which I don't bring into my professional life or, more specifically, my role here at Fox News. I try to ignore it, but what bothers me the most are individuals who promote hate in the things they say. What concerns me is that often the audience for the gossip mongers are young white males who are being told that it's OK to hate minorities or people who are different in some way. The management at Fox has been supportive, but I still think we need to take a firmer stance against people who propagate hate.
DG: Can you elaborate?
MS: Well, I'd really like to say that my personal life is just that, personal. It's irrelevant in terms of the job I do. On the other hand, I'm a big boy and if somebody wants to criticize my reporting or my presentation that's fine. It's all in the public domain. But maligning someone for personal reasons or aspects of their private life is another matter entirely.
It's wrong, and somebody should be standing up for that. Some people believe in taking truths and turning them into horrible negatives.
DG: How do you personally feel about the state of GLBT rights in Illinois, Mark? For instance, House Bill 101, also known as "The Gay Rights Bill." Are we ready to pass such a bill here?
MS: You know, I'm not trying to hedge here, but I'm not a political reporter.
So I don't know the mood; I don't know the people well enough. That's really a tough question, because with gay/lesbian rights it's like two steps forward, one-step back. I mean, I've seen that Queer As Folk show and I'm shocked at some of the stuff on there. I see that on the air, but I'm thinking, "Wow! There's actually a show now that just encompasses the gay/lesbian lifestyle, at least one facet of it. Now I hear it's getting good ratings and it's being renewed. I gotta tell you, though, that when I went to high school and college in Minnesota, many of my friends were probably some of the most homophobic people in the world. But I still think at the root of a lot of peoples' minds is that being gay or lesbian is wrong, it's evil, that kind of thing. And so, I think as much as people want to say, "yeah, we're all for equal rights, and we need to prevent discrimination in housing, employment, etc.," I think some of them have these ingrained biases that are still going through an evolution. It may be a while before equality is really achieved. There's an editor here at work ( Fox ) who says, "Gay or straight, love is great." And you know what, that says it all right there. That's all that matters, David. Nothing else matters.
DG: Are you happy with the type of stories that you are doing for Fox? I know many of them are considered controversial and perhaps daring. What type of stories are you not doing that would like to see on air with your name on them?
MS: Well, I've said this to Walter ( Jacobsen ) , and we get into debates. I know he isn't real keen on some of the subject matter that we ( my team ) present. Because he comes from Channel 2 which is a much more serious background. But Fox has an image of being cutting edge, we go over the top sometimes to get people thinking and talking. And you know there are a lot of stories I would love to do, but we don't do them on Fox. There are a lot of stories that I've pitched that you would probably more likely see on Channel 7. They're a little bit drier, perhaps, but excellent, solid, Peabody-worthy journalism stories. And you know I'm over here doing swingers' parties. ( Mark smiles ) OK? ( We both laugh ) Now, again, like I say, I don't have a problem with that because I think any subject that's in the public domain is worth doing, it's just how you do it. But there are some people who look down on it. They say, "Look what Fox is doing now!" But then again those are the same people who are sitting around the TV set with their jaw open watching with their eyes open really wide. So, we still have them watching and talking. We're not No. 1, but I know that we're taking risks and slowly but surely they're paying off.
DG: What has been one of the lowest points in your life, Mark?
MS: There were a lot of low points. Well, now do you want a pity party or what? I don't want people to read this and hear violins playing. My life hasn't been full of the turmoil that others endure every day. When you're a reporter, you interview people who have been through so much hell, you just pinch yourself and are thankful that your life is not like that. I'll be honest and tell you one of the worst things that has happened. I was sued when I was a reporter in Sacramento. Right at the end, before I left, I was sued by the family of three little girls who I made the horrible mistake of telling about a murder in the neighborhood. And I thought they knew about it. They didn't, I was the one to break the news to them. I was on a deadline, I didn't have any interviews, I was stressed, and I was pressed for time. And it was a murder that related to them, it was their next-door neighbor.
DG: Oh my God….
MS: It was like a double murder, I forget, it was horrible. ... But we didn't use the interview on the air. I think it dawned on me midway through to talking to these girls that they didn't know. And I didn't use it, but nonetheless I was sued for allegedly traumatizing them. It was a horrendous experience, David. It dragged on for some time; it was settled out of court and I can't talk about how it was settled. ... It was written up in all these journalism magazines about what not to do, what to do. ... To this day I don't interview children for any reason unless I have parental acknowledgment and consent, but you see this happening in Chicago all the time, reporters interviewing kids. And it's wrong and they're going to get in trouble and somebody's going to be sued again. But oftentimes they're interviewing kids in neighborhoods where their parents aren't necessarily aware that the reporters are doing it. You know, it may sound really superficial, but I've always wanted to be a journalist and I take what I do seriously and I'm proud of what I do. And to be accused of something like this and be maligned as I was and to suffer through it, and I do say suffer because it was the most horrendous experience imaginable. To attend these deposition conferences and be raked over the coals, it was very, very difficult. ...
Then when I got here ( to Fox ) , one of the first things the news director did when she read about it in whatever newspaper or wherever ... was she took me in her office and said, "What is this about? Would you please tell me." I thought, oh this it, I'm ruined. You know, and I have nobody to blame but myself ... . So it was tough. I mean, there have been other tough times, but honest to God I can tell you people who suffer from depression will tell you they just don't want to wake up in the morning, all they want to do is sleep. Because when they're asleep, they don't have to deal with reality. And during that time I was that depressed. All I wanted to do was sleep. ... That was the toughest time of my entire life.
DG: Mark, what is one is one of the most important life lessons you've learned in your broadcast career?
MS: Well, I guess and I hate to bring up the race issue, but I can tell you I don't think I was aware of racial differences until I became a reporter and went to neighborhoods that a lot of white people don't go to. Chicago is very segregated. I know people in predominantly white suburbs who have never been to predominantly Black suburbs, and who are scared to go into certain parts of the city. They don't have any understanding and all of their beliefs and thoughts are based on what the media presents to them or through what they've heard from friends and family. I grew up in a predominantly upper middle class suburb; very few Blacks. I went to a predominantly white school, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Then I moved to California and that's when I first became aware of race. And I would say I developed things, and through reporting I've met people and I've done things that have changed my views and have altered them, not always necessarily for the best. Especially in Chicago, everyday I'm aware of race, every day. I mean, when I take a cab, or when I'm in a store. And I'm aware of the perceived differences. And people can say, "Well, we're all one beautiful human race." Well, we are. But there are differences and I'm here to say we need to explore them and better understand them. Because otherwise, we just remain divided. And I go on stories in neighborhoods where I don't want to be. There are parts of Chicago that look like Beirut; the tourists sure don't go there. Places where I don't understand the culture; I don't understand how it got to this point. And it disturbs me and it distresses me. And I don't like those feelings that arise in me. And I know lots and lots of people in the media feel the exact same way. I don't think in Chicago that we do a very good job of dealing with it. I think that this city is so divided and we have to deal with the feelings that currently exist. I want to understand, I really do. Because I covered the riots in San Francisco which were reverberating from LA. So the lesson is, be careful how you handle the race issue. We, especially in this business, are very uptight about being accused of racism. Because it can ruin careers, change lives and lead to lawsuits.
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So what will Mark's next big special story be? A simulated reality show is now on air. Whatever the assignment, it will undoubtedly draw people in and unquestionably change lives. For a journalist like Mark Saxenmeyer, going beyond the headlines is not only challenging, but also a fundamental necessity.
E-mail: DavdRonald@aol.com
