Our Akron Canton News Anchor/Channel 3 News Reporter, Eric Mansfield, has fallen into this month's "Get To Know Team 3" feature. Eric was kind enough to answer some questions we've been wanting to ask him.Q: When did you know it was your calling to be a journalist?
Eric: I joined my high school newspaper staff when I was 15 and knew that I wanted to be in the media. I began taping two-minute news segments on my cassette recorder to play on the Akron Public Schools radio station and that got me interested in broadcasting. I also was a P.A. announcer in the high school gym, although I was probably a bit too loud on those days when there weren't too many fans in the stands for freshman girls basketball. Still, the basketball coach paid me $5 per game, and I was hooked on broadcasting. At first, I wanted to be a morning disc jockey and replace Matt Patrick at WKDD. Eventually, my focus shifted to sports reporting and play-by-play announcing, but I quickly found more opportunities on the news side of the business.
Q: What jobs have had besides Channel 3 and the Akron Canton News?
Eric: I had internships at WAKC-TV (Akron), WHIO-TV (Dayton), and ESPN during my college years (1987-91 at the University of Dayton). After graduation, I had a tough time getting a real job in broadcasting, so I took a job giving boat tours on the Cuyahoga River and writing part-time for the Stow Sentry weekly paper. I was only days away from giving up my TV dreams and selling knives door-to-door when Mark Williamsom called and gave me my first paying TV job as a general assignment news/sports reporter at WAKC in 1992. I had a great time at 23News and even worked with quite a few folks who are now at TV3. I left WAKC in 1994 to come to Channel 3 as the Akron Bureau Chief. I was only 25 when I came to WKYC, but the News Director thought I was in my 30's. He said later that had he paid attention to my age he wouldn't have hired me. Guess it's better to look older, eh? I've been in the Akron office for nearly 14 years, longer than any other TV3 bureau reporter.
Q: What's the most challenging part of covering the Akron Canton area?
Eric: Literally covering all the ground between the stories. Some days our top stories are in Ravenna, New Philadelphia, and Mansfield. Some days we spend more time on the road than we do actually interviewing folks and shooting video. Many in Cleveland don't realize the distances we travel to cover daily news across the Akron-Canton area.
Q: You served a tour in Iraq - how did that experience change you personally?
Eric: I'm certainly not the same person I used to be. Iraq took a major toll on emotionally. I had just 72 hours notice to report for duty in January, 2003, and then was deployed for 14 months. That's not much time to prepare the kids or put relationships in check. In many ways, I came back more than a year later feeling like I would pick up right where I left off only to learn that others in my life had moved on with their lives .. and my kids were much older too. There were new buildings and major changes, and it was tough to know that life went on without me. Like most combat veterans, it took me a while to adjust to peace again. Large crowds and other events made me uncomfortable for quite a while. Even today, there are times when I'm reading a news story about Iraq and see video of a place where I've been. Sometimes it takes my breath away but I have to stay composed and keep reading. It's tough to be in a TV newsroom where so many people talk about Iraq but who weren't there with me.
Q: What was it like not being able to cover the Iraq War as a journalist?
Eric: I saw so many great stories just walk on by. I saw a father serving with his two daughters and all I could think was how much I'd like to interview the wife/mother back home about what she must be going through. When Japan deployed its troops to Iraq, the Japanese soldiers arrived at our base camp. There were literally 20+ troops and about 100+ Japanese media. It looked more like a baseball throng chasing Ichiro. At one point, I was eating my lunch between troops from Poland and Japan. I just kept thinking about what a great "60 minutes" moment it was. . As we were coordinating the major forces moving forward during the Iraq invasion, I could only imagine what the news coverage must have been like. It was tough being in a command headquarters where we were coordinating support for major offenses knowing that the network media would be covering these events in the coming days. During Thanksgiving of 2003, we helped divert convoys around part of Baghdad during President Bush's surprise visit to the troops -- yet another day that I wish I could have worn two hats instead of one helmet. There were also times when I was advising commanders about the role of the media on the battlefield and trying to convince the military leaders that the journalists in the war zones were solid professionals out to tell real stories.
Q: What do you like most about writing your blog (ericmansfield.blogspot.com)?
Eric: I like sharing news bits that I didn't have room to add on the evening broadcasts. I also like being able to share some of the comedy that goes on behind-the-scenes. Yesterday, I wrote about a man dressed completely in orange who came to our door to complain that people at the library thought he was an escaped prison inmate. It's not a story for the evening news, but it's definitely something my blog audience enjoyed. My blog generates 250-350 hits per day .. so it's nice to see that people are embracing it.
Q: What's your greatest trait?
Eric: I would hope that it's compassion. In 1984, my own family was featured on the evening news when my older brother, Brian, was murdered in North Akron. I was just 16 at the time and our family was on the "other" side of the camera. During a five-month period, the local media did many stories about my brother's killer, including videotaping my mother and me holding hands during his sentencing in court. I always remember the good and the bad I felt about being a member of the victim's family. The loss of my brother helps me empathize with so many of the people we interview today, and I hope it makes me more compassionate to what they're facing as real people.
Q: What are some books you feel everyone should read?
Eric: Tuesday's with Morrrie by Mitch Albom; What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey. Anything by Brad Meltzer and Terry Pluto.
Q: What Hollywood celebrity do you most want to be?
Eric: My cousin is Bob Barker. I would love to succeed him as host "The Price is Right". I've never met him, but he's on the family tree. He's either my fourth cousin or my second cousin once removed depending on which theory you follow. Beyond that, I'd like to be Al Pacino -- best actor ever.
Q: Name the No. 1 cut on your dream-mix CD?
Eric: Crush by Dave Matthews Band.
Q: Are you a planning a winter time getaway this year to escape the snow?
Eric: Maybe Geneva to wine country .. depends on how November sweeps goes :)
Send Eric an email: ericmansfield@wkyc.com