Friday, March 18, 2005
Days when the job is not so fun
Got an e-mail from one of my editors yesterday with a story tip: A woman called in to tell us her daughter had been assaulted, can we do a story on it? My first reaction was, "Ooooof, that's rough," and my editor said that if there was a police report, of course it's a story.
Well, there's a story, all right. Yes, it most definitely did happen ... in another state several years ago. And therein lies the rub.
I always hate doing the dead stories or the people-got-really-fucked-up-at-the-hands-of-others stories -- not because they're not worthy, but it's monumentally tough to talk to people when their emotions are so raw and exposed. You're convinced they don't really want to talk, and you're worried about saying the wrong thing. But I do them when asked, and I do an all right job of it, I think. But what do you do when there's a family in immense pain, but the story isn't germain to the readership? On one hand, it's not "news," at least as far as the public's concerned. And yet ...
Like I told the editor, "I'm really kinda glad I'm not the one making the decision."
Well, there's a story, all right. Yes, it most definitely did happen ... in another state several years ago. And therein lies the rub.
I always hate doing the dead stories or the people-got-really-fucked-up-at-the-hands-of-others stories -- not because they're not worthy, but it's monumentally tough to talk to people when their emotions are so raw and exposed. You're convinced they don't really want to talk, and you're worried about saying the wrong thing. But I do them when asked, and I do an all right job of it, I think. But what do you do when there's a family in immense pain, but the story isn't germain to the readership? On one hand, it's not "news," at least as far as the public's concerned. And yet ...
Like I told the editor, "I'm really kinda glad I'm not the one making the decision."