Published: September 23, 2009 08:01 am      

The Facts

We in the media are certainly not saints. Both as an institution and as individuals, we make mistakes as reporters and as human beings. The fact the people behind newspapers have human element may be easily forgotten when readers scan the front page or arrest reports and the generally unpleasant occurances in life.

Something many in the general public don’t understand about reporting stories generally perceived as negative, however, is that although we work hard to keep our emotions out of it, we too are affected. We can’t write about the five minutes we spent losing our lunch at the accident scene or the pictures and adjectives left out of the story for the sake of human decency.

As part of the journalistic community, we don't particularly enjoy placing someone's name in the public records for an arrest. We don't like the fact someone's relative was injured or killed in the accident on the front page. (In fact, the question crosses our minds, "What if it was my relative?") And we don't like it anymore than you do that a seemingly innocent daughter was at fault for a horrific accident because the highway patrol said chose to drink and drive.

However, as readers, and as reporters, remember, this is a newspaper.

We do not to control the facts. We simply print them. We do not control how the public perceives and judges a DUI any more than we can keep people from committing and getting arrested for a DUI no more than we can control whether a robber pulls the trigger or not.

Our job is to tell the public what is going on. In hiding, or dodging facts, no matter how unpleasant we would be cheating our readers.



— Justin Lofton