The only profession..
If you want to be at fault for businesses closing, people getting fired, companies re-locating, the environment or simply be at fault for not performing your job correctly; become a reporter.
No don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and I love getting to know the public, being active in the community and reporting on what is happening. But that’s just it, I do not make the news, I report on it.
Like it or not people need to come to grips that just because information on specific topics can be found in the paper does not mean we created the news before we published it. We publish the information we are aware of, we publish many things that are given to us by people wanting to get their events noticed. First and foremost we can not publish information that is not yet released and information that is not official.
For everyone who thinks they know what a reporters job is and for those who think they can perform it better, then so-be-it, apply for the position. I believe the common person thinks it is OK to e-mail or phone reporters saying their stories were not up to par, lacked what they wanted to read about or mis-printed the information that did not match the rumor they had heard three days before.
We report the facts, we report the information we gather and we also do not come to your job and say you better work elsewhere because you didn’t do exactly what we wanted you to.
Some of the public seems to think reporters are there to complain to. Look at it this way, if we do not come to your job and tell you how to do than why is it everyone else’s job to tell us how to do ours?
Getting into this profession I did not realize what the hardest part may be: Getting the public to appreciate what you do and being able to please everyone IS impossible.
November 6th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I think you do a great job. Don’t let them get to you. They are just jealous. Keep up the good work !!!
November 19th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Most people who complain to reporters, or about reporting have an agenda that is not being supported, or reported. The sad truth is that most of us get our current events from media, as it is impossible to be first hand on events in the world, let alone our area alone. That would truly allow a citizen to have an independently formed opinion of the events at hand.
The only hope a reader can have a chance to form their own opinions is when the reporters who are published provide fair, unbiased, impartial reporting not influenced by political party or personal beliefs. This would be my recommendation of how to report stories for anyone who is thinking of the reporter biz. The place for opinions is the op-ed pages where discussion and exchange of ideas is the desired result.
One thing I do detest though is the use of the press and media in general to promote a political agenda or a social agenda. It seems to me that this is contrary to the desires of the founding fathers who desired a free and IMPARTIAL press with full disclosure of information.
The Evening Sun would be graded in the upper portion of the scale that ranges from completely politically and socially biased at the low end to the other end which is completely objective and impartial reporting. I cannot complain as I have noticed that when a reporter for the EVESUN is offering a personal opinion, they tend to tell the reader that before stating same.
I offer my respect and appreciation for our local paper. I just wish there was more local content. I also recognize there is such a thing as a budget and a limited number of people to do the work.
Keep up the good work.