Of Reporters, Truths and Friendships...not nessecarily in that order.

This one is part musings on reporting the news and part supporting of friends. I have always believed that any reporter, no matter the venue, should always report the fair and unbiased truth as soon as possible to as many people as possible. Whether you work for a multi-national newspaper conglomerate or a small town paper with a readership consisting of people you go to church with on Sundays, reporters should always be the "Firstest with the mostest" when it comes to accurate and truthful reporting.

This morning, a reporter who I have the greatest respect for dropped what could only be considered a major bomb. He printed the complete and unvarnished truth about a major closing in his area that could affect hundreds of people. He sought to get this news out as quickly and as accurately as possible to as many people as he could so that his readers and friends could be informed of the event and maybe be prepared for it. He did this out of his incredible sense of duty to the truth and his admirable concern for the community around him. So how was he rewarded for this effort?

Well, judging from the responses when he posted the news on FB, he was berated for springing this bomb on people without warning. The overall attitude I got from the posts was that "Am I placing blame no, but I do think it could have been handled better and I don't love that I found out on facebook. I know you have a job to do but it just seemed cold" or "You are the Editor of the Wiregrass Farmer not Facebook! Bad timing and cruel! Printing the report in the Wiregrass would have been sufficient! Putting it on fb was not your job." There are more, even a few in support, but that seems to be the overall gist of it.

A reporter can never "handle things better" except by reporting the truth as soon as possible. Reporting the truth is always "cold." Even in a small community such as my friend lives in, a reporter cannot and should not let his job be influenced on how happy or unhappy his reports will make the people around him. He cannot shade the truth or even omit parts of the truth just to make himself popular.

Reporting quickly and accurately will always seem like "bad timing and cruel" because 9 times out of 10, the people involved in the news you are reporting really don't want the news reported. Whether they are the ones causing the news (In this case, the closing of a school) or the people being effected by the news (Losing their jobs, classes etc) neither side wants the truth to come out. One side is afraid people are going to be pissed and mob them and the other side really just would rather not hear the bad news until later.

"Printing the report in the Wiregrass would have been sufficient! Putting it on fb was not your job" is another good one and my friend's response tops anything I could come up with. "Putting it on FB is my job. I edit the WGF FB page. This is an extension of the WGF and a recognized part of the newspaper.

If I had put it on the Wiregrass Farmer website under the Breaking News category and tweeted it, that too would be part of my job. As to how it affected you and you friends, again speak to the MTC leaders." It is the job of a great reporter/editor to get the news out to as many people as possible ASAP and in this modern era, it is easy to push the news out to literally millions of people very quickly.

So even though my friend was only doing his job and doing it well, he is being berated for it. The things I have quoted are only the responses to his FB post. I can just imagine the phone calls, emails etc he is received and the "letters to the editor" he will get in the days to come. Still, I have no doubt that my friend will continue his journalistic excellence and not compromise his values. As I have said many times in the past, he is a far better writer than I and a better news reporter than I could ever be.

As a closing note (B flat), think on this. In the future, when you read in your newspaper, E-paper etc an article by a reporter who reports the truth, no matter how painful it is, instead of griping because you didn't want to hear the news give that reporter a mental pat on the head. Better yet, send a letter to the editor saying thank you.