Post by heathwaldrop on Apr 18, 2006 10:35:40 GMT -6
It has become apparent to me recently that some readers have a vast misconception about how news reporting works.
If someone makes a statement and the quote is accurate (and it nearly always is because of the steps taken to record it), the burden is on the person being quoted. The burden is not on the writer of the story, nor on the editor, nor on the publisher, nor on the newspaper.
No, it's not always that cut-and-dry. Sometimes quotes are moved around or taken out completely. Sometimes they are "cleaned up" (i.e. slang and "guggles" are removed or altered). But the idea is to place accurate quotes in the correct context.
I'm not saying that every reporter or every newspaper gets it right every time, but in the vast majority of cases, they do.
More often, people will spout things to a reporter without thinking through it first, get quoted in a newspaper as saying something embarrassing, and then try to backtrack later and claim that they were "misquoted" or that their quotes were taken "out of context."
Again, the burden falls to the person doing the quoting. The burden does not fall on the shoulders of the writer. The writer only is a messenger.
Newspapers are there to record events and then transmit them to the audience. Sometimes these events are looked upon positively, and sometimes not. That's not our job to decide. That's a reader's job to decide.
And it certainly isn't the job of a reporter, editor, publisher or newspaper to censor unreasonably what someone says. First of all that's inaccurate, and second of all it could get us in trouble with the person speaking.
Personal accountability puts the burden on the speaker. Don't shoot the messenger if you don't like the message.
If you have a problem with how things are written and you think that the something that we present doesn't give the whole story, feel free to complain to me or to my boss, or to write a letter about it. I have no problem with that. But color it in the right way. Don't say "You shouldn't have printed that" or "I didn't say that" or "You took what I said out of context" because most of the time that's going to fall on deaf ears.
If someone makes a statement and the quote is accurate (and it nearly always is because of the steps taken to record it), the burden is on the person being quoted. The burden is not on the writer of the story, nor on the editor, nor on the publisher, nor on the newspaper.
No, it's not always that cut-and-dry. Sometimes quotes are moved around or taken out completely. Sometimes they are "cleaned up" (i.e. slang and "guggles" are removed or altered). But the idea is to place accurate quotes in the correct context.
I'm not saying that every reporter or every newspaper gets it right every time, but in the vast majority of cases, they do.
More often, people will spout things to a reporter without thinking through it first, get quoted in a newspaper as saying something embarrassing, and then try to backtrack later and claim that they were "misquoted" or that their quotes were taken "out of context."
Again, the burden falls to the person doing the quoting. The burden does not fall on the shoulders of the writer. The writer only is a messenger.
Newspapers are there to record events and then transmit them to the audience. Sometimes these events are looked upon positively, and sometimes not. That's not our job to decide. That's a reader's job to decide.
And it certainly isn't the job of a reporter, editor, publisher or newspaper to censor unreasonably what someone says. First of all that's inaccurate, and second of all it could get us in trouble with the person speaking.
Personal accountability puts the burden on the speaker. Don't shoot the messenger if you don't like the message.
If you have a problem with how things are written and you think that the something that we present doesn't give the whole story, feel free to complain to me or to my boss, or to write a letter about it. I have no problem with that. But color it in the right way. Don't say "You shouldn't have printed that" or "I didn't say that" or "You took what I said out of context" because most of the time that's going to fall on deaf ears.
