Never Let The Facts Get In The Way Of A Story
By Ben Meisner
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 03:49 AM
I wrote for the Prince George Citizen long enough to know that at one time the bar was set high enough to ensure that events such as the printing of a picture of a dead man lying in the middle of a city street wouldn’t happen.
Some very good publishers, editors, and reporters have passed through those doors.
Having said that, to suggest that printing a picture of a young man lying in a pool of blood isnt just plain old sensationalism of the highest degree would tax anyone's mind.
Then to somehow pass the matter off by suggesting that it was done as a shock treatment for the citizens of the city leaves one gasping.
Here are the facts;
1 A Citizen photographer took the picture on Oak St after picking up the tip from the police scanner. He arrived on the scene and began snapping.
2 The story was posted, complete with the picture of the dead man, on the Citizen's website. In that story the Citizen said two men had been arrested in connection with the shooting.
3 A few hours later the Citizen quietly removed the story from their website, without saying we got it wrong there were no arrests in our haste to get a scoop , please accept our apologies. Other media had not published the story waiting for the police to confirm what they had on the death. Publishing a story which was totally wrong , failing to inform the public you made a mistake and then suggesting that you did it for the ,”shock value” just doesn’t cut it. It was a case of never letting the facts get in the way of a story.
4. Now to then publish the young man's name and his hometown was a further bit of sensationalism. The RCMP had said the family had requested that his name not be released, but then never let the anguish of a family get in the way of a story.
The rest of the media in the city took the advice of the RCMP and did not publish his name.
Tabloid journalism at its best, I can just see publishers such as Bob Mackenzie, Bryson Stone and Del Laverdure or editors such as Roy Nagel, Peter Godfrey, or Dave Paulson asking what the hell you are doing? That didn’t happen, instead the readers were handed the excuse that, it was done in the interest of shocking the public.
What a pity to see a once outstanding paper resort to this kind of reporting.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion
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Posted by: SummerSoul on August 24 2010 10:48 AM