How much of the real story are we getting? The more I write for the media, the more I feel the struggle to keep my balance when addressing people, situations, events and even word spellings. If you put a sentence together in just the sadistically wrong way, you’ve got yourself a double meaning.
“Local man asked to shoot Prime Minister during visit.”
The man’s weapon of choice? A Canon 5D Mark II. Meanwhile you’ve got into quite a messy tangle. This may be the last time you try your hand at being witty.
But much bigger than this are the serious dilemmas that come in with some hard news stories like a suicide, homicide or any other criminal charge.
When reiterating a tough story to the public, there is a major obligation to take care in what and how you write it out. Everything must be factual and nothing can be biased. There is seldom any room for a writer’s emotion, opinion or moral standing.
The easiest path I’ve found in this scenario is the one of least resistance. Saying the facts blandly, without controversial details or quotes that may seem contrary or peculiar. But what does this accomplish?
Last week we published a story about the case of Rick Buis, a former Lethbridge College vice-president who pled guilty on child pornography charges. This is a story we have tip-toed around for a while, tracking every movement or setback in the courts.
However, last week, following his guilty plea and the introduction of hard evidence into the courtroom, we delivered a story that almost hurt to read.
Not that it was tasteless. In fact, the writer herself felt strongly that she had toned down the level of shock dramatically for the story as compared to what she heard in court.
I read the story and I felt remorseful and upset that there was such a thing as the pornographic abuse of children out there.
Uncomfortable? Yes, but how could we not be open to spreading a spirit of disappointment and disgust to one another when such topics arise? They are not flowery situations, and do not deserve flowery.
If we are able to turn on our television or computers and choose to watch all sorts of glamorized crime, abuse and other disturbing content for our entertainment, we should be able to handle the real-life remorse we feel for the problems in our society and in our own communities.