I was not at the top of my game on Monday in class. An unspeakable murder occurred in my apartment complex. The investigators were still 10 feet from my window when I logged on to Harvard's IM system. As a journalism student, I was caught near a story
where a child was murdered by my neighbor. A father suffocated his five year old son. This could have happened anywhere.
I had the chance to experience a story on the other side of the notepad:
When the cameras, journalists and police rolled into town, I noticed that the media was quick to ask anybody. There didn't seem to be much discernment with credible sources or experience.
A few minutes before class, the Atlanta Journal Constitution called me, out of the blue, for a quote. I didn't want to say anything derogatory. However, I wanted the world to know what a bright and beautiful child the boy was. Since then, the breaking story has been taken off the AJC searches and replaced with the story link below.
Here, the reporter interviews an actual neighbor:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/father-charged-with-killing-569077.html
Here is the same story, different news source. The woman quoted in the story most likely did not know of the family/ the boys. And, as much, her quote is broad and not revealing in the slightest.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20010543-504083.html
Oh, how awful. Agree that the first story is so much better than the second. But the ad accompanying the first story -- about the car and separating kids -- seems very inappropriate! The CBS website seems more interested in accumulating crime stories than actually writing substantively about them.
ReplyDeleteNice find. Since CBS didn't have sources close to the family, and since the website had an "edgy criminal blood-n-guts" design to it, they seemed too detached, and bordered on distasteful in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe AJC had better, more thorough coverage, and to me, were a lot classier about it.
OMG - are you ok? Can't be easy especially if you have children of your own and can relate on a different level.
ReplyDeleteKristen, that's terrible! Thank you, though, for turning it into a learning experience for all of us by sharing the articles. The second really does take the sensationalistic route.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be an ongoing theme in the last few posts of journalists being "lazy" and not really getting all the information they need before sitting down to write their articles. It all boils down to not doing enough reporting and having to meet deadlines. As a result, they either rely on other articles already written on the topic for their information or they simply spin the story a different way to avoid having to use important quotes.
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