People who think journalists are not in the public relationship business have never had to sit through an interview with a journalist and a school superintendent. Journalists are not paid to report the news as much as they are to sit and grin as they are fed BS. Here is a guest column from, Patrick Tucker, senior editor of wfs.org.
If there’s one thing journalists love more than anything else, it’s sitting across from a vile, corrupt, heartless snake of a person and being really, REALLY nice to him or her. The reasons for this impromptu obsequiousness in the presence of someone they’re supposed to be interviewing are varied and complex. The first has to do with the nature of news.
News usually involves something terrible happening. War, the gassing of civilians, a financial collapse precipitated by unregulated trading of credit default swaps, bribery, murder, all of these things are bad for humans, but they’re great for journalists. Most terrible events involve terrible people in some way, dictators, serial killers, bankers, etc. Ergo, being a real journalist means getting terrible people to tell you how they are able to bribe, murder, gas, commit infidelity, and sell junk bonds under AAA classification and still sleep at night. Being the first to talk to the horrible person is what’s called getting an exclusive, which is important to journalists.
The second reason: journalists secretly love anyone who is at all nice to them. Most everybody hates journalists. Everyone has always hated journalists. This was a secret journalists tried to keep hidden for many years, but Web 2.0 has let the cat out of the proverbial bag. Just read the comment section on any newspaper Web site and you’ll see that the news-surfing public thinks journalists are stupid, elitist, out-of-touch, liberal jerks. And that’s just the people who actually READ news.
For journalists, just the experience of sitting across from someone–whether it be in a maximum security facility or an imperial gilded throne room–and having a civil conversation is a lovely change of pace. Suddenly the journalist feels important.
A typical horrible person interview for a journalist goes something like this, They start talking, and being smiled at, and joked with, and they say to themselves, “look, this serial-killing despot recognizes me for the serious professional that I am, why can’t anybody else?” Then they say, “Oh that’s very funny your Highness, I’ll lead with that in my story; now tell me about our childhood?” and then tweet HUSSEIN III IS A HOOT and they ask a man-servant whose had his thumbs cut off to bring them more tea.
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Ah yes, sucking up is a *fine art* for journalists.
The worst is working for a newspaper and answering phone calls from crazies who think their lives should be printed for all to read. Once I did a crime report about a man who shot and killed his neighbors dog after the dog entered his yard growling at him. This is the conversation I had with him the following day.
Him: You made me sound like a dog killer! I’m not a dog killer! People are going to dislike me now!
Me: Sir, did you kill your neighbor’s dog?
Him: Sure, I shot both of them, but it’s the way you wrote it.
Me: Sir, you need to take this up with the sheriff’s department. They’ve got the report.
Him: Fine. I have connections with the chief deputy, you know!
Ahhh…so unappreciated!