Fool a journalist once, shame on you, fool a journalist again and
you have your ticket to media fame and fortune.
The relationship between a journalist and a source is not unlike
the courtship between a self conscious girl and the guy in high school who
drives a Trans Am and is as old as most of the teachers. The girl is so
desperate for attention and can’t believe a guy who isn’t gay is talking to her
that she’ll believe anything that guy will say – including that thing about sex
in water and not getting pregnant. If it’s not clear, the journalist is the
chick.
Journalists by nature are a pretty skeptical bunch. If someone
tells a journalist the sky is blue, a good journalist will go outside and look
up. But even the best journalists get the wool pulled over their eyes. Be it
from a scorned employee, ex-wife, a certain balloon boy family, or a sheriff investigating a certain balloon boy
family, from time to time, journalists are suckers and end up being duped.
When someone sets out with the specific intent of “fooling” a
journalist it can be difficult to sift through all the smoke and mirrors to see
the liar from the thieves. There are certain people journalists are prone not
to trust: criminals, politicians celebrities and other journalists – thanks
Jayson Blair.
Journalists are just so desperate for the attention from sources,
they are willing to listen and swallow anything their sources tell them. When
journalists come across these sources they are prepared to sift through
technical jargon and “have not not” comments.
But when dealing with the everyday, average Joe, child or victim,
journalists have no reason to think the person might be lying. Often it's not
until later that hidden motives, an ax to grind or a reality show to pitch come
to light, bringing a source's comments into question.
The more elaborate the ruse, the harder it is for a journalist
working on a tight deadline to check every aspect of a convoluted story that
has been confirmed by multiple sources. Add to the mix authorities, the very
people the public pays, lying to the press and journalists are left shaking
their fists in fury.
If When a source dupes a journalist, the source can usually
make it up to the journalist by giving him an exclusive tidbit of information,
a whole 10 minutes before it's released publicly.
When it’s all said and done that’s why journalists like being lied
to; because it keeps them sharp and on their toes. Plus life is so much more
interesting when people lie. If they didn’t, journalists would be stuck writing
follow ups to rotary meetings and bake sales.
More from @JournalistsLike
- Stuff Journalists Like – #62 Using Their Job to Score
- Stuff Journalists Like – #48 Desk Dining
- Stuff Journalists Like – #71 Off The Record
@JournalistsLike Recommends
- A Great Art Project, Part 1 (High Road Artist)
- Being Human (High Road Artist)
Topics:
being journalist
Good article Linda … and talking about journalists not trusting criminals, politicians, and “other journalists”, I can tell you the latter is very much applicable to me.
I’ve worked on numerous newspapers here in my native South Africa, and once caught another “journalist” (actually he was the chief-sub)red handed blatantly TAMPERING with my work behind my back — just out of spite, to humiliate me and to make me look really stupid.
This happened 10 years ago … my editor at the time, who knew exactly what was going on, never lifted a finger to protect me, or to do anything about it, so I resigned, and VOWED never ever to work for a boss again. And I haven’t.
I’ve survived living a poor man’s life the past 10 years doing “odd jobs” for people in my hometown. The rest of my time I used to do my own research and studies of the news media, and have gathered so much information, writing material, and ideas, I can actually put together an entire newspaper by myself.
Point is, there are indeed some really bad “journalists”, and may I add “editors”, around in this world. Watch out for them
Kind regards
Steve Loock