You won’t believe how different this job turned out to be. I think credibility is the biggest thing I’ve struggled with so far. I always want to make sure that everything I say is correct and honest. After all, I’m trying to build my brand and if I ever want to be the next Anderson Cooper, I should at the very least be credible. In searching for the truth I often have to check, double check, and then cross-check references to ensure accuracy and coherency. It is incredible how many websites are less than helpful with this, as too many reporters can come off biased or try to put their own spin on a story.
I think the key is to ensure that I am doing this right is to make sure I don’t take sides as well as stay truthful. Another issue I’m having is the influence that media has over people. Not everyone is media literate, so integrity becomes an even heavier burden because who knows how many people I’m influencing. How many people are looking at me as a source of truth or knowledge and how are they interpreting what I’m saying? Are they hearing my words as a call to arms or as a warning’should I publish this story at all?
I never thought that it would be so difficult to just report the facts. Hah! I recently wrote a story for a smaller newspaper that was clearly running low on ideas because it was something silly that happened in a county courthouse. A young woman with an ethnically specific last name made an honest mistake and brought a knife along in a diaper bag to a courthouse. She didn’t realize it was illegal to have it on her, and I think she really meant no harm. I reported just the facts: her name, her age, and what she was arrested for. There was nothing to interpret.
She forgot it was there and handed it over without thinking twice about it according to the police, who didn’t even want to make this that big of a deal. Her baby couldn’t be more than six months old, she was so tiny, and according to the mother, it was given as a gift from the father. It had been his prized possession. Men. Haha! However, the comments for this article all but cried for this young lady’s blood. People were commenting on how she was an illegal immigrant who just wanted to get one over on the system and probably spoke no English.
How absolutely absurd is that? What did they have to go off of? A last name that wasn’t “Smith”? Ridiculous! And yet, this is what I have to be careful of: People who already made up their minds without doing an iota of research. It’s tough and sad, and sometimes, I don’t know how to combat it. Maybe experience will teach me that this story could have gone unknown. Anyway, that’s all I have to report for now. Hopefully, we can meet up soon! Your friend, Arnold
