tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15627892.post1704015769739746598..comments2024-03-18T05:56:59.924-04:00Comments on Daled Amos: Daled Amoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17646808702899584547noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15627892.post-81307691290650645002007-07-21T22:40:00.000-04:002007-07-21T22:40:00.000-04:00But your example is a 'product line' and you keep ...But your example is a 'product line' and you keep referring to 'stories'.<BR/><BR/>I don't know if you followed the link to <A HREF="http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2007/07/todays-journalism-newsweeks-evan-thomas.html" REL="nofollow">my previous post on this</A>, but:<BR/><BR/>What about the Duke lacrosse scandal that was so badly botched by the media--and excused with:<BR/><BR/><I>It was about race. Nifong's motivations clearly were rooted in his need to win black votes. There were tensions between town and gown, that part was true. The narrative was properly about race, sex and class... We went a beat too fast in assuming that a rape took place... <B>We just got the facts wrong. The narrative was right, but the facts were wrong.</B></I><BR/><BR/>How about the reporting on Hurricane Katrina. In the full interview, the media guy gushes on the wonderful job the media did--until Hewitt lists the numerous errors they committed which exacerbated the panic. The response:<BR/><BR/><I>The kind of reporting that journalists have to do during this time is revisionist. <B>You have to keep telling the story until you get it right</B>...We got some facts wrong and that's important. But don't lose sight of the fact that in the end they were in fact telling a story about a tragedy unfolding in both of those places that was horrible by any measure.</I><BR/><BR/>This of course is without getting into reporting in the Middle East--in Iraq and Israel. What about Pallywood? What about Reutergate? According to you, does there even exist such a thing as "media bias"?Daled Amoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10797432517780083437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15627892.post-76489929715575115272007-07-21T19:37:00.000-04:002007-07-21T19:37:00.000-04:00I appreciate the thought you’ve put into the idea ...I appreciate the thought you’ve put into the idea of what makes good journalism. Of course, I think about this a lot and am always happy to read a fresh opinion.<BR/><BR/>That said, here is what it’s like to be a reporter. I interview someone and they tell me a long story about their product line and how much it means to them. I use one quote from his hour-long interview and that quote is “the product was finished ten weeks late,” and then I write a story about how he delivers everything late. The person who was talking with me feels misquoted because this was totally not the point of his story, not the point of our call, he didn’t mean to tell me that information anyway, and it seems totally out of context to him that I’m quoting only that. <BR/><BR/>But I get to tell whatever story I want. Every piece of news is a story. There is no news without a story because the only way we can attach meaning to an event is with a story line. If I write the story about the product line that the executive wanted, then first of all, he is the reporter, not me, but also, it’s my job to find stories readers will like. I can’t do that if I am telling the stories people I interview want to have told.<BR/><BR/>PenelopeUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02854990919354934928noreply@blogger.com