Making friends and enemies
Jordan Watson
Issue date: 11/6/06 Section: Features
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Journalists are some of the bravest people in the world. They are asked to promote, criticize, and also stay completely neutral. In doing all of this, reporters open themselves up to criticism no matter which method they choose.
When people see their face in the paper for something they are proud and their inner confidence swells. The article might even end up being cut out and put in a scrapbook or framed in the living room.
The journalist is usually credited for doing a good job on the article. This is one way that journalists make friends. They might not even care about that person's success but must show infinite interest in it, for the sake of the story. Making strong connections with people establishes a line of trust with the source.
No matter how much trust a journalist establishes with their contact or source, they have to get every detail right, because of how much embarrassment it could cause for someone to be misquoted or misunderstood in an article. A newspaper reaches a lot of people and one's reputation could be ruined from one 'inaccurate' journalist.
People don't call journalists 'inaccurate' when a mistake is made though. I remember a time when I was misquoted about a political camp I went to over the summer. I was explaining to the journalist some of the funnier aspects of the camp. I mentioned several cities had set up "Jedi Councils" and mafias. I then went on to explain how the camp was as politically close to real government as it could get.
Well, the quote came out something like this. "There were jedi councils and mafias. It was as close to real government as it could possibly get." He misquoted me and made me sound like an idiot. In return, I did not call him inaccurate, I called him a complete moron. He had just made an enemy.
Another aspect of being a journalist is making enemies intentionally. This is when a journalist tries to uncover someone's failures. Political journalists are notorious for this tactic. They can be the most ruthless journalists and are capable of literally tearing apart a person's career.
The Watergate Scandal might not have been discovered if Bob Woodward wouldn't have uncovered it and wrote an article about it in the Washington Post. He got the details right and made many enemies within the Nixon administration and made lots of friends that opposed President Nixon.
The job of a journalist is only to try to uncover people's moments of success and failure while still trying to get every detail right. In this process they make friends and enemies alike. It is never true to that a journalist makes only one of the two.
When people see their face in the paper for something they are proud and their inner confidence swells. The article might even end up being cut out and put in a scrapbook or framed in the living room.
The journalist is usually credited for doing a good job on the article. This is one way that journalists make friends. They might not even care about that person's success but must show infinite interest in it, for the sake of the story. Making strong connections with people establishes a line of trust with the source.
No matter how much trust a journalist establishes with their contact or source, they have to get every detail right, because of how much embarrassment it could cause for someone to be misquoted or misunderstood in an article. A newspaper reaches a lot of people and one's reputation could be ruined from one 'inaccurate' journalist.
People don't call journalists 'inaccurate' when a mistake is made though. I remember a time when I was misquoted about a political camp I went to over the summer. I was explaining to the journalist some of the funnier aspects of the camp. I mentioned several cities had set up "Jedi Councils" and mafias. I then went on to explain how the camp was as politically close to real government as it could get.
Well, the quote came out something like this. "There were jedi councils and mafias. It was as close to real government as it could possibly get." He misquoted me and made me sound like an idiot. In return, I did not call him inaccurate, I called him a complete moron. He had just made an enemy.
Another aspect of being a journalist is making enemies intentionally. This is when a journalist tries to uncover someone's failures. Political journalists are notorious for this tactic. They can be the most ruthless journalists and are capable of literally tearing apart a person's career.
The Watergate Scandal might not have been discovered if Bob Woodward wouldn't have uncovered it and wrote an article about it in the Washington Post. He got the details right and made many enemies within the Nixon administration and made lots of friends that opposed President Nixon.
The job of a journalist is only to try to uncover people's moments of success and failure while still trying to get every detail right. In this process they make friends and enemies alike. It is never true to that a journalist makes only one of the two.
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