A few times a year, someone will contact us to say they were very disappointed/upset/outraged to see so-and-so quoted in a story or allowed to publish a letter to the editor or write a column.
“Do better at fact-checking the people you are promoting,” the reader will say.
So why do we allow folks who may not have the best character — in the view of some — to be featured in the paper?
First of all, who decides who is good or bad? Someone may think their neighbour is a total bonehead because he left his wife and used a ladder and didn’t bring it back for a year. However, said neighbour may also coach someone else’s sports team and seem to them like a great person who donates a lot of time to helping others.
People are complex.
One person’s nightmare is another’s love of their life.
Secondly, the media aims to be balanced and unbiased in its telling of events.
Including different perspectives helps provide a fuller picture and allows readers to form their own opinions.
Thirdly, seeing someone in the paper doesn’t mean we endorse them. Definitely don’t look through our pages and say, "Oh, Jane is in the paper talking about the best tires to buy; I will hire her to take care of my kids without checking into her further."
It is not always possible or practical for journalists to check the background or beliefs of every person who appears in the paper.
We consider the newsworthiness, relevance, and credibility of the speaker and quotes when deciding what to include in a story.
So, for example, if a person says they are performing in an upcoming play, we check that they are in that play and taking the role they claim, but we don’t look into if that actor is marriage material or kind to her pets.
Finally, there’s privacy. Would you want us to do a deep dive into your relationships, financial and work reputation, housing background, etc., before you could be quoted or write a letter to the editor?
Likely not.
If we were to do those sorts of deep dives into sources, letter writers and the like, there would be far fewer folks willing to be in The 撸奶社区.
Another aspect I always consider is that people are allowed to make mistakes and change. So-and-so may have been a criminal, disgraced politician, or failed businessperson, but be turning their lives around. People are allowed to improve, aren’t they?
The bottom line is that our job is to tell credible stories rather than offer readers saints.
We welcome all journalism-related questions at [email protected].
