Originally Posted By: Garak
But, a mass shooting brings out a nice, straightforward dichotomy for the media of guns good versus guns bad, and that's easier than real journalism.
Garak, I have a friend, who was a Journalist, and became the editor of a regional newspaper in Oz...Oz had Port Arthur, the gun buyback, and all sorts of stuff.
She was asked to prepare a two page spread on gun ownership.
As a journalist, and a well connected/respected member of the community, she wanted a balanced portrayal of facts (I refused the centrepiece photo of aiming my rifle down the lens of her camera...couldn't wouldn't and won't).
She interviewed all and sundry
* Farmers who have to control vermin, and put down ill/injured livestock;
* shooting clubs, recreational target and skeet type stuff;
* Police in a rural area, who could describe everything from positive, through attending farmers losing it all, through attending suicides, through putting down wounded roadkill.
As a double page spread, on a heated, and topical subject, it was good, and balanced, and she wanted both sides to see the other's side.
When the papers arrived later in the week, the article that she wrote was halved. H/O claimed that there wasn't enough room on the double page spread for all of her words (there was, she was the regional editor, and they'd not long gone from printing their own to centralised).
Was slanted, changed, and all very anti...and they left her by line on it.
Absolutely slammed her in the community, peoples representations having been either edited, or simply not there, and all of the remnant "information" anti and bad.
Ultimate answer when she pushed was that they didn't want a positive portrayal of guns under their banner.
She not long after became not a journalist.