An Apology

Airwaves · 09-01-2006, 07:39 PM

Hello All,

First off, I want to apologize to you for some recent snide posts I made regarding Media. They were uncalled for and unprofessional.

The easiest and best way to “push my button” as you have no doubt discovered is to attack media for something I perceive as unwarranted. I would say just ask my friends who are not involved in media but this is an anonymous board for the most part.

My issue, my problem is that as a professional who with all due modesty is among the best in the business, I understand how reporters go about getting the information they use that eventually translates into stories you see, read or hear. I forget that most folks buying the paper, watching TV or listening to the radio don’t know what’s involved and how much all of “us” strive to be fair and balanced. No, I am NOT talking about FOX!

So when folks that I have come to respect and enjoy chatting with attack a profession as a whole with the broad brush of painting “The Media” as being at fault for something I go nuts! Perhaps you could understand my feelings if folks painted with a broad brush whatever it is that you do for a living.

Case in point would be attorneys.

When I read the posts that I considered an attack on my profession I did take it personally because it is not outside the realm of probability that some of you have been exposed to my work.

Without getting too deeply into it, I forgot one thing when I was posting those uncalled for remarks, that one thing is that if I or any of my colleagues write stories that piss off both sides of an issue then we have done our job. Why do I say this? Because if we can piss off both sides, and get both sides to say we are slanting an issue toward their opponent then we have given the public an accurate view of the issue.

As someone on “This” side of the typewriter, camera, microphone I would like to issue a heads up to everyone. Cuts in newsrooms that have been ongoing for a number of years now, have a direct impact on the quality of news that you get. It’s easy and very wrong for stories to be written based on “press releases” but more and more that is happening because there are fewer and fewer quality people available to ask questions. Not only on the local and regional, but national level as well.

Certainly it’s a concern to me from an employment aspect although at this stage in my career it’s not an overwhelming concern to me. More importantly and this is what each and every one of you should be concerned about. When there are fewer questions being asked, and fewer quality people to write the stories, more things that the public NEEDS TO KNOW about is hidden. That is a threat to democracy itself.

So again, I apologize for my unwarranted snide remarks and posts. I take what I do very seriously and I can’t help myself sometimes when a broad brush is used to trash ‘THE MEDIA”.

There is good media, there is great media and unfortunately there is some media that sucks! But when “The Media” is all lumped together, well it has an impact on all of us.

I’m going on vacation now. Thanks for reading this.
Have a good holiday
Airwaves

ITD · 09-02-2006, 06:32 AM

Not much of an apology, more of a rant. No one "attacked" the media. At least not the two posts called out in your first post on the subject. There was no broad brush or anything of the sort. I've tried to refrain from continuing this fray, but enough is enough. So at the risk of prolonging this, here goes: (Sorry Don)

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