There are a lot of things I love about being a reporter.
I am constantly learning something new. This week alone I learned what a burn permit is, what the lifecycle is of pool tiling, how many people our Victims Assistance Society helps each year and that small children don’t immediately warm to Premier Prentice.
I’ve had the opportunity to interview Canadian singers like Colin James and the members of Lunch at Allen’s as well as local singer/songwriters like Rob Dawson and Angus Wilson.
I’ve watched as new schools go from being a patch of dirt to a thriving, vibrant environment full of students.
And I’ve been there when special announcements about things like 24-hour health care for Airdrie are first announced.
But there’s a downside to being a journalist, too. Some people tend to paint us all with one brush, blaming us for the ills of the world when really all we’re doing is reporting them to you.
Good reporters and good editors make sure personal opinion about what we’re reporting on stays out of the story.
Writing a news story isn’t about what I think. News stories are very purposefully written in the third person - “I think” doesn’t come into it. You don’t care - nor should you - what I think about an issue. My job is to present what those involved in the issue have to say. If I don’t do that, it’s called editorializing and my editor will immediately call me on it.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret; nine times out of 10 I do have an opinion about the story I’m writing. You just won’t - and shouldn’t - be reading about it.
Unless you’re reading this column, that is. The editorial page is the one place in the paper where we reporters get to say what we think. Notice how many times I’ve used the word “I” in this column? That’s because this is my opinion - and you are more than welcome to disagree with it. I’m writing it, so I’ll own it.
You can even disagree with something I write in a news story, but make sure you’re disagreeing with the right person. All quotes and opinions will be attributed to their author. It’s really them you’re disagreeing with. Remember that saying - “Don’t shoot the messenger?”
We also don’t deal in heresay. I need to get the story straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, or I can’t cover the story. It’s something this particular paper feels very strongly about.
Very, very rarely will we agree not to use someone’s name when quoting them - that will only happen when there’s an issue of personal safety (in the case of domestic abuse, for instance) or the person is a minor. In that case, we will go with a first name only, to protect their identity.
Just as I have to own what I say in this column, we expect our sources to own what they say as well. I really don’t think that’s too much to ask.
Fact checking is also really important as a reporter. If I can’t independently verify something, I can’t write about it.
But back to the point of this column. Unlike most of my colleagues here at the paper, I actually like writing a column, mostly because I finally get the chance to have an opinion. Anyone who knows me, knows I am pretty opinionated so having to keep that in check as I write news stories is a challenge.
I do it because I think that our readers deserve to make up their own minds and that’s what good news writing is really about. Presenting the facts - and nothing but the facts - and letting you decide how you feel about the issue.
But that’s just what I think.
