Focusing on the "gotcha"?

A month into my first job my boss gave a speech to the team and said something I have always remembered.

"Work hard. But if you screw up, I'll remember your gotcha moment more." Not what you would call highly inspirational.

As we read the Kristof examples it is important as journalists to report on the laws that have been broken and the circumstances surrounding the investigations. We shouldn't focus on any personal "gotcha" moments in an effort to give a story more profile and oxygen with the masses. Presenting stories on a "guilty until proven innocent" basis instead of the other way around only serves the flashy headline moment of now.

Words do matter and they can change lives. This weekend a man in my city committed suicide by jumping in front of the subway train. A couple of days ago all the national papers ran a story about how this popular teacher had been released on bail after being arrested on two counts of child exploitation charges.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/colleagues-grapple-with-suicide-of-troubled-but-popular-teacher/article1311728/

Most seeing the suicide headline assumed he was guilty. But what if he wasn't? What if, as the article suggests, he was overwhelmed with proving his innocence in the face of such intense public scrutiny.

Few of us have been under the media lens and can only imagine what the scrutiny of the public eye feels like. Anonymity should be treated as a right not a privilege and journalists should think long and hard before taking that right from someone.

Some days I think we are all just exhausted by the barrage of bad news coming our way. We have become like M.A.S.H units - we triage the information rather than exploring the details of a story. The quicker we try to get through the onslaught by categorizing events, the harder the news outlets have to try to hold our attention. It's a case of competing priorities.

One of the strengths of a program like Frontline, is that it is a single event presented in a long format. The general expectation is that when you sit down to watch a show like that, you are going to have the benefit of a 360 degree point of view.

Today it was reported that 8 soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. I will take a point of personal privilege here. One of them was the relative of a good friend of mine. Watching the preview of "Obama's War" was particularly difficult but I admired the thoroughness of the piece and will watch it in its entirety when it airs.

Journalistic programs such as this make you crave a similar format on a continuous basis. It is not speculative nor opinion driven and it opens our eyes and minds to bigger questions.

This particular subject is a difficult one and my hat is off to the Frontline team for putting themselves in harms way to bring it to light. No "gotcha" moments - just hard hitting reporting.