This job of mine can carry with it some interesting scenarios, and sometimes it causes one to pause before moving forward on something.
Last week I saw the movie 鈥楾he Post鈥� at the movie theater in Outlook.听 Directed by the virtually-untouchable Steven Spielberg, it stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep and tells the story of what happened after the infamous Pentagon Papers were leaked to the press back in the early 1970鈥檚; papers which detailed the White House鈥檚 long involvement in the Vietnam conflict going back several presidencies.
Essentially, the movie was about how far the press was willing to go to get a story out to the American public that deserved to know the truth about its government.听 Do they risk going to court?听 Do they risk falling stock prices?听 Do they risk bankruptcy or closure?
It was a great film, and I鈥檇 be lying if I said I left the theater and didn鈥檛 immediately start making comparisons to what we do here at The Outlook.听 Granted, we鈥檙e definitely *not* The Washington Post or New York Times, but we鈥檙e also not exactly worlds apart, either.听 We鈥檙e a news source too, and we sometimes find ourselves wondering how far we should take a certain news piece, what should be said, what should be handled delicately, that sort of thing.
In fact, you could say that being a smaller, community-minded newspaper brings its own unique set of challenges not faced by your bigger and broader publications in larger areas.听 After all, we鈥檙e writing about the very people who make up this little chunk of our world here in rural Saskatchewan; our neighbors, friends and sometimes even our own family members.
When that happens, there鈥檚 an even bigger desire or a need to handle things delicately, and the whole job can present itself as something of a balancing act.听 Especially when the news you deliver sometimes isn鈥檛 so good, or when it鈥檚 downright sad and tragic.
When I find myself being presented with an event that runs the gamut of gut-reaction-type human emotion 鈥� whether it鈥檚 a car accident, a fire, a robbery, an assault, or any of those kind of things that we in the media biz label as 鈥榟ard news鈥� 鈥� that鈥檚 when I鈥檓 typically presented with that 鈥榖alancing act鈥� scenario.听 It鈥檚 our job to lay out the facts, but sometimes the facts aren鈥檛 so pretty.听 We want to provide the public with a clear, well-rounded telling of what happened, but sometimes the people involved are people that we know, and perhaps know them well.
There鈥檚 something of a built-in default setting in your psyche to just go into 鈥榥ews mode鈥� and present the story with what you know or what you can gather, but then there鈥檚 this little voice in the back of your mind going, 鈥淎re you SURE you wanna share everything?鈥�
Take life around these parts for the past eight months or so, for example.听 Our local waters could鈥檝e basically been tried as serial killers last summer with the number of sad and horribly tragic drownings that occurred in either the 麻豆传媒AV Saskatchewan River or Lake Diefenbaker.听 My own brother could鈥檝e easily been another victim last July.听 Something tells me that I wouldn鈥檛 have been the assigned writer on that particular article if the worst had happened.
Or maybe take the more recent events around Outlook as another example.听 At the beginning of February, Brian Anholt鈥檚 truck was involved in a rollover just south of town on Highway 45.听 By the time emergency crews got to the scene, Brian was found to already be gone.听 Scores of local people knew Brian (aka 鈥楾ubbsy鈥� to those who knew him best) and we ran a report of what had happened (sans name) along with a photo of the general scene provided by the RCMP.听 Not long after I posted the article, I got a message saying how insensitive The Outlook was being by posting it not long after Brian鈥檚 family had gotten the news.听 I know this person had a fair point because I understand where she was coming from, but I guess it all goes back to that balancing act.
And sometimes, particularly when you鈥檙e a reporter in a rural area, there鈥檚 also a need to set things straight and get the facts out there in the collective ether before things get twisted and the coffee row chatter becomes the adopted gospel in some circles.听 That鈥檚 not me offering some lame excuse for reporting some rather grisly things at times, that鈥檚 simply offering some perspective on what things can be like on my side of the newspaper.
The news can be great around here, but it can also be sad and horrible.
If you struggle reading it sometimes, just know that sometimes we struggle in writing it.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
