Being in the media, there鈥檚 a certain kinship shared between all of us who have chosen to involve themselves in this crazy, stress-inducing, unpredictable profession for a living.聽 At the end of the day, we鈥檙e all just trying to get news stories out there to inform the masses, whether it鈥檚 in print, online, video or audio form.聽 No matter how big or little some of us are in size, we鈥檒l always have that connection and share a lot of the same ideologies.
That 小蓝视频 said, there are also glaring differences between big, corporate news machines and us little guys in the weekly publication biz, the biggest of which involves population.聽 When it鈥檚 a weekly newspaper that focuses on a very specific part of the province, the attention of the public turns much more closely to whoever鈥檚 name is in the byline.
That 小蓝视频 mine.
This kind of situation is certainly nothing new to me.聽 I鈥檝e been doing this for nearly 13 years, and I鈥檝e come to accept the fact that in a very modest way, I鈥檓 sort of, kind of a public figure, or at the very least, a public face.聽 People associate me with the newspaper, and my articles, columns and photos seem to resonate with many dedicated readers.聽 I can鈥檛 tell you how many times I鈥檝e encountered complete strangers out in public who just wanted to tell me what a certain story meant to them, or to 鈥渒eep up the good work, Derek.鈥澛� From my perspective, some of these people are completely unknown to me, but in their eyes, they know me through my writing and my photography.聽 Believe me when I tell you, dear readers, it鈥檚 a relationship that I don鈥檛 take for granted and it means the absolute world to me when I have such encounters.
But while it鈥檚 nice to have such closeness with our readers, the situation can certainly take a different road when it鈥檚 time to cover life鈥檚 most unexpected occurrences.
That was the case this past week when The Outlook ran a front-page article on a scandal involving the finances of Outlook Minor Sports, in which it was discovered that the treasurer had been misappropriating funds for a number of years to the tune of just over $174,000.
A lot has been said about the matter, including why our newspaper would run the story to begin with, or feature it on Facebook, and so I just wanted to provide the perspective of us in the media when a delicate subject such as this comes up.
First off, I want to tell you why it took 鈥渟o long鈥� for us to cover this, and the truth is very simple 鈥� we were under the impression that we couldn鈥檛.聽 No official charges were laid by police, so that route was a dead end.聽 On top of that, I was told that at a meeting called by Minor Sports in late October to discuss the matter, a reporter from Rosetown was apparently asked to leave.聽 In my eyes, it appeared that any media would be turned away if they sought comment about the situation, so we left it alone while at the same time hoping that we could soon get someone who would talk to us.聽 It wasn鈥檛 until after another meeting in January that I learned that Minor Sports would be willing to do an interview, so I contacted the president of the organization and well, you know how the rest of the story goes.
Secondly, I want to shoot down any talk or hearsay of bias from The Outlook when it came to this story.聽 To put it simply 鈥� we can鈥檛 afford to be biased.聽 The fact that I may personally know a family involved has no relevance when I start putting pen to paper for any article, or rather, fingers to the keyboard.聽 I鈥檝e covered the events surrounding my one-time neighbor from across the street who tried to rob a flower shop, and I鈥檝e even covered a murder trial where the victim came from a family that I know.聽 Any self-respecting news publication doesn鈥檛 鈥減ick and choose鈥� what to cover, and The Outlook sure doesn鈥檛.
The flip side of this coin is the fact that yes, sometimes covering something that involves someone you know causes others a lot of pain, especially in a smaller, rural area such as this.聽 In those situations 鈥� and especially in this one 鈥� obviously you feel sympathy for the people that the whole situation affects, particularly young kids.聽 However, I also feel that it鈥檚 na茂ve to believe that a newspaper shouldn鈥檛 do its core job; getting the facts and the details out into the public eye.聽 In the case of Outlook, doing so is especially important because this community has a terrible tendency to believe all the hearsay and coffee row chatter.聽 If I can do my part in hammering down what the truth is, you can bet your bottom dollar I鈥檓 getting it out there into the hands of the people.
A newspaper has to report the news, and sometimes the news isn鈥檛 pretty and affects far too many people than it should.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
