Must reading: Don MacPherson looks at some recent comics stories and why “no comment” may not always be the best answer. He also depressed us with an example of how things work in the real world:
My day job is a courts/crime reporter. I’ve developed strong and valuable rapports with police officers, lawyers, even judges; I’ve even developed friendships. Nevertheless, access and amiability sometimes get trumped by a story. There are times when I’ve written stories that have angered the police and prosecutors, judges and defence lawyers. I still have access. I still have friends. Eventually, people let go of the anger or realize that the story had to be told, that there was nothing personal about it.
The whole piece sheds a much light on all the issues we’ve been talking about here lately.
My opinion is that you have to take the initiative to “own” your PR before your PR “owns” you.
Or is that “pwn?”
MacPherson has a good point. I work at the primary trade magazine for an entertainment industry, and you have to strike that balance constantly–but it still means telling the story when the story needs to be told. Somebody may be upset with you, but they and their colleagues also need your outlet to inform them of what else is going on, and they need to use your outlet to get their own stuff out. So it’s a give and take, and I think comics journalism needs to get there too.
I should add, “The Beat” and a few other outlets know and handle these things quite well… I just mean the young field in general…
Would that most current political reporters felt this way!
It must be difficult to tread the fine line between reporting news and biting the hand that feeds…
Just posted a review on http://KushStocks.com on grow light sets and bulbs