It's About the Story....

Being a Journalist it is expected that you report the story fair and accurately and leave your personal views and opinions out of the story.

Sadly, thanks to cable news and the taking heads, those lines have become very blurred.

Younger Journalists see Anderson Cooper giving his thoughts and opinion and they start to believe that it is ok that they do the same.

Yesterday, FTVLive highlighted two Reporters that are covering the building collapse in South Florida.

One of those Reporters was WFOR’s Frances Wang.

In one of her reports, Wang said the “part that concerns” her and “breaks my heart the most” is how much worse the news is going to get about the death toll at the collapse.

She is making herself part of the story and expressing her feelings.

Shortly after we posted the story, Wang responded to our report on Twitter:

First off, what you do on Twitter is not the same as what you do on air. FTVLive was not discussing your Twitter feed, we were talking about your on-air report in which you as a Journalist are expressing your personal feelings.

Imagine if all Journalists starting reporting this way?

Anchor: “We toss it out to our Reporter John Doe who was in the courtroom as Derek Chauvin was sentenced. John?”

Reporter John Doe: “Thanks Chris, I watched as Derek Chauvin was not given nearly as many years In prison as I think he should have been given. In my opinion, the judge was soft and it really is a miscarriage of justice. Back to you.”

Now, while what John said may or may not be true, it’s not his job as a Journalist to give viewers his opinion. His job is to tell viewers what happened in the courtroom, get responses from both sides and let the viewers form their own opinion.

I know that with company’s like Tegna and apparently CBS (where Wang works) this kind of opinion reporting is OK.

But, some would argue that going down this path is bad for Journalism as a whole. And looking at the public’s opinion of Journalists today, that appears to be a valid point.

Maybe times have changed, by I have always believed that a Journalist's job is to write the first draft of history. Tell the people the facts and leave your feelings and opinion out of it.

You are there to be an impartial observer!

That is the job of a REAL Journalist.

Just saying….