Sunday, May 26, 2019

No Free-Lunch Reporting

Sometimes we want stories to be true. It would help if companies were more forthcoming with the facts and got away from BS statements like "This is not who we are." I  recall this company seeming to confirm her account by saying she'd violated policy and then offering her job back.

It wouldn't be the first time someone got a story like this wrong. A combination of speeding to deliver a powerful story and a  breakdown in the traditional editing process that might have stopped an inaccurate story are part of the story. Standard reporting would have required interviewing the family  involved or at least an explanation of why they weren't available.  And the beginning of the mother's statement doesn't really make the case that the worker lied, although later it does.

And maybe, just maybe, a dozen TV cameras don't need to show up.  We don't need to act like a mob. I'm a big fan of returning to relying on local news operations to produce news for the national networks or the Associated Press, instead of hordes of reporters showing up. Especially since outlets are supposedly so shorthanded.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/05/24/remember-lunch-lady-fired-giving-boy-free-meal-his-mother-now-says-she-lied/?utm_term=.b57100c39d6d

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