Journalists getting it wrong again!!

How many times have you picked up a newspaper, read a story about an issue you are intimately familiar with, and said "That's not how the story is at all!"?

And then thrown it down in disgust and had a rant over the table?
I know I've done it. You may have too. So what is wrong with these journalists who have no idea of the story and get their facts wrong all the time?

Odds are, nothing.
I'll tell you what the odds are on that story.
Odds are:
1) The journalist knows there is more to the story. That's a given.
2) No one is willing to speak on the record about it.
3) No one is willing to speak off the record about it.
4) Knowing there is a story there, the journalist writes one with the comments and information they can print.
5) Hopefully, that will flush out people willing to change points 2) or 3).

Sometimes all a journalist can do is print what people tell them in the hope that they will look stupid when the truth comes out. A key part of journalism is "getting something on the record" - basically quoting someone to be able to hold them accountable later. I can think of countless times where I've known there is something going on, but I have to take the official line and put it in the paper, because no one else is willing to comment, and I have no other reliable information.

So you get comments like "It's not happening, as far as I'm aware", "We will not close the plant", or "His position is safe". Later on down the track, hopefully someone will have some guts and comment and the person trying to hide the truth will be revealed as a liar. We have some pretty serious legal ramifications for doing our job. There are not many other professions I can think of where you can get sent to jail for doing your job correctly.

Yes - correctly.

So we have to be careful about what we print.

Next time you read something you know isn't telling the full story, feel free to contact the journalist who wrote it and add some useful information. Don't abuse them (they get enough of that in their daily job), just say you've got some extra info that might help them. You don't have to speak on the record, but be prepared that they will probably try to convince you (it's part of what we do). It's not hard to get hold of a journo usually - just call the newspaper switchboard and ask for them by name.

Maybe you'll help people get a better understanding of the issue.