People should watch out what comes out of their mouth.
Students should be aware that when you talk to the press that if there is something that you don’t want to be made public that you have the right to let us know beforehand. If not anything and everything that you say will be made public.
Last week a student walked in and said that she wanted a retraction of a quote that was printed in the Talon Marks. However, since the story was printed after she asked for the retraction, I say that she should have known better.
That’s right, you heard what I said.
She should have known better than to say what she said. When a journalist identifies him or herself and says what newspaper she or he represents, everything that is said is taken as important information.
However, if you don’t want to talk to the press you have a right to say so. But then again one must understand the point of view of the journalist. As a journalist, one is there to inform and to be the eyes and ears of those who read a newspaper such as the Los Angeles Times.
Journalists have fought to uphold journalism ethics when it comes to a news story and any stories that happen, but in the case of this student it was deemed wrong because according to her she had a reputation to protect.
To me, that has ego written all over it. Excuse me, what reputation do you have to protect exactly? Who made you God?
Nobody on this earth is God and with trying to protect a so-called reputation just goes to show that you need to seek a psychiatrist.
According to the Society of Professional Journalists, one of the Code of Ethics is to “Seek the Truth and Report It,” and that is when one journalist is honest, fair, and is gathering information for a specific story.
If the person that was there was honest in identifying who they were, then what’s the problem? And I have another question, “Was the person fair?”
Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and I know that your opinion about your reputation would change. But I’m not saying that the media has always been perfect; not by any means. Just look at what happened with the CIA leak investigation involving Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney.
So of course revealing a CIA agent and having the media pounce on the story will lead to questions about how much should be revealed. Things like that take place every day with any story and within every profession that one plans as a career.
So, you ask, what is all of this leading toward? I’m just saying that every one of us should stop worrying about our reputations because to tell you the truth, one with a “reputation” is only putting on a mask.
Oh yeah, if you do know that you are talking to the media, whether its for a student newspaper or a major newspaper, then you should be aware of what you say.
If you don’t want something to be printed for the rest of the world to read, then that’s why God gave you a mouth to say so.
