the apocalypse is upon us, errr me

I agree, you're going to have to go through a lot of trouble to make sure everything they say is true ... or worse, find out that you wrote a glowing story on a convicted child molester ... have fun running those background checks ...

 

YEEEEEEEEEEE HAWWWWW! TURN THE MIRROR ON THE PUBLIC! PEOPLE LOVE TO READ ABOUT OTHER COMPLETELY NORMAL PEOPLE! AND WE DON'T HAVE TO DO ANY ACTUAL WORK OR RESEARCH! WHOOOOOOOOO! BRILLIANT!!!


ahem, um, er, I mean, I have no idea why this would be a bad idea, bertolt...yeah, that's it.

 

Have they thought ahead to the probability that the person who answers will not speak English?

This is what one of my mentors called "Butt Reporting" - where you sit on your ass instead of getting out there and getting a story.

 

Hello, this is Dr. Kevorkian, how may I help you?

 

We did that at our college paper one year. I can't recall reading a single fucking one.

You basically cold call these fools, tell them the idea and then say, "so, uhh, what's interesting about you?"

"Well, I'm a member of the bloods, I'm high as a kite, I just got done fucking my homeslice's bitch and I'm going to go smoke a fool tonight. What's life with you?"

"Uhhh..."

 

Not sure I could have put it any better than that.

 

i think this was on Ed Grant once

for real

or some show ... I remember one reporter betting the other one he could pick a random person out of the phone book and write a great story about him ... I don't remember anything else ...

but in real life, yeah, pitiful

 

When I was in college, the Lewiston, Idaho, paper did these types of features on a weekly basis. It was hugely popular, from what I recall.

That's not to say I would ever want to write one.

 

I'm sure my girlfriend will understand why I just spit Coke all over her laptop, no worries.

 

My guess is that some nitwit executive on the way "up" in the chain came up with this idea as a way to "connect with the readers." That person will never actually read the story, of course, nor will that person be at your paper this time next year. They will, however, take a bow in the corporate muckety-muck room for this "innovation."

There's a reason circulation goes up when a major story is ongoing - it's because people want to read NEWS. Newspapers are dying because we've conceded the first part of our title in our desperate attempt to become shoppers. Or extinct. But definitely one or the other.

 

Pretty much, yeah. I think "news" is a four-letter word for publishers in this, the hyperlocal era of journalism. I went to a work-related gathering with some of our advertisers, and in talking to a couple of them, they talked about our attracting readers who might know someone in one of our stories. That's sort of the paper philosophy, or close enough. But you know something? If the only reason we can give people to read us is they might know someone, then we've failed miserably. Any jackass can start a paper and run stories that namedrop everyone in creation if THAT'S the gold standard.

At this point I'd rant about our duty to the community to provide news that impacts multitudes of people instead of one family, or that we shouldn't try to compete with the phone book for mentioning names, or whatever. But what's the point? Nobody's listening.

 

Well said Moondoggy. You, my friend, should be the one taking the bow.