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August 18, 2005
Desperation-Based Reporting
Captain Ed shows us just how desperate the media is to find something, anything, on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. The latest story?
Like many towns across America, the exclusive lakefront community where Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. grew up during the racially turbulent 1960s and '70s once banned the sale of homes to nonwhites and Jews.The neighborhood, yes. But what about Roberts' home?
The family purchased land a few blocks from the beach in 1966 and built an unassuming tri-level house. The Roberts property did not include a racially restrictive covenant, according to LaPorte County deed records, and the restrictions had begun fading away by then.So what's the story? Guilt by sorta-association is not journalism. It's...well, I'm not sure what it is. But it sure as heck isn't reporting.
I know how badly it hurts when a great story doesn't quite work out. When I was in college, I once had a lead on a story about sports figures doing very bad things. Only problem? The source was, to put it charitably, unreliable. As good as the allegations were, not being able to prove them killed the story.
These reporters were obviously hoping for a big scoop - they wanted to find out that Roberts lived in a house with an exclusionary clause in the deed. That would have made for an interesting, if not particularly relevant, story. Unfortunately, the facts didn't fit their lead, but they wrote the story anyway.
Let me say it again - that is not journalism. In journalism, the story should center on the facts. It shouldn't attempt to make the facts fit into a predetermined template.
Posted by slublog at August 18, 2005 12:00 AM
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