HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-10-17, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2013. PAGE 5.
I’m having a lot of trouble with the news
these days. News reports I mean – I don’t
watch The National with Peter Mansbridge
anymore. I gave it up the night the lead story
featured a panoramic shot of slaughtered
bodies in – I don’t remember – was it
Somalia? Nigeria? A high school gym in
Colorado?
Doesn’t matter. A small inner voice
murmured “Is that the kind of image
you want running in your brain just before you
go to sleep?” It wasn’t. I gave it up cold
turkey.
Well, not really. I’m tapering off with World
Report on CBC Radio – but even that’s
beginning to get to me. This morning as I ate
breakfast I was informed about bombings in
Syria, a financial crisis on Wall Street, neo-
Nazis in Greece and a serial killer in
Argentina.
None of which I can do bugger-all about.
If I was having breakfast with an actual
human whispering this litany of grief and
foreboding into my ear, said human would end
up wearing my bowl of granola. Why do I
allow my radio to do it to me?
No matter, let me offer, by way of antidote,
a couple of news stories that should have led
the news, but didn’t.
The first one concerns Joey Prusak, a 19-
year-old young man who works in a
Minneapolis Dairy Queen. He was at the
counter when he saw some dirtbag pick up a
visually impaired customer’s $20 bill and slip
it in her purse. Joey refused to serve the thief
until she returned the stolen money. She
refused. Joey gave the victim $20 out of his
own pocket.
No big deal to the boys on the news desk,
but a heart-nudging deal in a world immersed
in greed and me-firstism.
And then there’s Ann Makosinski, a British
Columbian who may have just changed the
world with an invention she dreamed up. It’s a
flashlight – a flashlight that needs no batteries,
toxic chemicals, or power source – other than
the heat from a human body.
She was inspired by a trip to the Philippines
where she met a student who failed her year
because there was no electricity, hence no light
to study after dark. Her invention may literally
‘enlighten’ the world.
Ann is a 15-year-old student in Grade 11.
How heart-warming is that?
But I can’t report the news without at least
one naval disaster. We had one recently when
two Canadian warships, the destroyer HMCS
Algonquin and the supply ship HMCS
Protecteur, crashed into each other en route to
Hawaii.
No one was injured, but the Algonquin,
which is Canada’s only destroyer on the
Pacific, is out of commission indefinitely.
You have to love a country where a minor
fender bender disables the entire western naval
fleet.
With our navy in for repairs and our air force
grounded while Ottawa dickers over fighter
jets, I guess Canada won’t be doing any
international sabre-rattling for quite some
time.
I’m okay with that.
Arthur
Black
Other Views
I heard the news today, oh boy Shawn
Loughlin
Shawn’s Sense
There are quite a few times that I get the
feeling that people don’t exactly
understand why it is I take their picture,
call their number or try to talk to them.
Sure, there are reporters out there like
paparazzi or scandal chasers who want nothing
more than to knock someone down a peg or
catch someone in a lie or publish a photograph
of someone doing something illicit or risque,
but I’m not one of them.
Odds are, if I (or really any member of a
legitimate community newspaper) am in touch
with you it’s because we want to hear your
story or get your side of the news.
I’m not trying to catch people in lies, I’m not
trying to take embarrassing photographs and
I’m not trying to make anyone else’s life more
difficult when I go through the normal actions
at my job.
Sure, not every photograph is completely
flattering to every person and not everyone in
a story always comes off smelling like roses,
but those are the odd ones out.
There are people who avoid the camera and
I understand that. I don’t like having my
picture taken. I won’t say that was a huge
part of choosing a career where I’m the one
taking pictures, but I will say it’s a definite
bonus.
That said, I usually don’t put myself in a
place where having my picture taken is likely.
If you go to a public event, if you volunteer
with a community group or if you decide
to do something extraordinary, you better
believe that I’ll be there ready to take your
picture and show people the good work you
do.
That said, if someone really doesn’t want to
have their picture taken, I’ll typically not
push the issue (plus, let’s be honest, the people
who want to have their picture taken usually
make for far better photographs. Except for
those students who jump in front of me when
I’m trying to get that once-in-a-month great
shot).
I’m not some cold person who wants to
make things hard for people. I even have some
rules about how I take photos that are
specifically designed to make it a little less
embarrassing for folks. For example, I
don’t take photos of people when they’re
eating if it can be at all avoided. There are
very universal experiences in the world like
eating a good meal. It’s universal in that
we all do it, enjoy it and none of us look good
while doing it.
When it comes to interviews, however, I
can’t put rules on what I will and won’t do. I
have to ask the questions necessary to get the
story I need.
Many people don’t enjoy being interviewed
because they have this notion that I’m there
to discover some secret about them and
make it public knowledge. Others don’t enjoy
it because they think I’m trying to shine a
light on something they think should be
hidden.
Odds are, neither of those things will occur
as long as what you’re trying to hide isn’t
something I need to write about.
I work for a community newspaper; that is
one that is delivered to the community but it
also is filled with stories about people in the
community.
We love when people get awards, when they
receive recognition, when they do something
great, because it gives us a chance to put
someone deserving in the spotlight.
I love telling the news. Heck, if I didn’t, I
wouldn’t drag myself and a few dozen pounds
of equipment to and from at least four council
meetings a month.
Sometimes, however, the news isn’t positive.
Sometimes something bad happens.
Sometimes people screw up. Those stories
need to be told, and not sugar-coated, because
then we’re not doing our jobs.
When it comes time for that, I’ll try and be
as sensitive as I can in getting the information
I need to tell the story (and I’ll be the first
to admit subtlety is not my forté, I’m more of
a sledgehammer than anything else in a tool
kit).
That said, embarrassing people or
forcing someone to take their “lumps” as one
Huron County planner told me last week, is
not what I want to do or ever what I set out to
do.
If I call you about something, odds are it is
because there is some question as to what’s
going on.
Maybe it’s the basic questions: the who,
what, when, where, why and how, maybe it’s a
clarification, maybe it’s the need of an expert
opinion. Whatever it is, I can guarantee I’m
not trying to corner someone or weasel a
damning answer out of them.
As I said, subtlety is an art form I don’t
practice. If the story is about someone making
a mistake or breaking the law then that’s going
to be what my questions are about. I’m not
going to try and bury my intent.
If, however, the story is about anything else,
there is no clever trap being laid in my
wording, no desire to catch people unawares
and no need to smear someone’s good name to
tell what needs to be told. That’s just not who
I am.
That said, I will point out that people are
occasionally less than clear and often worried
about accountability.
So the next time a reporter calls you up and
wants to ask you a question, be completely
transparent. And whatever you do, don’t
(and I mean never, ever, do this) say anything
similar to “no comment,” or “I have no
recollection of that.” No one has tried that on
me yet, but if they do, it’s just going to
convince me there is something there that I
need to research.
We have, in the office, joked around about
the fact that so many people who are
embroiled in high-level scandals (usually
politicians), keep saying they don’t remember
the incident in question or that they have
no comment. That has to be the worst possible
thing in the world to say. It pretty much
convinces everyone that there is a story there.
As much as I hate to point a finger at
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and say he knows
what he is doing, his complete and utter denial
of things (even if they turn out to be true), are
a better answer at the time than ignoring the
subject.
Trust me, honesty is always the best policy.
Oh, and having your picture taken doesn’t
really hurt. Take a lesson from those kids on
the playground and revel in the fact that
someone wants to give you a few minutes of
recognition for all the great things you do.
Denny
Scott
Denny’s Den
What I do versus what people think I do
Playing head games
It was famed folk artist and cultural icon
Bob Dylan who sang “The times they are a-
changin’”. Released on Dylan’s 1964
album of the same name, as the times are
constantly a-changing, it’s easy to see the song,
and its meaning, living on forever.
I got thinking about this last week as two
huge issues continue lapping at the sides of the
sports world, that go far deeper than sports, and
are deeply rooted in North American culture.
The first is the mountain of opposition to the
name of the National Football League’s
Washington club: the Redskins.
Criticism of this name is nothing new, but
with high profile sports journalists from both
Sports Illustrated and USA Today now refusing
to use the name in their coverage of the team,
the issue has gained steam. Even President
Barack Obama, when asked, said that if he
owned the team, he would change its name.
Owner Dan Snyder, in an open letter to fans,
said the Redskins name is one of honour and
he doesn’t intend on changing it.
This debate has broadened the scope to
include teams with names I never considered
to be racist when I was young, including the
Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves and the
Kansas City Chiefs.
Even the owner of an Ottawa-area amateur
football team, the Nepean Redskins,
announced he would be changing his team’s
name amidst local complaints of racism.
The times have changed and the eyes of
many have been opened... which brings me to
the next change on the horizon: concussions.
The debate has been brewing for a few years,
but with last week’s release of League of
Denial, a damning book written by ESPN
investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and
his brother Steve Fainaru, and accompanying
PBS Frontline documentary, the realities of
repeated head injuries are scarier than ever.
While no one ever really thought a blow to
the head was a good thing, when I was young
big hits, whether they be in football or hockey,
were celebrated. Knowing what we know now,
I, for one, will never look at big hits in sports
the same way ever again.
What kid my age didn’t eagerly await the
release of the newest Rock ’em Sock ’em
videotape by Don Cherry? Sure the series
celebrated hockey bloopers and great goals,
but its bread and butter has always been big
hits and violent hockey fights.
League of Denial paints both a grim picture
for those with repeated concussions, resulting
in a new-found condition called Chronic
Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), including
hockey players, football players and boxers, as
well as a disturbing picture of the NFL, which
has raced to cover up and discredit
groundbreaking research into concussions.
A recent lawsuit, which was won by a large
group of ex-NFL players to the tune of $765
million, is considered a drop in the bucket, but
is also seen as a watershed moment for the
debate that could lead to sweeping changes.
I, no doubt like many others, now look back
on how I used to cheer at sporting events and
wonder how I could have been so blind to what
was happening. It reminds me of how stupid I
felt for cheering on players like Mark
McGwire and Barry Bonds, not understanding
the chemical leg up they had at the time.
Like steroids, concussions have spelled the
end for many of my childhood heroes, athletic
powerhouses who all died in their 50s because
of what they put their bodies through.
It is a scary reality and we are just left to
wonder how we didn’t see it coming and
consider our roles in supporting it.
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
– William Shakespeare
Final Thought