I'm just going to flat out complain here. Yesterday I was covering a court case that's become fairly high profile in Saskatchewan. Provincial television media had come to town to cover the case as well. We were in a scrum with the victim's mother and one of the reporters from Regina was unnecessarily rude to the rest of the media. Each time Vassy from the local tv station would begin to ask a quesiton, he would interupt her and talk louder and more forcefully so the interviewee would turn her attention to him. That has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves. WHAT is the point? Everyone gets to ask their questions in the end, what does it matter if you don't get to ask them all at once in a 9 minute long run? What is the big deal? Why do some members of provincial media always feel like they have the right to come in and treat local media like garbage?
And this isn't the first time it's happened either. Dono told me he had a similar run in with the same reporter before. Everyone I've talked to has said the same thing. I remember a scrum in PG where provincial media had come to cover a story and a camera man literally shoved my mic out of the way of his. Honestly, is that necessary? My mic was not obstructing the sound to his mic. Let's not be dicks here.
I can only imagine it has something to do with the "big city" mentality. Yes, Swift Current is smaller than Regina. Undeniably. But does that mean that this reporter is better than me? No. More experienced for sure, but that doesn't give him the right to treat the other reporters like crap! We're all going to get the same audio, we're all going to get the same stories, and we're all going to leave at the same time. There is no excuse for being an ass.
There are, I'm sure, times when a reporter would need to muscle their way into a scrum and get their questions in before the interviewee makes a run for it, but that is CASE SPECIFIC, and a reporter should understand the difference between a high intensity interview and one where the person isn't going anywhere.
There is no excuse for being a jackass. We're all peers here, let's be respectful of each other.
2 comments:
Ohmigod, I hate that mentality at scrums. I've been verbally bowled over during scrums just because some people thing "more agressive" equals "better". It doesn't.
so well said, let's just respect each other. but i think that they don't respect anyone, even themselves and definitely not the person they are interviewing. not in the least. i think that is a big reason why reporters get a bad rep. those being interviewed are appalled by the behavior. u know?
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