When Opportunity Knocks....Turn Off the Lights

[depth of field]

check out this situation and tell me what you would do differently:

a local library bans websites that are racist or hateful in nature. reporter hears that there will be a HUGE protest outside of the library b/c they are denying the 1st amend.

reporter goes out to the library, but lo and behold, there are only two protestors out there, and they're both skinheads. do you still do the story? (not done yet...)

not only are there only 2 skinheads out there....but they are father and son. do you do the story???

my reporter said she changed her mind on doing the story b/c the only 2 protestors were skinheads (not to mention father/son team). i guess she thought her story would be all freedom loving Americans waving the flag and singing Kum-ba-ya and praising Jesus.

is it me, or is this reporter a complete f**king moron for passing up an opportunity for such a great and interesting character driven story??? please, someone tell me i'm not alone...

[Bureau Chief]

Hell 0ur station did a package on this when our library installed the filters on their computers with out any protestors....but we are small market. Ya I think it would have been a go, maybe only as a vo/sot but what the heck, you already drove outthere and spent the time. Shoot it up! We have a policy here. Shoot first, ask questions later. You never know, those two could get arrested later on for bombing that library or something.

[Clever Login Name]

BC's correct. Do the story and decide later whether to air it. The reporter 'filtered' out those opposing viewpoints herself ... these people were publicly protesting a policy that affects anyone who uses that library ... despite what you might think about them, their side of the story should be told as well.

[newz2me]

Let's forget for a second that they're skinheads. That they're just 2 average guys. Is it really a protest or the opinion of 2 people who also come from the same family? The way I see it, if you get a group of independent people together all for a common cause with the same opinion, then you've got something. Otherwise it's a personal matter between that person and the organization they have a beef with. Now factor in the fact that these guys make a life out of promoting hate. To me it's not a story. Sure they have a right under the Constitution to be there, but I also have the right to decide this isn't worthy of coverage.
I agree that you can do a story on the filters and use a soundbite from the Father/Son as to why they don't like it, but I would not focus on them and give them the spotlight.

[ August 17, 2007, 09:36 AM: Message edited by: newz2me ]

[SpxGrunt]

I would cover not as a protest, but as part of a story. Here's what the library is doing. Here are two people who disagree with the policy. I would not ignore or hide the fact (nor could you visually, I'm sure) that they are neo-Nazis/skinheads.

[s'news]

I tried to use the computer at a local library a while back. It wouldn't let me check Hotmail because, you know, it's hot.

Filtering is imperfect, that could also be part of the story.

[Clever Login Name]

Present the facts, including that they're skinheads/father & son/only ones there, and let the viewers decide what weight to give to their opinion. The story is the library has a new policy (a story in and of itself), and by golly, here's two people who don't like it. Don't let your own biases, no matter how widely they might be held, affect whether you decide to cover the story.

Rosa Parks was one person staging a protest ... you think a few news organizations wish they had been there the day she refused to give up her seat?

[Wise Old Producer]

Students researching hate crimes or the history of racism will have to stick to the books at the XYZ Library---
Take vo here---
Today the library began blocking any websites deemed "hateful" or "racist" in nature. Librarian Suzie Q says new software filters will prevent patrons from accessing questionable sites.
Take sound here--- Soundbite with Suzie trying to explain how and who will determine what's questionable
Continue vo---(show skinheads) While police were concerned about a large protest over the new policy, just two people showed up.
Tape out

That's the vosot for one show. The package for the other is about libraries having to balance their responsibility to provide taxpayer-funded resources without also delivering offensive material at the same time. How do libraries block porn sites for example? Etc..etc. How does that affect people needing to do research on breast cancer?

[markminn]

It's only 2 protesters. Forget about it, and head downtown to the Vick arraignment at the courthouse. Their are hundreds of protesters down there!

[Santos L. Halper]

Today the library began blocking any websites deemed "hateful" or "racist" in nature.Would you really say "deemed" or "...in nature" in a conversational broadcast script?

[Wise Old Producer]

Originally posted by Santos L. Halper:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Today the library began blocking any websites deemed "hateful" or "racist" in nature.Would you really say "deemed" or "...in nature" in a conversational broadcast script?</font>[/QUOTE]What's your alternative?

[Roy Hobbs]

Any chance one of them was the World's Greatest Criminal Mind?
http://www.patfullerton.com/superman/pix/lex/lexluthor1981-sm.jpg

[SpxGrunt]

Originally posted by Roy Hobbs:
Any chance one of them was the World's Greatest Criminal Mind?
http://www.patfullerton.com/superman/pix/lex/lexluthor1981-sm.jpghttp://www.zippoc.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/lex-luthor-wrong1.jpg

[The Thrill]

"Are we goin' to Addis Abbaba, Mr. Luthor?"

[2:30]

It's only 2 protesters. Forget about it, That part was right.

[rootboyslim]

Originally posted by 2:30:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> It's only 2 protesters. Forget about it, That part was right.</font>[/QUOTE]What are the chances of the reporter turning away if this had been a war protest, prior to the start of the war? Would it have been OK then, 2:30, to walk away?

[Clever Login Name]

Or, more to the point ... what if they came back to you, 2:30, and said "Eh, we didn't cover it because there were only two protesters there."?

[miss hap]

I got my local chapter of Moveon.org all up in my junk because I noted that they organized a protest at our congressman's local office. They tried to tell me everyone just happened to be there on their own volition. yeah, right.

[Clever Login Name]

Originally posted by miss hap:
I got my local chapter of Moveon.org all up in my junk because I noted that they organized a protest at our congressman's local office. They tried to tell me everyone just happened to be there on their own volition. yeah, right.FWIW, they did that at a lot of local congresspersons' offices last week.

[Wise Old Producer]

Just remember-- it's your job to determine when you are really covering the news and when you are simply being used by special interest groups to further their causes.

Ask yourself these questions:

Is it a spontaneous protest? In what numbers?
How did people find out about the event? Were people already there when you arrived? Or did they show up when they saw a news unit on the scene?

Is it an organized protest? Who is the spokesperson? Did they notify you in advance of their presence there? Did they estimate numbers? How'd they do?

Your answers should give you an idea of how much importance the presence of protestors plays in your story.

It may be the focus of the story. It may be a throwaway tag. It's your job as a journalist to make that call. Just because protestors show up doesn't mean they are the story.

[Clever Login Name]

Saw this and thought of this thread ... it's from the Seattle P-I blog, so I'm not sure if it actually made it into the newspaper, but the scenarios are quite the same:

The Big Blog
SeattlenewscultureentertainmentSeattle

Green Lake protest falls flat when few show up

Even with the Iraq war lingering and plenty of trouble with guns and violence on the streets of Seattle, a planned demonstration was barely a protest at all Tuesday night – despite advance publicity garnered through an official-looking media release.

P-I reporter Amy Rolph went out to cover a planned protest Tuesday night at Green Lake, only to find just two demonstrators. Here's Amy's report:

The demonstration didn't take long at all. In fact, it might have been the shortest in recent local history.

It might have been the smallest, too.

Two activists showed up. They stretched out on the ground for 32 seconds. Then they rolled up their banner -- www.protesteasyguns.com (http://www.protesteasyguns.com) -- and headed for the parking lot.

If things had gone as planned, there would have been 32 people stretched out on the ground -- one for every person killed in the Virginia Tech massacre earlier this year. The 32-second duration of the event is how long authorities estimate it took for 23-year-old shooter Cho Seung-Hui to buy each of the several guns he brandished during the April attack.

"It is extremely easy for anyone to get a gun," said Danny Helseth, one of the two activists. "Background checks are not nearly strong enough."

Tuesday's demonstration was part of a national call for stronger gun control.

"Small steps," activist Kristen Comer said as she picked up her bag and got ready to leave the park.

Comer and Helseth want lawmakers to make background checks more complete. People with mental health issues shouldn't be able to obtain weapons, they said.

Among other things, they also want the state to adopt a law that would require gun show merchants to conduct background checks on customers.

Tuesday's local effort, small as it became, was held in conjunction with at least 20 other events around the country, many spurred by a call to action from civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

Tuesday was the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington in which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the famous speech in which he said he was there to "cash a check" for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

– By Amy Rolph

Posted by Angelo Bruscas at August 28, 2007 11:09 p.m.
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