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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 18:21:36
I'm interning at a mid-sized paper in south Georgia. I spent a lot of time and effort on a story about an HIV positive man who used to smoke crack and prostitute himself. I wrote it as a cautionary tale and to show readers that this kind of thing does happen in the Bible Belt.
My editor said the story didn't have enough sources and statistics. Yes, the story was imperfect, but we print imperfect stories in the paper every day.
However.....The editor said I "picked the wrong person" to profile. He said something like, "We did a story a while ago about a woman who got HIV from her husband. But this guy was smoking crack and everything. Why did you pick him?" I said because people not being careful about sex and then getting HIV is more common than 100% victims who did nothing risky, like the married woman we wrote about.
He also said stuff like "This is a difficult market for a story like this." More than once he referred to "this market". He said some readers will wonder why we would print this story and not one about anti-homosexual activists.
And just for background: This editor did not want to send one of our reporters to Iraq because the reporter was a woman. He also did not want to put a picture in the paper of women dancing in "hooker boots", even though the women's bodies weren't exposed.
I really think the editor doesn't like gay people and thinks people like the man I wrote about deserve what they get.
My story is probably not going to be published. The irony is that part of the story is about the stigma the gay man has had to face.
Posted by Phillipa on July 28, 2006, at 18:34:07
In reply to I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I did, posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 18:21:36
I know you said this man was gay but did you point out that you can get Aids from a needle stick from an infected person, from blood transfusions and such. He sounds very narrow minded to me. I'm starting to think I don't like Georgia very much. And he wouldn't send a woman to Iraq that discrimination isn't it? Love Phillipa
Posted by Phil on July 28, 2006, at 19:25:24
In reply to I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I did, posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 18:21:36
He's doing everything in his power to not sell newspapers.
Would a large market paper be interested? Include it with your resume. You're better than this guy.
Good to hear that you're writing.That's my post for this month.
Posted by Kath on July 28, 2006, at 20:46:27
In reply to Re: I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I » PhoenixGirl, posted by Phil on July 28, 2006, at 19:25:24
> Would a large market paper be interested? Include it with your resume. You're better than this guy.
> Good to hear that you're writing.
Ditto to that! Kath
Posted by Bobby on July 28, 2006, at 21:18:40
In reply to I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I did, posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 18:21:36
Maybe that's why he's still a small time editor in south Georgia.
Posted by MidnightBlue on July 28, 2006, at 21:41:18
In reply to I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I did, posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 18:21:36
Right or wrong, your boss probably knows the particular market for his paper better than you do as an intern. That doesn't mean you didn't have a good story or that you didn't write it well. It just means he didn't think it was a good article to publish in his paper.
If you find yourself in conflict with what the paper publishes and its policies, you should look elsewhere for a job. You would probably be a lot happier.
MidnightBlue
> I'm interning at a mid-sized paper in south Georgia. I spent a lot of time and effort on a story about an HIV positive man who used to smoke crack and prostitute himself. I wrote it as a cautionary tale and to show readers that this kind of thing does happen in the Bible Belt.
> My editor said the story didn't have enough sources and statistics. Yes, the story was imperfect, but we print imperfect stories in the paper every day.
> However.....The editor said I "picked the wrong person" to profile. He said something like, "We did a story a while ago about a woman who got HIV from her husband. But this guy was smoking crack and everything. Why did you pick him?" I said because people not being careful about sex and then getting HIV is more common than 100% victims who did nothing risky, like the married woman we wrote about.
> He also said stuff like "This is a difficult market for a story like this." More than once he referred to "this market". He said some readers will wonder why we would print this story and not one about anti-homosexual activists.
> And just for background: This editor did not want to send one of our reporters to Iraq because the reporter was a woman. He also did not want to put a picture in the paper of women dancing in "hooker boots", even though the women's bodies weren't exposed.
> I really think the editor doesn't like gay people and thinks people like the man I wrote about deserve what they get.
> My story is probably not going to be published. The irony is that part of the story is about the stigma the gay man has had to face.
>
>
Posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 23:22:29
In reply to Re: I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I did » PhoenixGirl, posted by MidnightBlue on July 28, 2006, at 21:41:18
It's part business, part public service. It's not supposed to be all about what people want to hear. Courageous reporters should expose the truth even if some people don't like it. My editor, on the other hand, is a p**sy.
Posted by Jay on July 28, 2006, at 23:58:46
In reply to Re: I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I did » PhoenixGirl, posted by MidnightBlue on July 28, 2006, at 21:41:18
Sorry....peeping out-of-exile here for a bit. Newspapers are absolutely not about markets. They are run by editorial boards and the publisher, who have their own political agendas. They always come clean who they endorse in elections, and with the type of political leanings columnists have. I don't know much about the U.S. print press in particular, just in general. But, look at another medium, t.v. Fox news is so right-wing politically charged, they turn their "newscasts" into "viewscasts".
Jay (back in hiding... :-/ )
Posted by Phillipa on July 29, 2006, at 0:14:25
In reply to The news is not just another business...., posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 23:22:29
Phoenix Girl Go get umm!!!!!! And you're right. Love Phillipa
Posted by Racer on July 29, 2006, at 11:04:50
In reply to I think homophobia killed a newspaper story I did, posted by PhoenixGirl on July 28, 2006, at 18:21:36
> I spent a lot of time and effort on a story about an HIV positive man who used to smoke crack and prostitute himself. I wrote it as a cautionary tale and to show readers that this kind of thing does happen in the Bible Belt.
>
> However.....The editor said I "picked the wrong person" to profile. He said something like, "We did a story a while ago about a woman who got HIV from her husband. But this guy was smoking crack and everything. Why did you pick him?" I said because people not being careful about sex and then getting HIV is more common than 100% victims who did nothing risky, like the married woman we wrote about.
>
> He also said stuff like "This is a difficult market for a story like this." More than once he referred to "this market". He said some readers will wonder why we would print this story and not one about anti-homosexual activists.
>
> The irony is that part of the story is about the stigma the gay man has had to face.
>
>First of all, his comment that some readers would wonder why you weren't writing about anti-homosexual activists has me cross-eyed. Maybe because I'm not in Georgia, I really don't understand how printing the one has anything at all to do with printing the other.
But your last paragraph? THAT'S a story, too. Can you write it? Send it to another paper -- maybe a, oh, I don't know, a NATIONAL paper? To express what's happening in small time South Georgia news outlets?
I'm not gonna bother to respond to your comment that newspapers aren't just a business. Despite Fox News, some of us still remember that news is not the same as entertainment. It's not supposed to make you feel good, or to feel right -- it's meant to INFORM.
Out here, when the Abu Ghraib photographs came out, people wrote letters to the editor saying that the photos shouldn't have been published, after all, this was a "family paper." My response? No, they shouldn't have been published -- but only because they shouldn't have existed. Since they did exist, I wanted them published. So someone is ashamed to be a citizen of the country whose soldiers did that? Maybe that feeling tells them to get moving to make sure nothing like that happens again.
OK. I'm done now. Can someone help me off my soapbox?
This is the end of the thread.
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