Just the story, please
September 12, 2005
By Cam Tait
Some of my closest friends are television reporters. In college, I roomed with Lance Brown, who is now the sports director of CFTO-TV in Toronto. We talk regularly. In 1993, before I was married of course, I fell in love with a woman on the local late night news. I asked her out, had a wonderful dinner, great conversation...I never hear from her. So the observation I am about to make doesn't mean I'm not a fan of television reporters. I am. I just am having a tough time getting my head around something.
I know the news business continues to change all the time. And call me old school, but I always thought reporters told the story and didn't involve themselves personally. But how many times have we seen - especially people who anchor the evening news - go out to a charity event...and they become the story? We see them pounding nails into new buildings, or painting houses, or serving coffee/hot dogs/hamburgers/doughnuts, or sorting cans at the food bank, or - sorry, but in my book this is pretty self-serving - acting as host for a gala dinner. Please, don't get me wrong here. I salute any, and all, volunteer efforts. But, wait a minute. If you're a television reporter or anchor, and you're at work, and you've put the paperwork in for a camera to join you, aren't you working? Therein lies a debate.
It brings up some other difficult questions too. When a television reporter and a camera crew show up for a charity shoot, why do we always see them as the hero? Don't kid yourselves; that's the whole objective of the exercise. But, is that news? Maybe. Is it promoting the television station and their good stead in the community? Absolutely.
There have been several in depth pieces done by television reporters who put themselves in the shoes of people in need of charity dollars. I can think of one extensive report on teenage prostitution, where the reporter went above and beyond the call of duty. She was on the strip in the wee hours of the morning, gathering stories of young people on the streets. She made the viewer feel the grit, fear the uncertainty of the night, but perhaps most important, it made the viewer realize funds are needed to help people get off the streets. It didn't preach, or ask. It simply told the story.
We need more of that from television news.
We need to be reminded of the need out there. Constantly. We need to hear human stories, with real voices and emotions. All the time. I honestly have to wonder how one can stir the emotions to join in a crusade for a great need by hamming it up in front of a camera. In my opinion, that's just a glorified advertisement for the television station and whatever company is behind the effort.
Frankly, I'm tired of this kind of television reporting. So perhaps we can challenge people in television news to start telling the stories of the community; stories that have substance and meaning, and stories that have the wonderful potential to change lives. Be my guest: continue pouring coffee and flipping pancakes and burgers. But quit calling it news. Because it just isn't.
Cam Tait is a sports reporter and columnist for the Edmonton Journal. He covered community investments and volunteers for 19 years. E-mail Cam at cam@charityvillage.com with thoughts, suggestions or ideas.
Opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CharityVillage.com®.
