In my eight months at The Evening Sun, there is a lot that I have had to get used to. I’ve started talking to people I don’t know without shaking in my shoes. I’ve gotten used to using Macs instead of normal computers and even started to enjoy them. I’ve even gotten used to the constant worry that I won’t be able to find anything to write about, but one thing I haven’t gotten used to is the constant critiquing of everything I write.
I’m not talking about having my fellow reporters and my editor read over my stories and make the necessary changes. I appreciate that part. The more people I have to find my typos and over abundance of commas, the better. I’m not even talking about people who call or e-mail me if they find a mistake. I appreciate that as well. I’m talking about the phone calls I receive once the story goes to print.
If I worked at a bank, I probably wouldn’t have people calling me on a regular basis to go over how I handled my day’s transactions or to tell me if I gave out even numbers of each bill. As a reporter, things are different. Every time a controversial – and I’m using the term extremely lightly – topic is in the news, I receive calls from everyone with a vested interest, questioning the choices I made, the people I chose to interview and my ulterior motives for bringing the subject to light. If I interview a wide variety of people on a topic, I get calls from people who want to know why I chose those individuals. If I stick tightly to one topic and interview only those involved, I get calls asking why I didn’t show both sides of the topic. Everyone is an expert and everyone has a complaint.
Don’t get me wrong, as a reporter, I rely on information from people. They call when there is an event they think we should attend or if there is a story that we should look into. I’m not complaining about that. It helps me get past the ‘what to write about’ worry. I just take issue with individuals, especially those with a vested interest in a topic, telling me what I should include or shouldn’t include in my stories.
If something is inaccurate or portrays something in the wrong way, I’ll be the first to apologize; but I won’t apologize for doing my job and showing both sides of an issue.