Being a journalist is like being an undercover super-hero. You have to live a double-life while protecting the public from dishonesty and corruption in the government and corporations. You must lead a normal life on the side and put on the mask of objectivity while covering the news.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I cherish my personal faith. I am certainly not ashamed of this fact, but this doesn't mean that everyone I interview in my professional life needs to know this. When I'm out interviewing people, on the job as a reporter, I will leave my personal life behind. I do this to maintain fairness and balance in my stories, and to allow all members of the general public the opportunity to trust me.
Do I think I can lead this double-life? Absolutely! By: 1) leaving my personal life at home; 2) presenting fair and equally balanced stories; 3) focusing on the subjects of the story and covering their lives - not mine.
I think reporters have trouble reporting on religion because it's a naturally sensitive topic. We usually only have religion in the news when something bad happens, and sometimes I think the controversy of the issue leads to over-coverage of the event. Take the New York Times coverage of the Catholic scandals in the Vatican. I saw it headlining the front page on at least three different days. Is it newsworthy? Definitely! Does that mean it needs to be on the front page multiple times? I don't think so. When I cover religion scandals like this one, I will try and remember to be respectful. The subject is very sensitive for many people, and usually only a few people in the entire faith are even involved. So it is unbalanced reporting on my part to over-cover a story just for the sensationalized emotional effect it will have.
But I recognize that reporters tread a fine line when covering religious issues. It's hard to balance the coverage of a newsworthy story (especially a negative story) while minimizing harm to devout believers. I think an especially tricky example of this is displayed in the Muslim faith. Like with the story about the Fort Hood gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, it's hard to accurately cover some stories without leading people to directly connect the terrorism to the religion. The only thing reporters can do is report the facts.
Finally, I wanted to just add a little commentary regarding our print journalism guest speaker, Don Meyers. He made two points that will stick with me regarding life as a journalist:
1) There is no such thing as a "typical day" in journalism.
2) You do not find news in the newsroom – you gotta get out in the
field and look for it.
These words of wisdom from an experienced field worker have helped open my eyes to what life is really like out in the field. I know that I am in for lots of surprises in this industry, and I'll have to just do the best I can. And I know now that it's up to me to bring the content to the news. I can't rely on my producers or news-directors. I have to find the news that's out there.
So, can I handle this double-life as a Superhero/Journalist? I think so, which means I can still maintain a personal life outside of the newsroom while producing accurate and balanced news for my viewers.
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