16
Sep

An Observation

   Posted by: Ocksen Khart   in The Cairns Post

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Too little activity around here, and surely it’s not because local rag has picked up its game any.  So here is a filler.

It seems that there is a growing trend (not supported by any statistics) to find hanging onto the very bottom of a Compost article, a line that basically reads:

“…did not return our calls”

or even

“… could not be contacted for comment”

To me, the ‘did not return our calls’ bit, appended to the end of a story fairly drips with affront and outrage, that the subject would presume to deny the precious Journo their story.

Here is a theory – or a question.

When confronted with the choice of a one line expression of disdain at the end of an article, compared to providing the potential to be mis-quoted, taken out of context, selectively (and creatively) edited, or repeatedly questioned in a variety of ways to achieve a predetermined answer; what do you think is the more sensible approach?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 5:13 pm and is filed under The Cairns Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 comments so far

Trisha
 1 

so wot SHOULD they say when “the other side” doesn’t return calls?

September 17th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Ocksen Khart
 2 

Hi Trisha
I write the post so I get to ask the questions. :P

But I will indulge you…

I recommend no changes, for the ‘could not be contacted’ line is quite satisfactory for this purpose. My pointed observation is more about the sensible course of action by the parties being held up to scrutiny by the meedya.

September 17th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Sara Lee Pavlova
 3 

If they would publish the times they tried to contact the person, and the way they went about it, then the line might be believable.

There is also the line “failed to contact us by the time of publishing”.

By putting in such lines, all it does is make the reader assume the person in the article is a bad person, who thinks they are “above the media”. Maybe to help your case Ocksen you should call the Cairns Post, and see how long it takes for them to return your call.

September 20th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
trisha
 4 

that’s a bit anal, isn’t it?

September 27th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Sara Lee Pavlova
 5 

Someone sounds worried. Gee Trisha, really you should either harden up a little, or improve some standards if you don’t like the pressure/criticism.

September 27th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
trisha
 6 

not worried at all. and believe me, i’m plenty hard enough. i don’t work there, but i just think people should try walking a mile in someone else’s shoes before passing comment on how to do the job.

October 7th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Chris W
 7 

Good point Ocksen Khart. I’ve heard that Compost’s journos ring for a comment around 6 or 7pm in the evening leaving little time for the person to respond. Much easier to do the “did not return our calls” line than actually allow someone to respond to some sort of bias or allegation.

November 8th, 2009 at 11:04 am
trisha
 8 

i can tell you chris, that isn’t true.

November 16th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

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