Frank Sesno Has a Point

Something very interesting occurred to me while listening to Frank Sesno speak last week. He brought up the Duke lacross case and broke down what happened in a journalistic manner.

The journalist covering the case where getting all of their information from officials, officials that one would have thought had correct evidence reguarding the case. The journalists took what information they were given and writing about them as though they were fact, not just suspision.

Sesno made a good point, if I were a journalist covering that case, and a police officer told me about some details that I believed were fact, then I would probably take that information and go with it. I would continue writing. However, that is what screwed up those kids lives. THe fact that the information journalists were taking was not fact. It was like one big rumor and everyone wanted to write their piece on it.

As sad as the case was it led to some good tips for journalists to take. Although the story sounded juicy the way it was portrayed, it was not true, therefore ruining people's lives. Sesno said we live in a "live" time. We must understand that journalists dont have time to check facts because of the time factor. So we need to "get over it" ( in Sesnos words) and just realize the time we live in.

The journalists should have made some changes to their stories, and some did send apologies. But this was a great lesson for journalists to take to understand the importance of what they write, where they get there facts from and if it is worth ruining people's innocent lives to get the story out first.