Too Involved?

by Ryan Scarpino
RS116805@ohio.edu

I've got a confession to make. I am a very opinionated person; I say what's on my mind. Here's one, there's no such thing as being too involved. But as a journalist, I cannot and should not put my opinions into my story.

And by no means should I get too involved with one of my sources. I always tried to follow those guidelines; I've tried not to become attached to sources, but then I met the Tyler family.

This is going to be hard
Last quarter, Natalie Jovonovich, Danielle Sills and I were in Journalism 464 together. We had an idea for our in-depth story, the biggest story of our young journalistic careers. We focused on the effects of the recession on local families. And with the help of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Athens County, we found a family struggling to get by from day to day. Over the next two months, we made frequent visits to Chauncey to interview the Tyler Family, all NINE of them.

Neutral?
It would have been impossible for me not to get involved with the Tyler family. From the moment I first spoke with the Lonnie Tyler Sr., all my objectivity went out the window. I saw a poor family. And for the first time, I saw people struggling during an economic crisis.
I am a middle class kid from Pittsburgh, and I have seen some pretty bad neighborhoods. None of those compared to Chauncey.

The more I saw the Tylers, the more involved I became. I told everyone about them: my friends, my family, even random people I met.

We owe them everything
If it weren't for the Tyler family and the help of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Athens County, we wouldn't have had a story. We owe our sources everything. To this day, I still see some of those people who helped us with our story. And I make sure to take the time to thank them for all they did for our story.

Click on the links below to watch our stories about the Tyler family.
Tough Times Pt 1
Tough Times Pt 2