Whatever It Takes?

Scott Agee
sa308205@ohio.edu

It seems as though there is a general tactlessness recurrent among journalists when covering tragedies. A desire to be the first to get the quote, or the first to take the picture has likened our profession to bookies and ambulance chasers. There needs to be a line. “Anything for the story” just isn’t an acceptable mantra, especially when dealing in extreme circumstances.

My senior year of high school I had already decided I wanted to attend Ohio University and major in journalism. Before I ever made it here, however, something happened that completely extinguished my romanticized notions of reporting. Two students at a neighboring high school drowned when the car they were in fell from a bridge into the Little Miami River. The driver of the car survived, but the two passengers did not. This happened on a Saturday. The following Monday morning, a gaggle of reporters, cameramen, and news vans crowded the parking lot in front of the 16 year-old driver’s high school.

They were looking for interviews—from teachers, classmates, and, if possible, the surviving driver. Luckily the administration at the high school made quick work of sending the “journalists” away; and as it turned out, the student who had been driving the car Saturday night never made it into school that day at all.

I know it may not stand-up next to some of the tragic victims listed in the readings, but to me it seemed to make it real. It was sobering. To see people, grown adults, making a living off of other people’s misery. It was definitely nothing I wanted to be a part of.