Spike!

Earlier today I blogged about the scripts that the news media uses to write it stories. It’s interesting when you deal with reporters on a regular basis, as you get a clear sense of what elements they’re trying to put together in order to have a story. Without those elements, the story won’t go.

F’rinstance: The A-#1 element that has to be in the story is that there has to be something that’s just happened. If it didn’t just happen, even if it’s an otherwise interesting story, then there is no story to the reporter. This was clear, for example, when I was called by a TV reporter from Texas who wanted to do a story about our booklet critiquing The Da Vinci Code. She really liked the booklet and thought it would make a good story–except for one thing: The booklet had been released a few months ago and thus there was nothing "new" for the story. After querying me several different ways to find out if there was anything that could be pitched with a "This just happened!" angle, she concluded that an essential element of the story was missing and it never got done.

Without a "This just happened!" angle then, even if the story is frightfully important due to its lingering effects, the media won’t run with it. I suppose that they’re afraid to excitedly tell a story with no new tidbit and then have others look at them and say "You just discover this or something?"–the way kids will sometimes tell a joke only to have another kid disgustedly say "You just heard that?" The "This just happened!" tidbit gives them a shield against that happening.

(And yes, before someone points it out, "That’s why they call it ‘news.’")

Another nigh-onto-essential element in is controversy. While there are some stories that don’t involve controversy ("Exciting New Discovery!"), most do. I’ve dealt with a number of reporters who have called, asked for perspective on something, and then when I give it to them they disappointedly say things like "I’m having trouble seeing where the controversy is here." That may be because There Isn’t One or because I refuse to be drawn into one. If that doesn’t happen, the story doesn’t go. It gets spiked.

That’s what happened once last year with the Voters Guide. I got a
call from a reporter whose local bishop (allegedly) had said that the
Voters Guide wasn’t to be used in his diocese, and he wanted my
"reaction" to that.

I told him (a) that I didn’t have any knowledge of the bishop having
said this and I don’t comment on situations where I haven’t verified
the facts and (b) it’s up to others to decide for themselves whether
they want to use the Voters Guide or not.

This, however, wasn’t good enough. The reporter had scented a
potential controversy and was trying to whip one up in order to get a
story he could write. What he wanted to happen was for him to call me
up, orally tell me what the bishop had said without giving me any
proof, get me emotionally worked up, and then get some harshly-worded
negative reaction that he could print in order to have a typical
"conflict between two parties" story.

Note also: He wasn’t reporting the news. He was trying to create the news (i.e., stirring up a controversy where there was none).

I wouldn’t take the bait.

No matter how many different ways he tried asking the question, I
kept reiterating my answer, refusing to get mad or say anything
negative about the bishop.

This caused the reporter to get more and more mad.

Finally, he huffily said, "Well! If that’s the way you feel, maybe we don’t write about this at all!"

Which was fine by me.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

16 thoughts on “Spike!”

  1. Wow–it’s a good thing that you’re the famous apologist and not me—I would be talking to the media all the time saying…”that #%*&! bishop!”

  2. I think that this phenomenon of “this just happened” is what causes reporters on the late evening news to stand outside a courthouse at 10pm to report on a legal verdict that came down at 9am, or to stand on a corner at night where an early morning traffic accident occurred. SEE – WE’RE HERE, RIGHT NOW!!!

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