From the DH:Double Duty: Let's meet our citizen soldiers
By Jesse Skoubo
Albany Democrat-Herald
America is enamored with alter egos: Bruce Wayne is Batman, Miley Cyrus is Hannah Montana, and so on. In the mid-valley there are hundreds of everyday citizens who also have double lives. They are members of the National Guard.
These men and women are our neighbors, co-workers, friends and family. At the same time, they serve and protect our country at home and abroad. We often hear about those deployed overseas, but may not always connect them with the people we see every day.
I have no problem with the DH covering people in the National Guard; that's clearly newsworthy. I do have a problem with the use of the word 'our'. I always thought it was a no-no to put oneself in a news story, Hunter S. Thompson not withstanding. It suggests a lack of objectivity - and given that it doesn't happen often, I think that this is the instance in which it is happening is telling. It risks becoming cheerleading, which is not good journalism.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Journamalism
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2 comments:
Yeah, this was kind of weird. It's like an editor's note explaining why they are doing something, but from a photographer... and with a byline.
Skoubo also uses "I" in the piece, which is another traditional no-no.
The fact that he's a photog might explain it, though; maybe he requested this?
Though I think I like your explanation better: Journalism, blendered.
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