This is the life I have chosen

When I started this blog I had two goals: to keep it positive and educate people about the media business: I'm going to do the later but not the former in this post.

A married couple, who met at La Salle's foodcourt, were profiled today in a regional newspaper. It was a long, long story, but one fact was missing: how they met! If you write a story about a married pair, you have to -- MUST -- tell the reader how and where they met. This is Reporting 101 or Editing 101. Now, it's possible that the writer included this in their draft of the story and it was edited out for space reasons, but still, someone at some point should have read the story and asked, "Hey, how did these two meet?"

Too often the media will showcase a faculty member, student or alum and not identify them as being connected to La Salle. Here's why it hurts: if it weren't for me, the media would have never made contact with the La Salle person. Sure, the media might have several sources in a story, and other college PR departments have suggested sources. But today's episode really hurts because:

The story would not have existed without me!

I called an editor at the paper who was unaware of this couple. They assigned a freelance writer to do the article. The writer got the story because the editor knew about the couple. I'm not asking for a kickback, because this writer will be paid, but my currency is "La Salle" and they're getting a check in the mail because of my effort. I was all set to contact the parties involved and write, Hey, did any of you go to journalism school or "common sense 101," but as a wise friend told me, never do anything when you're angry. So, the writer and editor will not hear from me, even though I made the editor's job a little easier by alerting them to a good story and the writer who's getting paid for their efforts.

I keep reminding myself of a saying from a movie; it might have come from "The Godfather," but it was defiinitely a gangster pic:

"This is the life I have chosen."