Published: March 26, 2008 02:20 pm         

Column: Papers don't publish April Fool's stories

BLUEFIELD, W. Va. — While in college, I had the dubious assignment of writing bogus articles once a year for the annual April Fool's Day edition of the college newspaper.



As a staff writer, and eventually news editor of The Concordian, there was a certain amount of goofy satisfaction from writing the most ridiculous and blatantly fake story possible. The practice was a college tradition at the time. And the students got a good chuckle.



Today, as a professional journalist, the thought of writing a bogus story is unthinkable. It’s something we don't do in mainstream journalism. We adhere to a strict code of journalistic ethics that mandates fair and accurate reporting.



Creating a bogus story today about a UFO landing at Concord University would not be good for credibility, and it would make the boss angry. Probably a lot of readers, too.



Yet it appears the line between journalistic standards and reporting the news often gets blurred in this age of breakneck-speed stories. Too often broadcast and Internet reports lack attribution. There's no official source to back up the story line. No police chief. No council member. No prosecuting attorney. Just unsubstantiated facts.



That’s unfortunate. Imagine reading a newspaper full of articles without attribution. If sources were not required, it would be like an April Fool's Day edition of my college newspaper. Reporters would be free to write anything they wanted, accurate or not.



In the world of The Daily Telegraph and like papers, every statement made must be attributed to an appropriate source.

We also don't wittingly sensationalize the news, report on rumors or incorporate personal opinions into stories. We are trained to stay objective from the first paragraph to the last.



I often find it amusing, but also troubling, when elected officials stop a public meeting to ask a reporter for his or her opinion on the topic under discussion. This really happens from time to time. But the role of the journalist is to observe and report on the meeting, not to participate in it.



Sadly, I’ve witnessed several occasions where local broadcast reporters have stood up — and attempted to stop a meeting in progress — in order to ask questions.



That’s something a journalist should not do. It goes back to our ethics. If a reporter has a question, he or she should ask it before or after the meeting. Or during a break. It is not our role to interrupt a public meeting, reporter or not.



That's the way it should be anyway. And that's why you won’t find a story about a UFO landing at Concord University in the pages of The Daily Telegraph. Not even on April Fool's Day.

--

Charles Owens writes for The Daily Telegraph in Bluefield, W.Va. He may be contacted at cowens@bdtonline.com