‘icy! = Light energetic whole foods LETTITOR The Other Press is now on Twitter! Follow us to stay up-to-date with what’s happening at the paper, Douglas College and around town! twitter.con/TheOtherPress Extra, extra Liam Britten editor in chief ournalism is a funny profession. Few Js exist with such lofty ideals and high-strung principles than those of the fourth estate. It seems that it is a profession that aims to be less of a profession per se and more of a public service; profit and fame aren’t the goals of the press but public enlightenment is. Few fields have such a skewed balance of obligation versus reward. Few fields have so many codes of behaviour, ethics and moral conduct—rather, few fields making less than six figures a year. Yet it seems like journalists, as a whole, engender distrust in those outside the profession. Why? It may just be those lofty ideals and high- strung principles have damned us all. Hard news reporting should have the goal of public education, but too often, we fail to meet this goal we’ ve set for ourselves. Instead, it seems like we in the press are just looking to get a rise out of our readers or just plain outrage them. I write this because of a story I read in The Province on Sunday about last year’s double homicide at a sushi restaurant in Maple Ridge. A man, who had recently had brain surgery, drove his pick-up truck through the window of the restaurant, killed two and injured seven others. While originally charged with second- degree murder, his charges have been reduced in severity after the facts of his brain surgery were better understood. The news article, to be clear, isn’t bad. In fact, it’s quite well done. It explains two sides of the story—the actions of the man on one hand, and his mitigating circumstances on the other—and allows readers to make decisions of their own with several perspectives on the facts. What really makes the article professional is the statement from the mother of one of the victims. Instead of milking the anguish and despair of a grieving mother to give a story that “human” feel, the mother, Maritta Kosonen, adds a brief quote about how she doesn’t feel that the charges are strong enough without the second-degree murder charges added. No hysterics, nothing unreasonable from a grieving mother. Compare this with the jackal-like approach the media took with Carol De Delley, the Mother of Tim McLean, who was brutally murdered on a Greyhound Bus in the summer of 2008. De Delley, who is not a law expert or a psychologist or anything remotely qualified to provide expertise on such matters suddenly became the media’s go-to contact on the story. Suddenly, her great sadness became analogous with insight, and in all fairness, it wasn’t even close; she gave the only reactions you would expect a grieving mother who had lost her young son under horrific circumstances; despair, frustration and anger. So why did De Delley and her political campaign to have criminals too crazy to appreciate their crimes locked up for good get so much play in the press? Because it made a good damn story, that’s why. No one can fault De Delley for the way she took the death of her son, but the changes she wanted made to the law were simply draconian, and not in keeping with the spirit of Canadian justice. Yet the media chose to represent “her side” and made a celebrity out of her. And frankly, the media took advantage of her. She looked like a crazy lady when she was getting all kinds of air time calling for these harsh new laws and if the media had any decency, they would have not given her such attention. I think anyone with the education of a professional journalist would realize how unreasonable her requests were and would have let her campaign on the Internet or elsewhere quietly for her own good. In trying to represent all sides of the story they should have shown restraint and not confused this woman’s anguish with a legitimate political movement. She wasn’t a politician with experience in how to be media savvy and handle the limelight, she was just a woman who had lost her son. And even though a lot of hard-core conservatives in Canada might genuinely agree with what she wanted, I’m guessing there are a lot of people who supported her because of what happened to her, not what she was saying. In many cases the media has made its own bed when it comes to public perceptions of it. And the bed that it needs to lie in isn’t going to be comfortable at all. Your friend in high fidelity, Liam Britten Editor in chief The Other Press Correction In our October 14 issue, our weekly Students and Money feature mentioned that FastTrax stickers are available in the library at the New West Campus and in room 3100 at David Lam. They are in fact available in both libraries, as well as - room B1250 of David Lam and room 3100 of New West. The Other Press regrets this error.