An Alabama pastor and mayor committed suicide after a news outlet exposed his cross-dressing social media persona. Despite media hyperbole, his neighbors don't fit a narrative of red state intolerance
Reading this makes me think of the "alternate news media space". This article is a great example of what I feel an actual reporter does. The first item is to get your arms around what happened. Then you have to do as much research on a thing as you can as prep work. Next you start making contacts and spinning up comms to hear from the individuals involved. Then (and to me this is the key) you put boots on the ground to discover what is missing from the story, and by osmosis find where the humanity resides in what is often a complicated grey area. You then take all that, a deep breath, and find a way to cobble something together that is engaging and "essential to your readers".
Having read a fair share of independent journalism I would say most never make it past step one, some do step two and / or three, but almost everyone skips leaving their office / home, and only uses the engagement portion of the last bit. This man died because the authors of the story, and their "institution" wholly lacked anything resembling experience and professionalism. Sure, we like our journalists to be impartial, and to a degree almost clinical in their approach to reporting. But I look at Bubba's face and I see a guy you would have to convince yourself to hate, let alone go through the process of destroying his life. I wager were any of the people from 1819 to have spoken to that man in person, or to his friends, enemies, or community the outcome wouldn't have been so disastrous. That is what the "boots on the ground" portion is for. I am sure every new reporter makes similar mistakes, being lusty for a hot story. Many of them probably even make errors on the other side, getting so wrapped up in the people they meet that they skew the other direction, become part of the story. But the difference is they are being watched by a cadre of more senior individuals who know the hole being dug all too well, and can mitigate the inexperience to prevent catastrophe for the writer, the institution, and perhaps more tangentially the subject and the community they live in. To me this all went so badly because you essentially had children running with scissors. Factor in whatever political motivations you like, but at the end of the day someone like Nancy, Taibbi, Moyn, Welch or Kirn amongst many others don't make this fuck up. I don't know how one prevents this kind of thing from happening again out there in the alternate media space (I understand API funded them, but this is alternate media to me). We needed, and continue to need people outside the institutions to be our eyes and ears out there. I guess all we can do is to continue to drop our coins in to the hats of professionals, and let the "citizen journalists" move on to whatever hustle they get fascinated by next. Great read as always, albeit more disheartening than I wanted for a Thursday night before bed. :)
This a heartbreaking story but a really good piece. (Question, though. I just read the Daily Beast article you cited, and I must be missing something: what is it about that article that was irresponsible?)
I have a simple question for LGBTQ. Why can’t you leave people alone. Find your partner or whatever but leave others alone. We may be finding out how far they have gone to not leave others alone.
Also Nancy is allowed to say the word faggot all day long and sing it in the shower, speaking as someone who spent every waking day of puberty on the business end of that slur.
Reading this makes me think of the "alternate news media space". This article is a great example of what I feel an actual reporter does. The first item is to get your arms around what happened. Then you have to do as much research on a thing as you can as prep work. Next you start making contacts and spinning up comms to hear from the individuals involved. Then (and to me this is the key) you put boots on the ground to discover what is missing from the story, and by osmosis find where the humanity resides in what is often a complicated grey area. You then take all that, a deep breath, and find a way to cobble something together that is engaging and "essential to your readers".
Having read a fair share of independent journalism I would say most never make it past step one, some do step two and / or three, but almost everyone skips leaving their office / home, and only uses the engagement portion of the last bit. This man died because the authors of the story, and their "institution" wholly lacked anything resembling experience and professionalism. Sure, we like our journalists to be impartial, and to a degree almost clinical in their approach to reporting. But I look at Bubba's face and I see a guy you would have to convince yourself to hate, let alone go through the process of destroying his life. I wager were any of the people from 1819 to have spoken to that man in person, or to his friends, enemies, or community the outcome wouldn't have been so disastrous. That is what the "boots on the ground" portion is for. I am sure every new reporter makes similar mistakes, being lusty for a hot story. Many of them probably even make errors on the other side, getting so wrapped up in the people they meet that they skew the other direction, become part of the story. But the difference is they are being watched by a cadre of more senior individuals who know the hole being dug all too well, and can mitigate the inexperience to prevent catastrophe for the writer, the institution, and perhaps more tangentially the subject and the community they live in. To me this all went so badly because you essentially had children running with scissors. Factor in whatever political motivations you like, but at the end of the day someone like Nancy, Taibbi, Moyn, Welch or Kirn amongst many others don't make this fuck up. I don't know how one prevents this kind of thing from happening again out there in the alternate media space (I understand API funded them, but this is alternate media to me). We needed, and continue to need people outside the institutions to be our eyes and ears out there. I guess all we can do is to continue to drop our coins in to the hats of professionals, and let the "citizen journalists" move on to whatever hustle they get fascinated by next. Great read as always, albeit more disheartening than I wanted for a Thursday night before bed. :)
I think you should be writing these stories too xx
Maybe after a few more years of blowing up your comments 😁👍
This a heartbreaking story but a really good piece. (Question, though. I just read the Daily Beast article you cited, and I must be missing something: what is it about that article that was irresponsible?)
Copeland also posted memes using photos of others, including underaged people.
Boys won’t be showing up. Boy repellent. Dorthy’s wizard stayed behind the green curtain ours is flaming.
I have a simple question for LGBTQ. Why can’t you leave people alone. Find your partner or whatever but leave others alone. We may be finding out how far they have gone to not leave others alone.
Also Nancy is allowed to say the word faggot all day long and sing it in the shower, speaking as someone who spent every waking day of puberty on the business end of that slur.
Fathom what if felt like to hear people pray for you to die from AIDS, add 30 years. You get this.
I will represent the LGBTQ with a simple answer. You are beholding the horror that you had once been.
No one wins. Excess is excess. But if you lend your energy to the pendulum, this is what you get.