In the five years since I started work at the St. Paul Journal, I have seen St. Paul become the centre of a media storm a few times. Accidents such as a plane crash or a car crash are lightening rods for provincial and national attention, and with a turn of events so random and unlikely, it was hardly surprising that the Racette School crash made headlines across the country and brought intense media attention to St. Paul again.
As local reporters, we find ourselves caught in a difficult situation. When tragedy strikes, we grieve as members of a small community, but at the same time, we have to do our jobs respectfully while trying to keep pace with a much more aggressive daily news industry. Reporters from outside the community cold-call the family or other community members in pursuit of the story, and while we too must report what happens, we live and work here even after this becomes an old headline in Edmonton, so it’s equally important for us to show respect and restraint to keep the trust of our readers and the public.
Personally, I don’t want people to paint me with the brush as a ‘media vulture,’ but that is the danger of working in this profession. In the wake of the accident, even people whom I considered friendly acquaintances looked away nervously when I approached or, just out of personal concern, asked them how they were doing. It was as though they thought I might jump at them with a microphone and a camcorder and start peppering them with question after question.
I believe the daily media had an even more difficult job, coming in as outsiders and trying to let people know what was unfolding in St. Paul without stepping on toes. One part of me was upset and disturbed by the swarms of reporters descending on this town in the midst of this tragedy, but the more rational part understood these people were just trying to do their job.
One cameraman gave me more sympathy for their work. He told me he and the other news crews had been in the town for a week, not by choice, but because their producers back in their Edmonton offices kept saying, “There’s more to the story; go back and get some more.” He recognized there were people in St. Paul who resented his presence, who gave him the finger as they drove by, but said he couldn’t get his higher-ups to recognize the community might be sick of the media attention.
People love to criticize the media as being full of ‘negative’ news. This galls me every time I hear it, since the fact of the matter is, we at the Journal – along with most other news outlets – cover lots of heart-warming and inspirational stories as well, stories of human triumph, kindness and support. Those people who only see the negative are looking at the news with goggles on, seeing only what they already believe. And you can bet your bottom dollar that if there wasn’t a demand for those ‘negative’ stories of war, conflict, murder, and more, news outlets wouldn’t report on them. Those people who want to tar and feather the media should think twice about their choice of words if they’re the ones surfing the web for the latest gory or disturbing horror.
I do cover all sorts of news, but personally, I prefer writing stories that lift people up rather than bring them down, like the story of a young aboriginal man who got clean and sober once he discovered his flair for art, or the story of an Iron Horse runner who was bested by the run and hypothermia the first time, and came back to conquer it the second time around.
After an inexplicable and terrible accident like the Racette School crash, though I will never forget how many people’s lives were forever changed, I will also bear in mind that in the balance was the overwhelming kindness of total strangers, who would go in the cold to re-light candles at the vigil site, who would put up pink decals in their windows, who would make donations and who would open up their wallets and hearts to support families they may have never even met.
Like many others, it makes me proud to call this town my home and it also makes me feel honoured to cover the stories and lives of the people who do the same.
