David Morrison (Photo credit: Jay Senter)
It all sounded so clear-cut when the story came out last November.
A Prairie Village councilman, David Morrison, gave his pass-code to a homeless guy so that the guy could sleep in City Hall.
The initial reaction was along the lines of, “How totally irresponsible for an elected official to act that way!” “What was he thinking?”
But a front-page story in the Kansas City Star today by award-winning reporter Karen Dillon points out that there was much more to the story than previously reported.
Yes, other media outlets had done the story about the councilman, but none uncovered the details behind Morrison’s actions the way Dillon’s story did. It dramatically points out the kind of reporting that can really only be done by the print media.
When one reads the details of why Morrison did what he did things aren’t so clear. This is a nice guy who seemingly did just about anything one could do to help a friend in need. Obviously, his decision to allow the friend to sleep in City Hall crossed the line.
But should Morrison be tossed out of office? Or would an official censure be enough punishment?
Dillon doesn’t insert her views into the story on how she believes it should turn out. She just presents the facts and lets the readers make their own decision.
It’s called ”journalism.”
TALENT & SKILL IS THERE
The talent and skill is available there to do this multiple times daily even now. The crime is that mismanagement and lack of discipline get in the way so frequently. There is nothing more valuable to a community than acts of journalism like this.
SWAY PUBLIC OPINION
It’s not journalism only a newspaper can do, it’s just that print media has more inches to fill these days. And that story is clearly written to sway public opinion. A good reporter can do that without injecting personal opinion.
PRINT HAS MORE INCHES TO WORK WITH TODAY
I hate to break the news to Newsie, but print media actually has less, not more, column inches with which to work these days (exoept in the sports section, of course - please excuse my sarcasm), so it’s all the more imperative that the information in question be presented in a clear and concise manner for consumption by the general public. But you’re right, the reporter shouldn’t be injecting his/her personal opinion into the story. This particular incident had already been mentioned in The Star, but Ms. Dillon’s story goes into more detail, of course.
QUESTIONS PRINT INCHES
“print media has more inches to fill these days”
Thanks. That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in weeks.
I’ll mull that over the next time I’m wondering why my newspaper is 1/4 the size it used to be.
PHOTO
That photo sure looks familiar…
Good point, Jay. It was taken by you at the Prairie Village Post and it is now credited properly. Thanks for calling me on it.