09 September 2007

Journalistic Whimsy

In a Canadian Press article via The Globe and Mail on the meeting of NATO defense chiefs and the future of the organization:
"I'm here to say, 'no, to NATO,' so that Canada can maintain its peaceful reputation," said Janet Hawksley.

Ms. Hawksley, 86, said she attends every anti-war protest she can, because "it's the only world we've got."

She said she wore a green leaf over her nose to protect herself naturally from the sun.

"I've got Irish skin," said Ms. Hawksley.
I understand that your typically underthought, underwritten Canadian Press article (which, by the way, will probably make it into 80% of Canada's daily print media market one way or another) needs to show itself to be "fair and balanced" by - in this case - bringing in the protesters' perspective.

A green leaf over her nose? Irish skin? Did those two lines really deserve to make it into the paper?

1 comment:

Luke said...

Aldous, you will take satisfaction (and schadenfreude?) from knowing that while the same CP article appeared in (just) two Ontario papers over the weekend, Ms. Hawksley and her colorful attire/dermis actually made it in to only one: the Toronto Star.

If I recall correctly, the CP Style Guide tells embryo journalists to incorporate as much human interest material as possible in a story. It paints a more rounded picture of events, and, clearly, can always be cut.