The Press

I was recently having dinner with friends and our conversation turned (don't ask me how, I don't remember) to a spirited debate about the relationship between firefighters and the press. Now I will readily agree that most firefighters approach the press with an "adversarial" attitude...because I do.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the First Amendment and I fully believe in a free press. Journalism has accomplished some amazing things (I'm watching All The President's Men as I type.) Freedom of Speech is a sacred thing in this country and for good reason. However, the protection of the First Amendment does not protect anyone from being disliked for what they say and I think this is something that people forget from time to time. As they say, "I'll fight to the death to protect your right to say whatever you want and my right to retort by calling you an a**hole." (Maybe I took a little liberty with that last part. But it's my right, right?"

I digress. And that's not how the conversation at dinner went. And this blog entry is not meant as a one sided continuation of that debate. It's merely offered as an expansion of my thoughts on the subject.

The argument was made that the press have a job to do and they will get it done. If an entity, such as a Fire Department, doesn't supply the press with information when they need it they will fill it somehow; the old "Nature abhors a vacuum". My friend argued further that the relationship would be much improved if the Fire Department would be more accommodating to the press.

I totally agree with my friend's points and I hope my demeanor during our discussion didn't belie that fact. But Cool Hand Luke said, "Callin' it your job don't make it right." And I must argue that the antagonistic relationship that exists is based in past experience. I personally have witnessed cameramen coming into active scenes, past tape that reads "Fire Scene Do Not Cross" to get pictures of what is going on. The immediate problem with this is that it puts the cameraman in an area deemed "hazardous" by the Incident Commander where they potentially could become "part of the story." The greater concern is that it is distracting to those who are trying to do a job in a very dangerous and chaotic environment. As an Incident Commander I can tell you that I take the safety of those working under my supervision very seriously, whether they are 3 or 100. I take a very aggressive and vindictive attitude toward anyone who would jeopardize their safety directly or indirectly.

As I said before, I understand the role of the press and their right to a story. But the press, specifically the television news programs, seem more interested in presenting images before they know what to caption the picture with. I can recall at least ten times in the last year when a local news program has gotten video of a house fire or automobile accident and presented it immediately (often breaking into other programming) while admitting, "we have no details on this incident at this time but have a team en route." I ask: Why is a house on fire a news story? I mean, really! It's a story to the people who own the house, their friends, and family. But is it news for the rest of us? And how horrible would it be to find out you lost everything on the television in McDonalds?

I think a good litmus test for the media to ask of every story is this: How probable is it that this will still be news tomorrow?

You know, I think that my antagonistic attitude to the press comes from my belief that many of them will forego the common ethics of decency for the sake of "getting a scoop." I wonder if they had total access to some of the things I've seen, would they show it on the news just to be the first? Now, I could list some pretty horrible things here that no one would ever want to see on their television during supper to prove my point. But I would be no better than those that I criticize here. I would be using those terrible things to further this article and it's not respectful to the victims' memories or families.

Firefighters can be a**holes. God knows I know that we're not all as good as we could be. There are plenty of us who fall far short of the "sacred" image of the firefighter. Take for instance the allegations of a prostitution ring being run out of Washington D.C. firehouses. And the idea of the press is a noble one. The press protect our society as much as soldiers, firefighters, police, or anyone else standing a watch.

What I hope for is that everyone entrusted takes that trust as seriously as I do. That's all.