Moving on - AGAIN

See. You can't trust PR people to keep their word!

 

Ah.. misrepresentation.....that's a mouthful isn't it? Sort of calls to minds ethics, or truth, or something like that...

Of course there are ethics in PR... it's not reserved for journalism. I think we'd all be a lot better off right now if everyone was conducting business with highest ethics.

 

Yeah, thorny subject. I absolutely despise tattoos and think they say nothing nice about those who have them. (Just another reason to dislike basketball for me.)

There are certain NBA players who, as a copy desk editor, I simply will not run photos of for that (and other) reasons.

But to alter a photograph in such a way, I don't know. I think I would have sought to find an alternate photo.

 

Moddy, I won't quote that, in case you decide to edit it. But I think most of us had already figured out which side of the debate you were on.

The correct one.

 

I concur, I Digress. About 10 years ago, one of the first stories I wrote on the LSU men's basketball beat was a piece on the guards. On Media Day, one of the photogs got a shot of them posed arm to arm, tattoo to tattoo. I think maybe one of them smiled enough to display a gold tooth. My story was one of those Media Day features you do when you've already done the hard reporting on the team, and the rest of the media shows up to play catch-up. It was a throwaway piece, but I took it seriously, albeit with a light touch.

Late in the day the story ran, John Brady called me and dog-cussed me. I asked him what was wrong with the story. He ranted, and I said I'm only responsible for what I write, and if he had a problem with something in the story he should tell me what words or sentences were inaccurate or bothersome.

"It's the story and the picture together," he kept saying, over and over again. We got caught in a loop, because I wasn't going to let him blame me for the picture we ran. I told him he could speak to an editor if his problem was with the packaging, and he yelled that I was his beat writer, so he wanted to deal with me.

When he said the photographer clearly wanted to make the players "look like something they are not" (he later clarified this by using the word "thugs"), I pointed out the photographer was a black man near retirement age. He had no racist agenda of any kind, as anyone who knows him would testify.

I told Brady that tattoos were no longer just for a certain group or groups. Told him three of the previous five women I'd gone out with had tattoos. Told him he was overreacting. It was obvious some boosters saw it, called him and asked him what type of player he's recruiting, and he had to lash out at somebody: me.

He continued to mention the story. I continued to ask what part of the story he found problematic.

"I'm going to tell you one more time, so turn on your fucking tape recorder and record this so you'll be clear on what I'm saying," he snarled. "The picture and the story taken together create an image of my guys that isn't who they are."

And then he barked a few more choice words at me and hung up.

 

MarkO,

Sorry to be a pain, but I think your attitude is just as bad or worse as tattoo removal folks. You edit for your readers, not your freakin' personal quirks.