Writer's Block

Obnoxious Hollywood journalists (part one)

Just finished watching the latest episode of The Closer, which is one of my favorite "procedural" type TV crime dramas -- except for one thing: the show's annoying and unrealistic portrayal of journalists.

In this episode, Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson needs to interview a suspect who's in the hospital. But the suspect's attorney and family members are sitting outside his room, keeping her out. So she persuades one of the reporters who's been trying to write a story about the investigation to lure the family and attorney away so she can sneak inside -- and promises him a big scoop if he helps. She won't give him any hints about what the scoop is, but he eagerly agrees.

Puh-leeze. First of all, and I almost can't believe I have to write this: professional journalists don't assist police in their investigations. In fact, journalists and newspapers have fought in court, and even gone to jail rather than comply, when police have attempted to subpoena their notes, sources and testimony as part of an investigation.

Secondly -- he made a deal without negotiating any terms or getting an idea of what information Chief Johnson was willing to give him? A real journalist wouldn't make a deal with a source -- such as promising to keep the source's identity a secret -- without insisting that the source provide some idea of the tip he or she is willing to provide. How does he know her big scoop isn't something he already knows, and that it'll be worth the sacrifice he's making to get it? Ridiculous.

And of course when she finally gives him her scoop, it's no juicier than the official statement he might get in a police press release. A real journalist would see the "tip" as worthless and consider himself burned by the source, but this guy eats it up and keeps coming back for more.

It's no surprise polls consistently show that journalists are ranked among the least-respected professions. For most people outside the industry, the only idea of how reporters actually do their jobs comes from what they see fictional journalists do in movies and TV. Those fictional journalists are usually obnoxious, and they usually behave nothing like reporters do in the real world.