How a Gawker Writer Who Trashed Me Became One of My Closest Friends and Why Words on the Internet Are Meaningless | xoJane

How a Gawker Writer Who Trashed Me Became One of My Closest Friends and Why Words on the Internet Are Meaningless | xoJane:

You see there is a weird language and code between people in the press. If you screw someone over, and sacrifice a long-term relationship for a short-term hit job, then that is a choice that you are making. It might also make you a very bad person. It also makes you a very good reporter.

Then again, it also makes you a very shortsighted bush-league could-never-maneuver-to-get-actual-access reporter. It's a delicate balance. I try to use my gut. It also makes me think of that old journalism problem set I was given at Northwestern: "You see a man. He's about to jump off a bridge and kill himself. You're a photojournalist. Do you talk him out of it or get the picture?" I was the only one in my class who made the wrong choice. I saved his life. I am a bad journalist.

My hunch deep down is that savvy media people, smart ones, recognize what a corpse-crunching game it all really is.