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Originally Posted by adpiucf
I am a former member of the media myself. You know as well as I do that a story about a tragic death (regardless of it being attached to Greek Life) is going to interest your readership and your editor much more than the fraternity bake sale.
Blueangel, you said, "The news stories about hazing incidents occur because the media regularly reads police reports! If you don't want bad press about your fraternity or sorority, don't break the law."
I am in complete agreement with you. The media reports what happens. They also choose what to report. There is nothing wrong with this. What is the "So What" angle on a fraternity bake sale? I'm a bit tired of people whining that the media portrays Greeks negatively. They are reporting what has actually happened. But there is an inherent bias in writing and reporting. We write and publish what we think will be read, talked about and what will sell.
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(another former member of the media here - 5 years reporting and a B.S. in Journalism)
These are all good points. Reporters (and more importantly, editors), are going to publish the stories that people want to read. A hazing death or anything that involves the police will get more inches on a page than, as adpiucf said, a bake sale or most philanthropy events. Unfortunately, bombarding papers with press releases isn't always going to work, either. It's not always going to balance out the way it should.
It's not fair to the Greek system, but that's the way journalism works. If your org has done something big (raised a lot of money, done something great working with children, etc.), then by all means get the word out about it. However, also be ready for the fact that the bad news is still going to get published, for the reasons outlined (reading police reports, etc.).
This doesn't mean that the media only wants bad news. It means it wants to publish the news that will affect the greatest number of people in some way, and thus get the readers.
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