tHe StORy Of OuR LiVEs..
Huns.. I wanted to write about this semalam, tapi tak sempat. Have to finish some stories, then ada assignment malam and all. And just when I wanted to sit down and blog, a cute bloke (pheeewit!) asked me out for dinner pulak.. Hahah..
Well anyways, I just want to say that I'm glad you finally realised how difficult it is to become a journalist. Kena marah for our stories tu.. biasa lah. Not many people suka when we write the bad stuff. But we're only humans, kan? Most of the time, we only want to think, read and see happy things.
But the reality is.. there are many bad things out there that need to be exposed. And somehow, orang kena faham yang tugas kita hanya melapor. We don't create those stories or fabricate them.. we're merely reporting on what we hear or see. Granted, sometimes, our stories can be a bit slanted.. sebab we only hear one side of the story. But people must understand that it's not always easy to see two sides of the coin! That is not always easy to get EVERYONE to say something..
In your case semalam, I think the family of the abducted baby has no right to sue you. They can be angry at you, but I'm sure if you were in their shoes, you would react the same way too. I mean, if someone were to imply that your relative is guilty of something, wouldn't you be annoyed at the person who wrote the story because you feel ashamed at the thought of having a criminal in your family?
I know the feeling. I didn't tell a lot of people, but my cousin sister was imprisoned recently for a minor offence. We've never had anyone in our family sentenced to jail before, but she had to serve two months in prison.
Now while she was in prison, my uncle (her father) fell ill and passed away. We requested for her to be conditionally released, but the prison people imposed too many regulations that at the end of the day, we decided that she might as well stay in prison and offer her prayers from there. Sebabnya, we feel that she should respect her other family members. If she were to pay her last respect to her father, she must do so in prison clothes.. and that would be humiliating for the family.
So you see.. my point is.. when you write bad stuff about a person, the family members will obviously mengamuk. But you have to realise that it's all part of the job. Yang penting, you didn't misquote anyone, you didn't fabricate your story and you didn't tell lies to make it more interesting.
Oh.. if it makes you feel better, I wrote a "controversial" story too, last week, about Indonesia replacing Malaysia's place as the world's largest palm oil producer in the country by 2008. My source kena kutuk like mad for coming up with such statements. In fact, boss has just told me that there are people in the office who are not really happy with me writing such stories.
But what must be written must be written, kan? My source (a university professor) has statistics and research done to prove that, like it or not, Indonesia will overtake us in terms of palm oil production in the years to come. Why must we shy away from the facts? Instead of being angry that such articles were written, shouldn't they start preparing themselves to face the reality and find ways to increase production or diversify oil palm products?
You know huns.. kena marah is a norm for journalists like us, I think. In my pursuit for stories, I have ministers marah-marah kat I on the phone, affected families and friends telling me I shouldn't have written stories on the person they know, orang mengamuk sebab I kept calling them to get my story, people hanging up on me because they refuse to answer my questions and people who embarassed me during Press conferences and telling me that I asked irrelevant questions (although it was MY EDITORS who gave me the questions in the first place!).
But I think, experiences like this make us stronger kan? We become more 'thick-skinned' and more prepared to face all the abuse hurled at us.. betul tak?
Trust me huns, all this makes us appreciate our profession. Because for every person yang marah we have written "controversial" stories, there will be 100 others who will appreciate us for highlighting the issue.
You take care okay? Sometimes I worry for you.. but I know those kind people in Alo*r Sta*r will never leave you alone. They are the best teachers you'll ever find and they're always ready to help. To me, they are among the best journalists in the fraternity!
Anyway, I can't wait to see you next month (it's just another 2 weeks!) and I want to say that I miss you much!!!!
Love you, huns! *mwaaaah*
Huns.. I wanted to write about this semalam, tapi tak sempat. Have to finish some stories, then ada assignment malam and all. And just when I wanted to sit down and blog, a cute bloke (pheeewit!) asked me out for dinner pulak.. Hahah..
Well anyways, I just want to say that I'm glad you finally realised how difficult it is to become a journalist. Kena marah for our stories tu.. biasa lah. Not many people suka when we write the bad stuff. But we're only humans, kan? Most of the time, we only want to think, read and see happy things.
But the reality is.. there are many bad things out there that need to be exposed. And somehow, orang kena faham yang tugas kita hanya melapor. We don't create those stories or fabricate them.. we're merely reporting on what we hear or see. Granted, sometimes, our stories can be a bit slanted.. sebab we only hear one side of the story. But people must understand that it's not always easy to see two sides of the coin! That is not always easy to get EVERYONE to say something..
In your case semalam, I think the family of the abducted baby has no right to sue you. They can be angry at you, but I'm sure if you were in their shoes, you would react the same way too. I mean, if someone were to imply that your relative is guilty of something, wouldn't you be annoyed at the person who wrote the story because you feel ashamed at the thought of having a criminal in your family?
I know the feeling. I didn't tell a lot of people, but my cousin sister was imprisoned recently for a minor offence. We've never had anyone in our family sentenced to jail before, but she had to serve two months in prison.
Now while she was in prison, my uncle (her father) fell ill and passed away. We requested for her to be conditionally released, but the prison people imposed too many regulations that at the end of the day, we decided that she might as well stay in prison and offer her prayers from there. Sebabnya, we feel that she should respect her other family members. If she were to pay her last respect to her father, she must do so in prison clothes.. and that would be humiliating for the family.
So you see.. my point is.. when you write bad stuff about a person, the family members will obviously mengamuk. But you have to realise that it's all part of the job. Yang penting, you didn't misquote anyone, you didn't fabricate your story and you didn't tell lies to make it more interesting.
Oh.. if it makes you feel better, I wrote a "controversial" story too, last week, about Indonesia replacing Malaysia's place as the world's largest palm oil producer in the country by 2008. My source kena kutuk like mad for coming up with such statements. In fact, boss has just told me that there are people in the office who are not really happy with me writing such stories.
But what must be written must be written, kan? My source (a university professor) has statistics and research done to prove that, like it or not, Indonesia will overtake us in terms of palm oil production in the years to come. Why must we shy away from the facts? Instead of being angry that such articles were written, shouldn't they start preparing themselves to face the reality and find ways to increase production or diversify oil palm products?
You know huns.. kena marah is a norm for journalists like us, I think. In my pursuit for stories, I have ministers marah-marah kat I on the phone, affected families and friends telling me I shouldn't have written stories on the person they know, orang mengamuk sebab I kept calling them to get my story, people hanging up on me because they refuse to answer my questions and people who embarassed me during Press conferences and telling me that I asked irrelevant questions (although it was MY EDITORS who gave me the questions in the first place!).
But I think, experiences like this make us stronger kan? We become more 'thick-skinned' and more prepared to face all the abuse hurled at us.. betul tak?
Trust me huns, all this makes us appreciate our profession. Because for every person yang marah we have written "controversial" stories, there will be 100 others who will appreciate us for highlighting the issue.
You take care okay? Sometimes I worry for you.. but I know those kind people in Alo*r Sta*r will never leave you alone. They are the best teachers you'll ever find and they're always ready to help. To me, they are among the best journalists in the fraternity!
Anyway, I can't wait to see you next month (it's just another 2 weeks!) and I want to say that I miss you much!!!!
Love you, huns! *mwaaaah*
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