I was busy writing a report on the forum we conducted yesterday when the phone rang this afternoon. A girl on the other line was requesting for more details . She said she’s also making a report for her boss about the same forum.
At first I was glad to answer her queries about the things presented during the forum and the points raised during the open discussion that followed. However, I was taken aback by something she told me.
She was so insistent about a statement of one of our resource persons and she wanted a transcription of that statement. What really struck me was that she wanted to make an entire article based on that statement and take all the other things as just support or emphasis for that statement.
I explained to her that there were other better points raised and discussed during that forum and the statement she wanted to focus on was just an aside. She was so insistent about it however that I had no recourse but to talk to her supervisor, who happened to be a good friend, and let him know about the reporter’s plan. I was relieved that my friend agreed with me and talked with the girl reporter.
Until now, I could not believe what has taken place this afternoon. I could not understand why that girl was so focused on just one sentence and completely ignored the more meaningful parts of discussion. I just hope it’s not a widespread practice among writers and bloggers.
