Journalists: The Truest of Frenemies

Last night taught me more about journalism than any 90-minute class ever could.

Around 9 p.m., a pedestrian was struck by two or three cars (and died) on Nicolls Road, right next to the south entrance of Stony Brook. I was on the scene an hour later with my friend/fellow J-schooler, TC McCarthy, to get some video and a statement from the police. The only other reporter on the scene was from Verizon FiOS.

After some small talk, we exchanged information about the situation: what we thought happened, what kind of footage we got, problems we were facing with our equipment, etc. But when the Verizon reporter walked to his car for a few minutes, I mentioned to TC that I was surprised that this guy was so open with us (he had showed me video he had shot of the body and told us what the public information office had said over the phone). TC, who has a little more field experience, said that in the newsroom, journalists from different publications are enemies. But on the scene, we are friends. That is absolutely true.

The industry is headed to a really bad part of town – not the end of the line, but certainly a train station in a bad neighborhood – and it’s necessary for reporters to stick together to avoid getting jumped. And most public officials have always disliked the press and tried to prevent journalists from getting too much information. So when we are in the field, working on the story, I think we are definitely friends. We all know what it’s like to feel pushed out of the loop, to be ignored by the cops and to be given the evil eye by civilians.

I’m not saying that I would share an exclusive with journalists who have ears nearby. But in a situation like the one from last night, when we’re standing in the freezing cold, getting terrible footage and zero love from the police, why not? What goes around comes around, and you never know when you’re going to need a sympathetic journalist to tell you a few things. But once I get back to that newsroom and start gathering my own information and writing my story, there is no one I will compete against more than that other guy at the crime scene.