What the heck is a morass?

“We know there is a vast morass of information out there that our audiences want us to try to make sense of. The danger consists in trying to leap above it, not by getting more dramatic or salient or verifiable facts, but by analyzing, speculating, predicting, interpreting – by drawing definitive conclusions while the bodies are still warm.” – Paul Knox, The Globe and Mail

Morass – Something that hinders, engulfs, or overwhelms. Ok. There we go. You learn something new every day. Anyways. The job of being a journalist seems almost daunting and scary to me sometimes. How can I excel in a job where it is really hard to get different news than someone else is getting? Thats where this quote comes in. I am a person who jumps to conclusions faster than almost everyone I know, which is something I am trying to get under control before I go into the field for this job. I can’t write a story based on assumptions. Sure, I would like to, but telling a story without any fact to back it up is the big no no for journalists. I can’t go on hearsay alone. As much as it would make for a good story, writing or reporting it without knowing all the facts can get us in trouble.

I remember just a few months ago where Howard Berger from The Fan 590 radio, reported that Sean Avery made comments about Jason Blake’s recovery from cancer. Berger reported that Avery had said something derogatory about Jason Blake without interviewing Blake or Avery. He took a story that could have been big news if it were true, and ran with it hoping it was true. This resulted in Berger getting in trouble with Avery and having to apologize on air on The Fan 590. This is something that could have been potentially destructive to Berger’s career. Luckily he apologized in time, and wasn’t affected too much by this event. But in the future for us students now, we might not be so lucky. We won’t have a track record like Berger’s was leading up to that event. Even with a track record though, don’t test the news. Reporting news that you are unsure of is just about as bad as gossiping. Might as well pack up our desks and apply at The National Enquirer and TMZ

While we should be trying to get scoops and exclusives, don’t run unless you know you have the ground underneath you to hold you up when you look down. Otherwise…