The Bleedin' Obvious: Journalistic Ethics Division

I was in newspapers and magazines, and still write for the latter, and over the years there are certain things I've come to loathe about the business. One is this business of asking people how they feel about family members dying. (It's about 20 paragraphs into the story.) Obviously the reporters know the answer in a general way; the point is for the stricken relatives to emote for the cameras. Maybe the people reading or watching feel a pang of genuine sympathy. But the pain is still transformed into a commodity. And I think it's despicable.