Journal 6/25/08

A Jigene post reminded me of the extremes the media goes to when covering the passing of a fellow journalist.

A year or two ago, The Modesto Bee carried an interesting obituary on one of its reporters. The obit covered all the obvious who, what, and where. But the obit writer seemed compelled to add a "why" to his piece. He detailed the girth of the man, the huge amounts of food he consumed, his lack of exercise, and his non-stop smoking addiction.

At first I thought the editor should have been more careful in selecting the obit writer. Then I thought the editor should have deleted the uncomplimentary aspects of the story. Then it occurred to me the editor probably wrote the obituary. Tired of the smell of stale cigarette smoke on the writer, angry about all the missed deadlines because the reporter had taken a second lunch hour, and embarrassed about having a representative of the newspaper appearing in public with egg yolk, spaghetti sauce, and strawberry milkshake splattered on the reporter's sweaty shirt, our editor finally got even.

Maybe journalists should have contracts which allow them to write their own obits -- minus death date, etc.-- and be allowed to tell what they want the world to remember about them.