I'm Just Like You

Lots of phone calls and interviews today. Lots of getting to use the phone voice. Also a lot of me trying to assure people I'm just like them.

I do this a lot, especially when a source seems nervous or it's a touchy subject. I want them to relax, feel comfortable--I'm not out to skewer anyone, even those people who probably need to be skewered. (For those, I just want to get the facts and quotes and let them skewer themselves. It's less messy for me.)

This week I'm working on a story about horses being neglected or abandoned or being seized by the county. There was a horse slaughterhouse here in Fort Worth until last year, and so I wasn't sure if there were a bunch of horses who would have been slaughtered and are now lingering and dying slowly in someone's back yard.

It's not exactly a happy topic, as you can probably tell, and when I covered some animal seizures when I was at the daily I got a lot of unhappy people on the phone who didn't want to talk. I had one animal control person hang up on me and then no one answered that phone when I tried calling back repeatedly. People are afraid of sparking a big fight, I guess.

So this week, as I'm getting my sources on the phone, I'm always trying to suavely point out that I'm a horse owner and I'm conflicted about the slaughter houses and that's why I'm trying to find out more. I try to let them know I'm just like a normal person, wanting to talk about it. The only difference is I'll publish this for thousands of people to see, that's all.

I'll do that with almost any topic. I have a bunch of shit I'll pull out. Oh, I went to TCU too, when did you graduate? My father was in the military too, when did you serve before opening this business? Yeah, I lived in New England for a while, aren't the summers here unbearable? It's never disingenuous, because that stuff is all true, and it's just me trying to relate to the source. I can understand why people are gun-shy around the media. I can understand why someone would be hesitant to talk to a reporter. Frankly, I'd be reluctant to talk to the media myself, even if I weren't a reporter. The majority of us use our powers for good, so to speak, but there are those who are lazy or manipulative.

Also, like normal people, I'm looking at the clock and it's 4:05 p.m. and I've got a mofo of a headache coming on and it's gray and breezy and chilly (fall! finally!) and I want to go home. My ME isn't here. Why am I here?