His point was that the operation be stopped right away, the Taliban brought to the talking table and pressed to hand over or drive away Al Qaeda operatives from the country. To him Al Qaeda people were terrorists whereas the Taliban represented a popular political movement.
I had a couple of questions to ask him publicly but I couldn’t as he would answer to only those submitted in writing. I tried that as well but he answered only a few of them (none them were asked by me) and left for the airport minutes after finishing the lecture. The story was published the next day. I reported exactly what I had heard him say. What followed were endless comments on the story. The readers were primarily condemning this politician, the reporter (me) and the editors who had allowed the story to run.
Some of these comments were so abusive that I cannot reproduce them here. Quite amazingly, none of them had any reservations against the World Affairs Council that invited this politician to speak on this topic and the charged audience that gave him a standing ovation at the end of his lecture.
My purpose for narrating this incident here is that it let me learn some lessons, most of which were not so pleasant. I realized that people who make comments are not always the most serious of the readers. Many of these people were not aware of the difference between a news report and an opinionated piece. They could have differed altogether with the politician, challenged his logic and established their own point. I myself do not agree with what he said.
But from these comments it seemed they want newspapers not to report anything that doesn’t appeal them. If this had been the case, the history of journalism would have been devoid of reporting on many scandals generated by controversial statements.
These observations will be very helpful to me as I plan to write more and more for my home publication’s online edition and develop interactive platforms for readers and writers.
I discussed this topic with Jeff Cohen, Executive Vice President and Editor of Houston Chronicle as well. What he said was also an eye-opener for me. He said it’s not always true that the most viewed and the most commented stories are the most popular ones. Watch out advertisers, here’s another reason to ruin the new business model for online publications.
Last week, I worked on a story that helped me hone my interviewing skills and add authenticity/accuracy to my work. The Islamic Da’wah Center is hosting a traveling exhibition that honors contributions of Muslim scientists during medieval ages. They have placed the model of a glider used by a Muslim engineer in 875 A.D. to take the first piloted flight in history.
I referred to this flight in the first few lines of my story. The editor looking over this story asked me to quote some authentic source on it as the event organizer’s claim was not sufficient to establish this. I went back to the organizers and asked for such reference(s).
They did not have them handy and had to work on them. Quite interestingly, the news coverage of this exhibition in the cities where it was held earlier had not mentioned any source that it was a Muslim scientist who took the first piloted flight. Now, as I have quoted a source, I believe my story (yet to be published) will be more creditworthy than those already published.
I had to re-do the story as my editors said it should carry quotes that attract the readers. They were correct as I realized some of the people who I talked to had stated the obvious. Some were repeating things that had been published in the past. I had no idea as I am new to the place. From now onwards I will sift through the archives and try to have a grasp of issues that I intend to cover.
I got a quote from Joanne Herring King, a well-known celebrity who is also a member the event committee managing this exhibition. I would like to share this quote with others through this blog.
She said: “The exhibit highlights the work of good Muslims. There are good and bad people in every religion. But the good work is often obscured by the smoke created by the wars waged by the bad people.”
With Joanne Herring King. I had many things to share with her as she had been very active in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. She was honorary consul general of Pakistan and Morocco in Houston at that time. Joanne was the lady who convinced US government with the help of US rep Charlie Wilson to approve aid and weapons for Afghans in their fight against Russians.
Julia Roberts played Joanne in the movie Charlie Wilson’s war. The role of Charlie Wilson was played by none other than Tom Hanks
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