How to report when you don't agree

The weather forecast for Saturday calls for mid-80s. Some feel this is the perfect day to watch a shootout at high noon to celebrate Gillette's 125th year, and some, like me, are going to take to morning to sleep in until 8 and then organize life. And others, well others feel it is the perfect day to burn a copy of the Quran.

Now, I'm not saying this is right, and in fact, I'm completely against it, and on a personal level, I think that it simply should not be allowed. But it's happening; and the newspaper will be covering it; just like we do with everything else.

It is something that reflects the town, no matter how dark it may seem.

Wyoming, and Gillette, in particular, is very conservative country, and having come from a very liberal place, and my thoughts on the political sphere seem to fall more on the liberal side of things anyway.

And that's not the only thing that has happened up here that I have had to write about, not agreeing, but I am a reporter. It doesn't matter what I think, it matter what the community thinks, and news articles should reflect the feel, attitude and impression of the community.

A little while ago, I read a blog post call, "How to Listen When You Disagree: A Lesson from the Republican National Convention," and I was very taken aback by how this person stood there and listened to people and why they thought what they thought, because we are a nation of diverse people, with diverse backgrounds and diverse thoughts. Yet, we don't take the time to consider why people think the way they do, and what leads them to think that way, we just want to "educate" others to think the way we do. Therefore, we are always preparing a rebuttal to whatever our non-agreers say, and allow our ears to be blocked to what the person in front of us is saying.

But as a reporter, it is my job to listen, take notes and write about what my subject was saying, and, in a way, write as if I have taken on the attitudes of the community, because that's what makes writing strong.

I am reminded of rather early on in the still baby phase of my journalist career when I was tasked with interviewing the county commissioner candidates, one of whom is very against Islam and against Muslims. Some of the things he told me made me want to write every word in the paper, displaying him in the most negative light possible, because, in my opinion, he was not fit to even run for office. But I knew I couldn't do that. The point of the features was to display the views and political points of the candidates, and his hatred for Islam was one story that he had told me. It could be allowed a small section of my article, but it could not be all of it. There had to be a level playing field between him and the other candidates so that the people could make their own educated decisions on what candidate they would be voting for.

And something similar happened not too long ago, when I was test driving a car and something came on over the radio that made the salesman furious. So, be the curious journalist that I am, I asked why he was so upset, and he proceeded to give me this talk of how our current president, Obama, was a terrorist and deserved to be impeached and hanged because we are giving money to countries that we basically are at war with. He was referring to the increase in oil prices. But I was just so astounded. And I had wanted to rattle off all the "facts," but I knew I was just going to make both of us angry, and nothing I was going to say would change his mind.

What I really wanted to say was, " he was elected , now get your ass behind him because we are all one nation at the end of the day," but I didn't. Although, I probably won't be going back there to get a car, because this is part of my personal life.

Point being, there's a time and a place for all of our opinions, but it is more prominent with journalists. It just is.