Why having an ombudsman seems to be a publication’s cop-out:
From Romenesko: “Atlanta Journal-Constitution reader Carolyn Worthy fears 12-year-old ballplayer Josh Lester will be scarred for life as a result of the paper’s decision to picture him crying after his team lost a Little League World Series game. Ombud Angela Tuck writes: ‘Had a similar picture of a young female athlete appeared on the front page, it’s doubtful readers would have complained. Yet the question remains for some readers: What were editors thinking showing Josh in tears?'”
Why is this reader’s concern even making this ombudsman’s column? For all of America’s macho hysterics and braggadocio, we sure play puny coward sissies so often. It’s an appropriate photo to demonstrate the nether side of “the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat” that’s noted in grown-up athletics (see also: Andre Agassi choosing to retire in defeat, winning a couple of tennis matches first in the U.S. Open, rather than cutting out between tournaments.)
The news media did not put children in games that get relatively major broadcast treatment, like Little League baseball in recent years. Surely the little fellow’s sobs were caught on television first. Will the kid be scarred for life? He may become screwed up, but journalists shouldn’t be blamed: the pressure he received at home to be a champion athlete on a champion team would take precedence. Then the “reality TV” vultures come in second for this is worth airing. If the print media has a fault here, it would be following along, exploiting children in general, not this lad in particular.
We all are this child: By some combination of genetics, home environment and role models, any child grows up surrendering to a debilitating childhood or overcoming it. You’re either Bill Clinton or a tavern regular — almost always somewhere in between — because even an entitled childhood can warp the hopeless.
Then again, the newspaper’s Angela Tuck does explain and defend the daily’s news judgment with clarity and firmness. Maybe these days someone has to. -30-
