Becoming the News How Ordinary People Respond to the Media Spotlight by Ruth Palmer

Becoming the News How Ordinary People Respond to the Media Spotlight by Ruth Palmer published by Columbia Press is a very good book if you want to understand our work as reporters.

Ruth Palmer years ago interviewed 83 people, the most common ones you can think of, removing from her list VIPS, important politicians, connected with press in a daily base, for asking them something about their reaction when they "became the news."

Why a common person ends in the press and let me add: always more often?

For a joyous reason, a prize, or because he/she is witness of a sad or  joyous fact.

Because thanks to his/her hard or good time, this person can be an example for other people.

Some illnesses can be at the attention of media, for trying to understand better what happens and why.

He/she can be a source, and so not mentioned in articles, because too dangerous.

For Spotlight the team created by the Boston Globe common people meant a terrible revelation: stories of systemic abuses perpetrated by many priests of the city  per decades and with terrible psychologic repercussions for all these common people.
These people became real protagonists, crusaders bringing new light into a terrible darkness and for changing thanks to the pen of  that team the state of the things.
You can see in this case the importance of an ethical journalism and what it means for a community a good information.

In that case we see that the news of sexual abuses and pedophilia was in grade to become a big wave in grade to break the borders of a country revealing in many other countries as well a terrible horrible situation.

We mustn't never forget the importance and power of a good information. A good information can change the world and the face of our reality for better.

Ruth Palmer working in New York City, took in consideration mainly newsmagazines of the city like the New York Times, The New York Post, because as she added in the book, if a person is in a newspaper is more than sure that later he/she will end up also on TV.


Highly recommended.

I thank Columbia University Press for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori