Journalism

I think by now we have all realized that journalism is flawed. It is rare to find an article without some sort of misrepresentation, misquote, or bias. I get the bias part and know to watch out for it, so that is not my main issue. 

I am a part of a really cool military wives group called "Wives of Faith." In my spare time, I help the founder with publicity. One opportunity came through that I was very excited about. Tennessee's most prominent magazine, "The Tennessean" wanted to do an article about us and our upcoming events. I made the arrangements and while I was on the phone, she decided to interview me. Being a military wife that wants to get the word out about this amazing group and about the military life in general, I wanted to participate. Knowing the fallacies of the media, I subjected myself to potential disaster. What if I misrepresented something or someone? What if I gave clues that [I feel] the army is not all its chalked up to be? 

The interview itself went very smoothly. I was careful not to represent anyone or anything negatively. Here is the article. 

It is okay, but it doesn't really make sense to me. I don't think she really grasped what the group was about and she was confused about active duty Army vs. National Guard. Some of the quotes were not really what I said and there was a comparison that probably should not have been made. To someone else, the article may make complete sense. (I asked a couple friends just to see.)

We don't always know the truth or the "whole truth" behind a story or article.