In a recent article written by Wave3 news, journalists, Sarah Jackson, and Sara Revest covered a story on a recent incident in which an officer from LMPD was exposed to suspected drugs during a traffic stop. The Officers were searching a woman's car when one was exposed to needles possibly containing a mix of drugs. The officer was then given medical assistance and the woman's bond is set for twenty-five thousand dollars. Now while this story may be interesting to some, it completely violates the Journalistic yardstick of Newsworthiness.
The basic guidelines for something to qualify as newsworthy are that it must affect a lot of people for a long time. And in this case, although it did affect those involved with the situation, it does not have any lasting impact on the community whatsoever. The journalists in this case simply made something they saw as dramatic and made it into a story.
This wasn't just any article though, it was featured as a headline on Wave3 News' website.
For the journalists involved in this case, they could have done a few different things with this story.
For one, not running this story at all might have been a better option. These journalists could have instead done a story on something that had more of a lasting effect on the community and followed the elements and yardsticks of journalism.
Another option for these journalists would be to look further into the story to figure out if this incident was a part of a bigger picture, scheme, or meant more than at first appearance. The Journalists seemed to have started the thought of the story going somewhere more when claiming that "It has happened across the country," but they then failed to continue any further.
So for Wave3's coverage of the "Officer exposed to suspected meth, fentanyl during traffic stop," spending more time on harder hitting and more impactful stories would be a much better option.
The basic guidelines for something to qualify as newsworthy are that it must affect a lot of people for a long time. And in this case, although it did affect those involved with the situation, it does not have any lasting impact on the community whatsoever. The journalists in this case simply made something they saw as dramatic and made it into a story.
This wasn't just any article though, it was featured as a headline on Wave3 News' website.
For the journalists involved in this case, they could have done a few different things with this story.
For one, not running this story at all might have been a better option. These journalists could have instead done a story on something that had more of a lasting effect on the community and followed the elements and yardsticks of journalism.
Another option for these journalists would be to look further into the story to figure out if this incident was a part of a bigger picture, scheme, or meant more than at first appearance. The Journalists seemed to have started the thought of the story going somewhere more when claiming that "It has happened across the country," but they then failed to continue any further.
So for Wave3's coverage of the "Officer exposed to suspected meth, fentanyl during traffic stop," spending more time on harder hitting and more impactful stories would be a much better option.
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