Oh Rupert Murdoch, why must you ruin it for the rest of us?

I thought it fitting, being that Mr. Murdoch has found himself in an ocean of boiling hot water, to perhaps comment on what it means for us here at the Fitzhugh and for those reputable journalists out there. 

At the Fitzhugh we proudly claim our title as an independent newspaper, and for those of you who don’t know, that means the people who own this paper live and work right here in the Jasper area. We are not a company with owners we’ve never met before, and we like that. I also like that none of my bosses are looking at lengthy terms in the slammer. 

My knowledge of spying and tapping things is limited. At six feet tall, I can sneak no where. My cellphone is so old it’s become laughable. I continue to resist the iPhone age, and can’t even make a call on a Blackberry – and believe me, I’ve tried in emergency situations to no avail. You can all rest assured that I am not equipped with the skills required to tap your phones, so your secrets are safe on the telephone wires – or the waves, I guess, in the age of cellphones (See? I don’t even know how cellphones work, let alone how to listen in on them. All I know is that mine only rings when I’m really busy and unable to answer). 

What Murdoch’s News Corp. has done is potentially damaging to the many talented, respectful and reputable journalists who are continuing to bring you stories throughout the world on a daily basis. News of the World is now becoming the news, rather than breaking it as their illegal methods were apparently attempting to do. 

Two days in the life of a journalist are never the same. We document and are sometimes involved in history as it happens. While I get to watch all the cool things you people do in Jasper, I sometimes get involved. Last summer I had to call the ambulance for a poor girl who dislocated her knee at soccer camp. I once untangled a husky from its harness after it tripped going around a corner, then found myself tangled as the sled peeled away, and was quite unceremoniously dumped into a snowbank – with thousands of dollars in camera equipment following me in. I have slept on a gym floor with only my parka as a pillow and bits of carpet for a mattress while following a different dog sled race. Then there was the time I went with a Parks Canada employee into multiple feet of powder along Charlie’s Bowl with brand new ski boots and basically sacrificed myself to save my camera as I fell into the snow. I was sore for days after that one. At a petting zoo a few weeks ago, a baby goat climbed up my lap and started eating my favourite sweater. Last week I got smoked in the shoulder with a volleyball, and a summer ago I narrowly missed getting a BMX bike to the face for a photo. I have come home reeking of beef jerky after a hunting festival, exhausted after a midnight punk show, sunburnt after a skateboard race, soaking wet after my car broke down and I had to walk to an assignment, and angry after a kid intentionally splashed my camera as I took photos at a splash park. I once had to finish a front page story in 15 minutes to make deadline, but the story was happening 10 blocks from my computer. Never have I ran so fast in my life, only to discover the press was delayed and I had an extra half an hour once I handed the story in. 

These are the crazy stories that a real journalist can tell you, and at 23, I know I’ve got so many more adventures ahead of me. We spend time on the phone, but for the most part we’re out and about following your activities in public, not eavesdropping on them privately. This isn’t a business for everyone, and it’s easy to get burnt out and look for easier options, which is how News of the World may have got themselves into trouble. 

I truly hope that the rest of us journalists that are in it because we love it are not lumped into the same category as the News of the World’s so-called journalists. What they did to their victims – and readers – wasn’t journalism, it was criminal. Here at the Fitzhugh, we’re into doing the leg work, no matter where our legs carry us in a day. 

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writer’s own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.