My mother is a partner in a company called "The Camp Experts". Basically, you call her, tell her about your kid's interest and she will help find a camp or summer program for your child. It's free of charge for you, and she gets payed on comission(sp?) for every child she recommends to a camp.
A few months ago, a reporter from The Journal News, a fairly big paper around here wanted to do a short article about her business. The interview happens. Months pass. No Article.
According to my mother, she had mentioned some of the programs that she has that some students use to beef up a resume for college. She and the reporter got into talking about grades and school things, and somehow my grade situation came up. My mother says that she told the reporter that I am a bright student, but I haven't been working up to my potential. I could understand my mom saying that, becasue it's true, but that is a different story.
On monday, this article appeared on the FRONT PAGE of The Journal News. I'm particularly interested in paragraphs 4-6, where Debbie Rosen-Alfonso(My Mother) is quoted.
My mom says that this is a complete misquote, and is not what she said at all. not to mention that the interview was not meant for this article in the first place. I'm upset because this is the paper that all of my friends families recieve in the mornings. I start school tomorrow and what am I supposed to do when someone comes up to me to talk about it? My mother and I both feel betrayed by this reporter, and I feel that I should do something about it. My mom has put in an e-mail, but I'm not sure if that is enough. This is potentially something that can ruin my reputation in school, and cause for a lot of awkward conversations with my friends.
I just don't know what to do Hatrack. Please help me. Is it worth making a big deal over? that's what I'm leaning towards at the moment.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I don't know how ot respond to the story as a whole, but as for the parts where she's quoted talking about you, my response would be that she was not only misquoted but taken out of context. And then you both chalk it up to experience - unless you specifically tell a reporter that something is off the record, you have to expect it to show up in print somewhere. Even if that reporter is your friend and the conversation at hand seems to have absolutely nothing at all to do with anything she's working on at the time.
I am sorry that this happened. Best you can do now is damage control. The chance that this reporter is going to write a retraction or correction to the piece is slim to insane.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Not particularly. This is not something that's going to come back to haunt you in a job interview, I strongly suspect. It's just a reporter trying to spin a story into something interesting via hyperbole. That's common enough to be expected, so I wouldn't worry about it. Should anyone bring the article up, you might describe it as "greatly exaggerated".
If your personal honor is sufficiently wounded, a letter to the editor might find its way into print, but otherwise outside of a libel suit I doubt you'll see any redress of any kind, so best to just laugh it off. You'll fight bigger battles later, trust me.
Posts: 196 | Registered: May 2005
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Having experience with reporters, I can say I'm not surprised. No offense to the reporters on this forum, but I've never found them to be particularly good at getting across what was really said. My mother is interviewed all the time and appears in print fairly regularly and she is always amazed at how greatly exaggerated or taken out of context her comments are. She's gotten better over the years at being explicitly clear and making sure that the reporter understands her point before ending the interview, but still it gets twisted somehow.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I've been interviewed on a number of occassions. I keep to a few short statements whenever possible, and I say things like "the take-home message is..." or "what I hope you'll get across is..."
As Belle says, sometimes it still doesn't work.
In my experience, most often (and it appears to be the case here) the reporter has some different kind of point they're trying to make and it's not exactly what the interviewee is able to give them. They want you to say "x is bad" or something really sensational, when really, the question they are asking is highly technical and far more involved than they think or care to know.
They have a job to do, and they can't waste time getting an education on every issue. It's sad to say it, but they really don't have the time to fully comprehend something that doesn't fit the line of their story.
Lately, I start most of my interviews by asking them a few questions and then I either try to stick to what they want (if I can) or I just give them the one or two points I hope they'll shoe-horn into their report.
Most of the time, it doesn't actually work. Talking about what I do is not what they're interested in. They want to hear about how some drivers are wonton killers, and the government is to blame...I almost always put it back on the people -- it's attitude adjustment more than enforcement that will change highway safety...
Anyway, with respect to this article. I hope you can find it in you to laugh it off. Your mom didn't mean any disrespect, obviously. The reporter screwed up her words to make a story out of it. It sucks, but the sooner you can laugh about it, the better for everyone.
I hope your mom gets through to the reporter, but other than that, don't sweat it.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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This Weiner guy is an ass. But his name is Weiner. I couldn't be mad at a Weiner. Think of how much Weiner got made fun of in high school. Years later he's still trying to fight back by screwing with kids. Poor, poor, Weiner.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Believe your mom. Blame the reporter. Don't worry about it, because it won't come back to haunt you.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Don't make a big deal about this. The most disparaging quote about you was this:
quote: Her own son hasn't been a brilliant student,
and it's indirect, paraphrased. Are you a brilliant student, with close to a 4.0 GPA? Then the quote would be incorrect. But given what your mother says she said, and your response,
quote:Originally posted by Little_Doctor: My mother says that she told the reporter that I am a bright student, but I haven't been working up to my potential. I could understand my mom saying that, becasue it's true, but that is a different story.
, I assume you are not a brilliant student. But you might not be a C student either, which is the headline.
I agree with others, you'll never get a retraction for this.
If you want to rebut the reporter, have you posted on the newspaper's forum? I would say either do that, or just let it go.
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I think I've cooled down a little. I was just upset yestreday. Going into school and having people comment on it wasn't fun. My teachers already have a bad impression of me, and I'll have to work my way out of that, but things should turn out okay.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I noted that the paper provides a phone number specifically for correcting or clarifying errors. Have you or your mother tried calling the number provided?
Posts: 407 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Hey, that's neat. I live right next to Montebello. If that's where you are. I wonder why the reporter felt the need to add you in the article. Show him up and get a 4.0? Posts: 147 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I'm in Montebello, but I use a Suffern address becasue there is only one post office. Where are you?
I believe the reporter is a woman. It's unfortunate that her comments aren't entirely untrue. I could have tried a little harder these past few years. I'm certainly not a C student, but I could have gotten A's where I didn't. For the record, I've only recieved two C's, and that was for a quarter grade, not a final average.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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