Don't throw them all out with the bathwater. Rebecca has her defenders on this story, but there are plenty of folks in newsrooms around town who were appalled at the questions, tone, editing, and/or overall spirit of the piece. Maybe not proportionate to the viewing audience, but I would expect reporters to defend one of their own.
And don't think they can't change their stripes. I made a vow when I went back to radio that if I ever caught wind of a reporter forgetting their humanity, I would out them on the air. No matter who. One did while covering an Arlington fire, we spent some time on it, and he wound up going back to the business owner with an apology. Like all of us, sometimes some of them just need a reminder.
Many (if not most) also hate the trite sensationalism forced upon or bred into them by consultants, news directors, promotion departments, and producers. Some reporters are given to it anyway, but may are revulsed by it. They know when they're feeding folks a load of bull better than anyone. I've stood there and watched more than a few say out loud, "I am NOT reading that."
Like Veritas and others, I still can't get over how that piece could make it past other sets of eyes with no realization that it was incendiary and biased, if only in its tone. A few years back I did a story on conceal and carry, and did a stand-up firing a handgun at a shooting range. I liked it, but the news director at the time ordered me to cut it - and explained that it would appear to some as if I was endorsing conceal and carry rather than covering it. I didn't like the call, but looking back I believe the ND was right. If someone with that kind of foresight had been in the chain to air at FOX 4, this whole thing might never have come up.
And I wouldn't be too certain of the Internet. If you have a pulse, you have a bias.
