Being a person that has been in the media (print, television and radio) for about 15 years, there is one thing that I have learned, and that is that there are good journalists, and there are bad journalists - there are the ones that will step on another's toes if it means that it will make their story that much more interesting. There comes a time when you have to choose whether you want to ruins a person's life or if you want to just deliver the story just as it should be written -without all of the added, misleading information.
I often tell people that I should be rich by now and not because of any other reason other than, I have things on tape that could probably earn me a quick buck, and with celebrities spilling their guts to me, and not realizing that what they're saying could very well ruin them. I was raised to believe that you really do reap what you sew, and while that is cliché, it is the absolute truth -what goes around comes back around, and it is because of that reason that I believe in reporting the story just as it was conveyed to me.
So, it has been all about R&B/Pop singers, Chris Brown and Rihanna, and domestic abuse. The picture says it all or does it? It shows a battered Rihanna, suddenly turning ‘good' boy, Chris Brown into a villain, after keeping such a squeaky clean reputation for so long, all of a sudden, something goes terribly wrong, and the next thing that you know, in the public's eyes, Chris Brown is damaged - losing endorsements and radio play, which ultimately means that he is losing money. Can we thank the media for that? Did they do it for the right reasons, or to sell papers and get viewership? Or, did they do it because it was domestic violence, and the awareness needs to be raised? I have personally lived in a women's shelter because of domestic violence, so I know that it is nothing to play with, but why wasn't my story told, or my mother's story told - because she is the one that endured it. I say the above to say, there are so many women out there that deserve for their stories to be told, but the reality is that they are no Rihanna -which is unfair, because telling the Rihanna story sells more papers, than if you would tell my or someone else's story, that does not have celebrity status.
So, I say right now, having written for countless of papers and having owned my own entertainment magazine, use your own judgment when reading and make your own assessments of what could have happened, and always remember that there are two sides of a story - you simply cannot believe everything that you read or see, unless you absolutely trust the medium that is reporting it.
© Kenyetta McKinney
About the Author:
Kenyetta ‘Native' McKinney, M.A. is founder and CEO of Grind Mode Media, LLC - the home base company for
www.grindmodepress.com - an all-in-one media service site for Affordable Electronic Press Kit Creations (free trials), Press Release & Music Distribution, Biography and Press Release writing is also available.
www.grindmodeconnect.com
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545
Date Published :
Mar 25 2009