Pat Gaudette

Call me annoyed with the media but it seems that either there’s more irresponsible reporting lately or maybe it’s always been there and I’m just noticing it more.

For example, a recent newspaper article talked about growing copper thefts in the area. Because the value of copper was soaring, thieves are stealing copper wire and other copper items and selling it for scrap at salvage yards. This is news and deserves to be printed.

The irresponsible part of the article, in my opinion, was the detailed tutorial of how some of these thefts were committed. If someone reading the article didn’t know how to steal copper, they certainly knew exactly what to do by the time they finished the article.

At what point does news move from “fit to print” to “better left unsaid”?