Wanted: Reporter With a Dragon Tattoo

Posted by on Jul 12, 2010 in Blog, PR Writing | 0 comments

What attracts us to Stieg Larsson’s best-selling The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo?  The mystery, the suspense, the thrill of exposing neo-Nazi murderers? Oh c’mon. It’s the girl herself. By the millions we love this anarchistic punk goddess because she follows just one law: hers.

I knew a business reporter who lived by a similar code. She didn’t give a damn what anybody thought, always got at the truth by any means available, couldn’t be bought off, and had no compunction about publicly flogging corporate miscreants. Companies that strayed feared her for good reason.

Quite a contrast to the handful of suck-ups that now sport press credentials. They make me long for the reporter with the dragon tattoo.

When I read one BSS/OSS reporter’s piece on how a large wireless company is “relieved” by reaching settlement for $millions in overcharges by paying customers $10 apiece  — and the story stops there — I must ask: Was there any investigation in this reporting?  How did the billing “errors” occur, why did they go on so long, how much did the company profit, what was the actual cost to subscribers, and what steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence?  Not a peep. The reporter writes like the company’s PR person.

I can excuse a PR person for doing his or her job. I can’t forgive reporters for failing to ask questions. That’s their job, and when done with backbone, however harsh the outcome, we’re all better for it.

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