When I was in the NYPD I was often interviewed, sometimes by a certain Times reporter who kept identifying me as a former Times sports reporter in Europe. That irritated me. I saw myself as a better and more real journalist than he would ever be. What about all those racing drivers and spectators I wrote about who kept getting slaughtered, the gored bullfighters, the intimate studies of boxers as tragic figures, some on the way down (Bobo Olson, Sugar Ray Robinson) or on the way up (Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali)? I saw sports, especially the blood sports, in a way no one had ever written before, or so I thought, and Europe gave me the chance to write about it my way. What about the political stories I also wrote, and the refugee stories? What about the war in Tunisia I was sent to? I covered stories in 16 or 18 different countries. So yes, to be repeatedly put down by that guy irritated me. To that extent, though I never felt the need to invent stories about myself, I could empathize a bit with Brian Williams. I did want to be taken seriously by peers, and by the public. As for the NYPD, I thought I was doing public service, which hardly anybody else bothers with, and in addition it was the greatest journalistic coup of my life. No other reporter/writer had ever before been so high up for so long so deep inside the biggest police department in the biggest city in the country--and during such a violent and vulnerable time. I did not last long, one year and seven days, but when I came out I had a theme and knowledge that would keep me busy in novels and non-fiction for most of the rest of my life. A good journalist is someone intensely curious about other people, and about parts of the world and events occurring therein that no one else knows about. And at times he is willing to risk his life, if need be, to get the story. I'm not sure Williams qualifies, according to my definition, though in Iraq apparently he wanted to.
To my observations yesterday about Brian Williams, and as an answer of sorts to Jane Gross's query about my time as a high police official, I append the following.
When I was in the NYPD I was often interviewed, sometimes by a certain Times reporter who kept identifying me as a former Times sports reporter in Europe. That irritated me. I saw myself as a better and more real journalist than he would ever be. What about all those racing drivers and spectators I wrote about who kept getting slaughtered, the gored bullfighters, the intimate studies of boxers as tragic figures, some on the way down (Bobo Olson, Sugar Ray Robinson) or on the way up (Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali)? I saw sports, especially the blood sports, in a way no one had ever written before, or so I thought, and Europe gave me the chance to write about it my way. What about the political stories I also wrote, and the refugee stories? What about the war in Tunisia I was sent to? I covered stories in 16 or 18 different countries. So yes, to be repeatedly put down by that guy irritated me. To that extent, though I never felt the need to invent stories about myself, I could empathize a bit with Brian Williams. I did want to be taken seriously by peers, and by the public. As for the NYPD, I thought I was doing public service, which hardly anybody else bothers with, and in addition it was the greatest journalistic coup of my life. No other reporter/writer had ever before been so high up for so long so deep inside the biggest police department in the biggest city in the country--and during such a violent and vulnerable time. I did not last long, one year and seven days, but when I came out I had a theme and knowledge that would keep me busy in novels and non-fiction for most of the rest of my life. A good journalist is someone intensely curious about other people, and about parts of the world and events occurring therein that no one else knows about. And at times he is willing to risk his life, if need be, to get the story. I'm not sure Williams qualifies, according to my definition, though in Iraq apparently he wanted to.
2 Comments
2/20/2017 12:11:44 am
Meet with Robert Daley and discuss about his work, passion of writing books and novels via his professional blog. You can follow him on social media pages as well. Thanks Robert for sharing such a useful and important topics.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2019
Categories |