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Off the Grid: Not Necessarily HR – How News Is Made

When we parked in the “1-Hour Parking” zone to go to a touristy place on Shelter Island for lunch, I noticed that there was a television news van parked on the same side of the street. It barely fit into a parking space on the narrow main drag in this scenic Hamptons-ish Long Island town, so it stuck out like a sore thumb among the hybrids and luxury cars parallel-parked there. The equal opportunity local constabulary marked its tires with chalk like the other vehicles in hopes of collecting a parking fine to add to the town’s coffers. After paying too much for a lunch for seven and overtipping the waitress, I moved my car around the corner to another parking area while thinking that I really didn’t want to add a parking ticket to the day’s expenses. The TV remote broadcast van had also moved to the other side of the street.

No vacation is complete without buying something identified with the local area, so we piled into a touristy one-floor-one-room department store where I bought a baseball cap sporting the words “Shelter Island” on the outside and “Made in China” on the inside. I stepped out on the street, dutifully deposited the tag from the hat in a “Keep Shelter Island Green” container, and donned my new hat that screamed: “LOOK AT ME! I’M A TOURIST!” The occupants of my car soon joined me on the street and we entertained ourselves by watching the news van bump into a utility pole several times while trying to re-park again in another 1-hour spot. We laughed that it was trying to park in a spot just vacated by a UPS truck with a skillful driver who not only breezed in and out of the spot but did a 5-second U-turn on the narrow street.

How the next part of the story unfolded is a little bizarre. Suddenly a woman burst out of the TV van with a microphone and ambushed our little party. “Could I get your opinion on the new Shelter Island Dark Skies ordinance?” which was a subject none of us could have known. She explained that it was a local law to regulate nighttime lighting and that it had passed the town council by only one vote. It was controversial because it impacted businesses and homeowners alike. “But we are not from here. We are just visiting relatives that live here” was met with the response that this was just a “man in the street interview” and all opinions are important. I blurted out my knee-jerk libertarian opinion that I don’t like the government telling me what to do. My wife, a long time Connecticut resident, and our daughter, who was visiting us on the way back to her home in Australia after a business trip, made similar comments.

That night we watched the local news on a New York City network affiliate where we saw ourselves depicted as “residents” of this “bucolic town on Long Island” and were the only three “street interviews” to lead off the story. I explained to my shocked sister-in-law that I had even pointed to my hat and said, “Hey, I’m just a tourist here” but of course that was edited out to make news. There are only two possible reasons I can find for the broadcast happening this way: (1) The station had a predetermined outcome and edited everything out that didn’t match their ideas, or (2) in a rush to meet a deadline the reporter sent the story by satellite to the studio where somebody not familiar with the real story pieced it together. Either way gives pause for thought.

I conclude this narrative with two pieces of advice: The next time you are tempted to believe something you hear on the news stare back at the screen, shake your fist, and question “Really?” And the next time you plan to visit Shelter Island be very, very careful. It gets dark there at night.

Image Credit: Hamptons Real Estate

 

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