Well, I guess I asked for it

"ImmoralMinority" (araimondo)
08/31/2017 at 19:25 • Filed to: None

I like to think of myself as a problem solver. When you do thar successfully, not only will prople pay you well, but they will send you increasingly intractable problems.

The reporter who interviewed me read his article to me over the phone. He presented me as a ruthless SOB, stopping at nothing to protect farmers from employee lawsuits, unions, and government agencies, and not hesitating to use extrajudicial means to do so. It was not entirely inaccurate, but probably overstates my influence and impact. Dramatic license, I suppose.

On the plus side, he mentioned the Sunchaser (I drove it to the interview), ans described it as “immaculate.”

What I do is controversial, so I can’t blame the guy. It was skewed against me, but not unreasonably so. The only thing that annoyed me was a union guy told a bald-faced lie, and the reporter bought it. It was a melodramatic lie designed to put me in the worst possible light, and the reporter bought it.

Given what I do, I was asking for it.

DISCUSSION (33)

Svend > ImmoralMinority
08/31/2017 at 19:42

Journalists will always make it to come out how they want it and how it’ll cause the most anger in it’s readers.

Winston Wolf is still solving problems here in the U.K.

Chariotoflove > ImmoralMinority
08/31/2017 at 19:44

I mean, a good lawyer is supposed to represent his client to the best of his ability, within the law. I guess that can be called ruthless?

It’ll probably bring you more business.

Chariotoflove > Svend
08/31/2017 at 19:45

There is no such thing as unbiased journalism.

Svend > Chariotoflove
08/31/2017 at 19:48

Fox news have always tried to represent all sides of the topic.

Journalists always skew it to their audience.

WilliamsSW > Chariotoflove
08/31/2017 at 19:50

Yeah, that’s literally a lawyers job, regardless of which side he/she is working on.

But hey, let’s trash a guy to sell some magazines!

WilliamsSW > ImmoralMinority
08/31/2017 at 19:54

That sucks- albeit probably not that surprising. Would be nice to clarify that the union guy was lying somehow but good luck with that.

Personally I think I’d rather not have the Sunchaser mentioned - it’s too high profile.

Xyl0c41n3 > ImmoralMinority
08/31/2017 at 19:59

The journalist read the entire story to you, prior to its publication? Like, the WHOLE thing and not just your particular quotes or a fact check (like saying, “I just wanted to confirm that you said you’ve worked as an attorney for 15 years and practice X, Y and Z law”)?

Who the fuck is this “journalist”? Because reading you the entire piece, including quotes from other sources, is all kinds of fucking unethical. Like, actionable unethical.

Xyl0c41n3 > Svend
08/31/2017 at 20:04

Journalist here. My aim has never been to “anger” my readers. It has always been about informing, educating and relaying information to my audience so that they have as much data as they can to make informed decisions or so that they can glimpse other aspects of their own community. That goes for subject matter I am passionate about AND for subject matter which I may — on a personal level — disagree with. My job isn’t to insert my opinions into a hard news piece. Now, an op-ed, on the other hand, that’s a different matter altogether.

Spridget > Xyl0c41n3
08/31/2017 at 20:08

Having heard your political beliefs, I find it hard to believe that there is not some minor element of bias in your work; there really is no neutral, as it’s nearly impossible to eliminate bias from anything.

Alfalfa > ImmoralMinority
08/31/2017 at 20:12

Unions seem to be one of those things that prompt very strong feelings on both sides of the spectrum.

Oh well, no such thing as bad publicity right?

Svend > Xyl0c41n3
08/31/2017 at 20:13

No offence but many media sources are click bait’y to generate response from it’s readers in one way or another.

Generally I’ve found journalists either skew the article to how they want it to go or allow their own feelings to enter into the subject matter or for their target demographic regardless of media whether it’s print, online, radio or TV.

Xyl0c41n3 > Spridget
08/31/2017 at 20:14

I don’t get paid to write for Oppo.

You ever refrain from using profanity like “fuck” and “shit” at work? Do you refrain from showing up in gym shorts and not having showered in two days? Do you ever remain pleasant with that one annoying coworker who just won’t stop tapping their pen on their desk, or clearing their throat, or microwaving fish in the communal break room?

It’s like that.

My personal life is separate from my professional life, just like you. Imagine that!

boredalways > Svend
08/31/2017 at 20:16

VPN ftw

Xyl0c41n3 > Svend
08/31/2017 at 20:17

Maybe you should get to know more of us. It’d be a learning experience for both sides. (And trust me, at heart, that’s what drives every journalist I know: the desire to continue learning... about EVERYthing).

Svend > boredalways
08/31/2017 at 20:18

? VPN?

Svend > Xyl0c41n3
08/31/2017 at 20:29

I’ve met a few personally from doing repair work on a car to giving them a heads up on lost persons and their backgrounds, correcting information that is wrong, a drugs raid (police were outside the house for ten hours removing chemicals and drugs paraphernalia and they still only sent a photographer after everyone but one police car had left and took a picture of the wrong house. The newspaper is literally two streets away and one of their journalists lives five streets away from the incident). One managed to get almost every aspect of an RTC I attended wrong.

That’s my personal interface with journalists.

The only news source I trust is the BBC, but even then some can be slightly biased one way or another.

XJDano > Svend
08/31/2017 at 20:47

Well damn.

Kinja'd!!!

boredalways > Svend
08/31/2017 at 20:48

The first YouTube vid would not play in the U.S. So I fired up my VPN to watch and enjoy.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ImmoralMinority
08/31/2017 at 20:56

This was the expected outcome right?

Svend > XJDano
08/31/2017 at 21:06

Sorry. They were only Drectline insurance adverts with Harvey Keitel.

I can’t find any decent uploads of the adverts. Sorry.

Svend > boredalways
08/31/2017 at 21:08

Ye’, someone else has said the same. I can’t find any other uploads of the same adverts. My bad.

Chariotoflove > WilliamsSW
08/31/2017 at 21:37

Easy target. No one like the lawyer.

XJDano > Svend
08/31/2017 at 21:49

Not your fault, I get that they don’t need to advertise to people that can’t buy their product.

WilliamsSW > Chariotoflove
08/31/2017 at 21:53

Hazard of the job, I guess. But I’ve worked with some very good ones that I did like - of course, they were on my side...

Svend > XJDano
08/31/2017 at 21:57

Lol. But some of the adverts we get should be seen by others, some are awesome.

Chariotoflove > WilliamsSW
08/31/2017 at 22:39

I didn’t even like the one that was on my side.

XJDano > Svend
08/31/2017 at 23:50

I also agree, if it’s on the internet it should be international.

Eventually we can have subscription service for anything. Most have it now, but in the US cable companies still have a strong hold.

Example. I can get a subscription to MLB.tv and watch any game in the league, except my local team, which is blocked out by the cable Chanel. Stupid.

Svend > XJDano
09/01/2017 at 00:12

Any way to get money out of people.

SpeedSix > WilliamsSW
09/01/2017 at 00:23

Time for him to get another, more low-profile fun car!

WilliamsSW > SpeedSix
09/01/2017 at 08:06

Perhaps a Cressida or a Thunderbird?

wkiernan > ImmoralMinority
09/01/2017 at 11:21

Could be worse! If you were a criminal defense lawyer, and you went to court and represented a client who was accused of, say, sexual assault, you might be painted as pro-rape.

wkiernan > Xyl0c41n3
09/01/2017 at 11:22

In what way? It seems unusually polite, in fact, so that the subject of a negative article won’t be blind-sided when the article is published.

Xyl0c41n3 > wkiernan
09/01/2017 at 13:23

Because it’s a complete breach of journalistic ethics. It’s not “polite,” it’s incredibly unprofessional. I would refuse to work with such a journalist or have such a journalist work for me.

I explained it in further detail here:

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/1798684227