Bowdoin College, where I spent four years cobbling together a degree in economics, used to have a student photo magazine. It was called No Cats, No steeples. The idea being that if you were a photographer in Maine and the only things you could find to take pictures of were cats and churches, then you were pretty sorry indeed.
Twenty-plus years later, that idea still resonates. I like cats and dogs, but I don’t put them at the head of the line, my general belief being that if we’re paying too much attention to cats and dogs, there are probably bigger stories we’re missing. And while I agree that you can tell a lot about a society by how it treats its pets, you can tell more about a society by how it treats its people. Still, like many papers, we run a lot of animal stories in the Journal, and usually I am the brake in discussions about play and space, pushing for restraint.
Not yesterday. At our budget meeting, an editor said a reporter was working on a story about four kittens that had survived a cross-country trip in a motorbike crate. That is a great pet story, and one worthy of the front page.
It’s important to cover pets. They’re a huge part of people’s lives, and there are serious issues involved, as we’ve noted in stories about the animal shelter. But it’s also important to put them in perspective. So, pets and the front page can mix. But you want to set the bar high. Four kittens in a crate from California makes the cut.
One other note on this story. It was written by Jae Haley, one of our four summer interns. She’s a student at WFU. Our other three interns (Ayesha Rascoe, Howard; Lauren Carroll, UGA; and Anne Tate, UNC-CH) are all doing an incredible job for us. One of the most rewarding things about journalism is teaching the next generation, and it helps when the students are such willing learners.
Friday, July 07
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Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
First a confession: I like cats better than dogs. And a reminder that nothing is spoken without prejudice. And I agree with your position that “how a society treats its people is more important than how it treats it pets.” This, however, was a story that was worthy of its first page position, perhaps because it contained both the precious kittens angle as well as neighbor working with neighbor. The authorities were of little help, suggesting the kittens be euthanized rather than nursed to health. This is a story of how people work together to solve what they see as problems (as opposed to what the authorities tell them are problems) as much as it is about how kittens survived a week without food. Perhaps the story “made the cut” because it was multi-layered. It showed people at their cooperative, surviving best.
AS an ex animal rescue volunteer, I naturally enjoyed this story, and felt good that the Kittens did survive, due to individuals that cared enough to nurse them into good health. However I don’t agree with the statement about how we treat people in society is more important than how we treat our pets. I found after many years of dog, and cat rescue work, you can tell quite alot about individuals by their treatment of pets. I have three dogs, and most people tell me that if they die before I do, they would like to return as one of my dogs. Dogs and cats want ever be treated as well in society as they should be by humans, because too many people think of them as a throw away item .We do not throw our kids aside if they need a little extra help in life, and animals deserve the same! Not everyone is a pet person, I know that, but if people have no compassion for a helpless dog, or cat, then I stop and wonder what kind of parent they would be if they had a small child, since an adult dog is a prepetual two year old all of it’s adult life! This was a good human interest story that showed these individuals had their hearts in the right spot, though!
Speaking of pets......I would like to tell you about your classified advertising staff and how they helped me find my dog. Yesterday my 15 year old Lab (Hazel) got out and decided to take an extended stroll on her own. She did not have her collar on and ended up about 3/4 mile from our house. A very nice lady picked her up and took her to the vet (Mt. Tabor on Robinhood).
Meanwhile, I placed an ad online describing old Hazel. The lady who picked her up also placed a “Found” ad. Someone in the classifieds made the connection and called. We picked her up immediately and she seemed happy to see us!
While I never got the name of the person at the Journal, I want to point out that she went out of her way to help us out and I am so very thankful. Our days with Hazel are numbered and I was extremely worried that she might not make it back. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone at the Journal for helping us out. JLS
Nice story. Our classified reps are good folks. I’ve forwarded your comment to one of our managers back there, and she figured out who the sales rep was.
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