Recent interest in the Obama family's vacation has given me pause as to what counts as news and what crosses the line to exploitation.
My heart and empathy goes out to anyone who is willing to offer a thoughtful narrative that may run counter to the mainstream media. However, it's not always enough to have the facts on your side. Decency must accompany you as well.
Last week, I was perusing through some partisan blogs and I was directed to a story whose headline boasted: "EXCLUSIVE: SASHA, MALIA OBAMA VACATION AT BAHAMAS' 'ATLANTIS' RESORT."
What reporter Matthew Boyle failed to mention was that the only reason it was "exclusive" is because other news organizations are bound by a common honor to avoid trailing the first family — the old "family is off limits" mantra.
Boyle justified the reporting by tying in the vacation expenditures to the recent budget debates.
He criticizes the cancellation of some White House tours as a result of budget cuts, and implies there is an air of hypocrisy spending over $100,000 on a vacation for the first family amidst these cuts. He fails to realize that "lavish" vacations for the first family have been going on for ages.
When critics began to point this out to him, he then began digging up occasions when other writers in the past similarly reported on the vacations of the Bush twins.
When critics also pointed out that his reporting might put the first daughters in danger, Boyle passed the buck on to the tweets of people who reported their whereabouts on Twitter before he wrote his article.
I was raised on the philosophy that you don't justify your own bad behavior by seeking out bad behavior in other people.
None of the aforementioned tweets dragged the vacationing Obama daughters into the fiscal debate. You can tell that those who typed the tweets may not agree with the article, as the Twitter accounts posting most of the tweets have either been deleted or have had their privacy settings locked up.
It's one thing to tell the world the location of some of its most famous citizens. It's quite something else to drag their location into a heated debate where emotions run high.
It didn't help that other articles later showed up pointing out other vacation spots. Some organizations to their credit openly refused to carry word of the first family's locations as part of the debate.
It's OK to be concerned about the nation's budget. But there are far larger wastes of money out there in the budget that need trimming. When you turn your reporting on a drop in the bucket, such as the first family's $100,000 vacation amidst a budget of billions, your crusade to create an alternate narrative against the mainstream media only culminates in you losing your humanity.
Reach the columnist at crgavin@asu.edu or follow him at @coltongavin
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