A take on the Greg Packer situation. (Packer’s the guy who has committed his life to being quoted as the “man on the street” in newspaper stories.)

“I think the reason Packer is quoted so often is that journalists hate man-on-the-street interviews. It’s demeaning to have to scan a crowd of total strangers, seaching for someone who looks like he or she might have something quotable to say, and won’t tell you to get lost. What a relief to spot a Packer at the head of the line, ready and eager to give you a sound bite.”

So very true — MOTS stories are painful, for me at least. (That’s probably why my education stories always have too many men in suits and “experts” and too few teachers, parents, and students.)

Unfortunately, the author falls into one of the most annoying columnist tics — making a strong, coherent argument, realizing it might be taken as too extreme by your editors, and then completely reversing course with a few “I didn’t really mean it” paragraphs at the end.

23 June 2003

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