It's never just words.....

So last friday another 500 jobs in the retail sector were either gone or under threat. A familiar story and nothing more than another example of our economy that has been run into the ground and good material for the working journalist.

Just one problem this time because one of those 500 unlucky people was me.

I found myself in the uncomfortable position last Friday of being the story as Hughes and Hughes Booksellers went into receivership at 5pm. No warning was given to any of the employees before a representative of the accountancy firm Deloitte walked in and ordered that all trading must cease and the shop closed.

I found out via a phone call from my boss who in a shellshocked voice simply said: "it's over." Not all of us were so lucky as they found out their jobs were gone through the dispassionate voices of Today FM and RTE News.

I bolted into town to attend a staff meeting where we were told that the game was up and that we should expect to be on the dole queue by Monday. The softly spoken accountant was dispassionate too , just doing his job and as I sat there only half hearing him  i became suddenly aware of the void that exists between the journalist and the events that he or she records.

500 people loose their jobs, 6 people die in a car accident, 3 homes are repossessed, all these things are real and having huge impact on real people but often if you are writing a story this impact is lost because its just words on the page, its just numbers as no reporter is in the car as it leaves the road or the courtroom where someone looses their home or when a person you have never met before turns up and says your job is history.

While working on the production of the Moyross Voice, the pull of a good story was irresistible and I remember the excitement I felt when I heard in an interview that regeneration was in trouble. Here was a good story and not only would it make the paper, it would make the front page.In that excitement I became disconnected from the reality that if regeneration was indeed in trouble then a lot of people would be let down and in a very real sense betrayed by the government that long ago should have shared the wealth.At the time I'm sorry to say all I felt was happy, I had my story and it was a good one.

I felt sick yesterday as I read the reports, each one reminding me that I can't pay my bills next week and I think despite my financial woes I have gained something and thats empathy. Reporting the news is a vital function of the journalist but I suspect that to the best kind of journalist you should never loose your empathy for the people whose lives are being affected.

Empathy does not mean you write your story with a softer tone, but maybe the next time you  interview your local TD, you will remember those people and ask the hard questions that they might not get an opportunity to ask or follow up your straight news story with a human interest piece that highlights the impact of the events you have reported.

Thats my  two cents, I'm off to wipe the NAMA shaped smile off my bank managers face when I show him my P45. Should be fun.

LS