participation

I believe that the job of a journalist should be reporting; reporting the truth and not adding bias opinions if they could avoid it. However when writing or talking about a event that is tragic or life changing, it is hard for a person no matter who it is to hold back emotions, especially if they were there to witness it. The line of which a journalist becomes a participant is vague and it difficult to decide what side he/she is one. To be 100% journalist you can not do anything that would affect the out come of the event, but if there was a person dying right in front of you and you could save him/her, wouldn't you do it. Yet if you do help and write a story of the main event some may say you are more of a participant in the event. However a lot of times news is presented best when the reporter or journalist was there and acquired first hand information. Events such as a natural disaster or war, its hard not to get emotional when wittnessing it. Therefore there should be a different amount of tolrance for different events due to the different emotional levels that the journalist will receive.