Les Kelloucq en voyage

Journalism or voyeurism?

Last week, I got an unexpected assignment and I was torn. Through a press agency based in L.A., I was asked to do a story about the Jaycee Dugard case for the French daily newspaper France Soir. Reporting about bizarre kidnapping and abuse cases is a far cry from my usual high tech, business or even travel stories. As a reporter, I must admit I was excited. This was unusual for me, a professional challenge. They wanted the story to have that local touch that would require interviewing locals and neighbors to give French readers a better feel for the story. I was going to have to convey something about sunbaked, semi-rural Antioch to readers who had never heard of the place before. I was dreading it as much as I was looking forward to it. Special thanks go to my local “fixer” and the friend who put me in touch with her. Thank you, M.

Why do French readers need to know about Jaycee Dugard and the Garridos? It does not have any bearing on their daily life. France Soir had already carried several stories since the arrest of the Garridos and so have the more high-brow Le Monde, or the conservative Figaro or the left-leaning Libération. I suspect that it is true about most media outlets around the world. As a matter of fact, the DA is particularly pissed off at foreign media for offering money to people close to the story. This is not the kind of behavior I can be proud of.

But let’s be honest, it is the kind of story that grabs our attention and appeals to our lowest instincts because most of us want to know how a sick mind works and how his victims have suffered. So everybody is trying to get their twist on the story, trying to go beyond the mere facts to witnesses as close as possible to the case. One neighbor I interviewed had already been on all kinds of TV shows, both news and things like Geraldo. What is she getting out of the drama that played out for years next door? Her 15 minutes of fame.

So here I was on the dusty street where a convicted sex offender is accused of having held and raped a young girl for so long that she is now a damaged young woman with two daughters who know nothing else of life but this bizarre captivity. Here were all my peers with their cameras, mikes and notepads because viewers and readers presumably tune in to those kinds of stories. It was strange. But then, the interest will die down and these people will have to go on with their lives, the victims most of all.

kelloucq le 23.09.09 à 05:53 dans Actualités -
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