Butts and Cutts and All That News

"At the end of the day she will exercise to exhaustion, pour it all out to trusted friends and peers and she will cry her eyes out. It's that kind of story. But the next day she will look some attorney or cop or other professional distracter square in the eye and her five-two visage will become a six-four intimidator. I've seen it happen."

Here's a little secret. I'm going to reveal it under duress, and many of my colleagues will cringe when I let the rather scummy cat out of the bag. Here it goes: news is a filthy business and the filthier the better. Gone are the days of the gentleman journalists - if there ever were such times.

And those tight, often symbiotic relationships with the reporter and those who make the story have morphed into extreme chess matches with white hot pieces and professional life or death as the prize or concession.

The men and women who do this for a living - and I am not one of them - love it when the blood flows and the mud gets in the politicos eyes. Most of them, anyway: the good ones.

We have some real news doozies forming around us. You will certainly keep up on them with the help of Ed Esposito and his stellar news department. That's both here at AkronNewsNow.com and on the air at 1590 WAKR, if you will allow the plug. Ed's blog, Letters To the Editor needs no help from me, it is one of the most popular political and news blogs in the state already!

What I like to offer here is not the news side of what they do, but the human and cultural angle. I am not a big news junkie. Yes, I program a station with News in its fist name, along with Sports and Oldies, but I leave the news to Ed. To do anything else would be foolish.

We have a mostly young staff of journalists bringing you the biggest story. The Bobby Cutts trail, for instance, has a lead reporter named Tina Kaufmann. She is bright, determined and not the biggest woman among the slew of local and national reporters. She will do a great job mainly because she knows she is wading in with crocs, gators and snakes. They have already tried to bait her, flatter her, trap her and insult her. Not going to work. Tina is armed not only with great guidance from seasoned professionals, but with a spirit that is unflappable.

At the end of the day she will exercise to exhaustion, pour it all out to trusted friends and peers and she will cry her eyes out. It's that kind of story. But the next day she will look some attorney or cop or other professional distracter square in the eye and her five-two visage will become a six-four intimidator. I've seen it happen.

You will get the real story about a double homicide in Stark County. While the Gretas and Nancys and whoever else in the national media is sucking up the spotlight, it is Tina and the other young reporters sitting through the horror everyday who will truly understand, and tell you first.