Duh, I completely missed this on a page I linked previously. Calvan was doing a piece on the non-implementation of a California law. He wasn't just looking for a Prius owner, he wanted one who "specifically" bought one because of the pending legislation, one now "very unhappy." God bless objective journalism, huh? Geesh. One can only imagine what he'll dig up in Iraq. I guess if you can't find a Scott Beauchamp, you just have to create one and give him a press badge.
I received an email last night from Bobby Calvan, a correspondent for the Boston Globe who is doing a story on California's new Hybrid/HOV lane law. I believe Bobby is looking for reaction (positive or negative) to the outlook that the law will not be implemented anytime soon due to federal legislation.
(comment as per above) I spoke with Mr. Calvan at length this morning representing the Prius Club of San Diego. What he is specifically looking for is someone who bought their Prius largely because of the HOV lane bill so as to alleviate their commute problems. IF that person is very unhappy now and lives in the Bay Area they would be ideal. LA is ok too.
We did discuss the reasons most of us buy this technological marvel which was not because we might be able to drive solo in the HOV lanes!
This is SOP for reporters. (Seriously. Hang out with enough of them and you understand clearly that the normal way to write a story is to decide first on the POV and go looking for quotes that will support it. It is not considered unethical among them; it's the norm.)
So "bias" is a fair call, but this doesn't mean he's any worse than the average reporter.
Posted by: jaed | Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 09:52 PM