How editors pick and choose

We must make difficult calls about which causes to help

Every hour of every day, every editor at every news organization gets a call from someone seeking help.

Sometimes we are the first place they go: “Is it garbage pickup day?” “What time does the mall open?” “Are the school buses running today?”

Sometimes they are on a media blitz: “We’re having a walk-athon and we need some coverage.” “It’s such-and-such awareness month and we hope you can do a story.” “Our business raised some money for charity and we’d like to spread the news.”

And sometimes we are simply the last resort. People have reached the end of the line with the government, the system or the powers that be.

These can be heartbreaking stories or life-and-death situations — and they can be tricky: “My daughter is sick and OHIP won’t pay for her drugs; can you print an article?” “My husband needs an organ transplant; can you help us get the word out?” “I got conned by a door-to-door sales guy and I want my money back.”

Or — and we’ve had three of these in the last week — “Our family is about to be deported and we need some media attention to postpone it.”

How do we pick and choose? Who gets attention, and who gets ignored? It’s not always scientific or fair. Sometimes it’s a petition or a certain detail in the story that pulls on heartstrings. Sometimes it’s a call from a community leader, or the involvement of a politician. Sometimes it’s a good story, and sometimes it’s just luck.

It can make assignment editors feel — unhappily — like gods. Who are we to decide?

After all, Canada is blessed with honest and fair-minded judges, lawyers, politicians, immigration experts, health-care professionals, politicians, business leaders and many more, all of whom decide such matters, individually or as members of boards, committees, tribunals or otherwise.

Indeed, most of the 10,000 people Canada will deport this year have little justification for staying. Who are we to second guess such informed decisions?

Well, that’s what journalists do. But we don’t do it lightly. And we don’t make a habit out of it. We trust professionals to do their jobs. If we are presented with evidence to the contrary, or we believe a second look is warranted, we investigate and report.

Meanwhile, news agencies must be vigilant against being used. Many callers want us to help promote their cause through GoFundMe, a for-profit crowdfunding platform. Some are in genuine need, others perhaps less so, depending on your point of view, but a few are downright fraudulent.

Finally, we must think first of our subscribers. Our readers are generous. If we publish a particularly heart-wrenching story, it will likely spur some kind of charitable action. It’s a journalistic cliché that a simple story about a heartbroken six-year-old whose new bicycle is stolen will result in a replacement being delivered magically the next day. (And yes, we end up writing about that too.)

So then what do we do the next day when a different child calls with a similar story?