In a story this week, there is mentioned a mistake that a Caledon paper made. It mentioned that the disease from which a young boy was suffering was fatal. In this event, this information had not yet been shared with the child in question. So, the fact was correct, but the writer's mistake was a lack of sensitivity and insufficient research into the details of the lives of the people about whom the piece was written.
Journalists are notoriously heavy-handed.
It seems that, too often the story is more important than the people involved. More frequently than should be, the feelings and needs of the persons about whom we write are not adequately considered. It is important for newspapers to understand that a news story is like a morning mist - it evaporates and disappears in the glare of other and bigger stories, which will also be replaced as time and the world move on. So too should we as individuals guard our tongues against hurtful and aggressive speech. This is a time when the actual new phrases that come out in the language are created to offend.