I have not seen the new Ghost Busters movie. I will not see the new Ghost Busters movie. Further I have not attempted to catch a Pokemon and nor will I. Still that doesn't mean I'm above cashing in on the latest popular culture trends. I love exploiting the latest thing. I also like a little bit of theatrics. So today I enlisted the help of Drama Teen and his drama school buddies Lizzie, Sarah, Kerry and a friend for a stunt that was part fun and part serious teaching moment. The actors invaded an Online Journalism lecture being given by Spencer Howson who was in on the gag. The aim? To make sure the students had been listening when I bleated on about the need to have their phones at the ready to cover anything, anytime. But there was a second message I wanted to get across. That the need to cover breaking news in the moment was only part of the story. Journalists are people too and as such should be also thinking about their role as a human. Rule one is Do No Further Harm but rule two is can I do good by interceding. There's a further question: is the good of getting the story out "the public's right to know" greater than the good that can come of stepping in or helping out?In the moment that's never going to be easy to answer especially if there's some serious sh*t going on around you. This is why I like to at least raise the question when there's pretty much nothing at stake (unless someone actually felt threatened by a white sheet with holes). And finally it gave me laugh and I still believe learning while having fun is the best of both worlds.
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