Telling stories

A man fell out of an airplane
---Fortunately he was wearing a parachute
Unfortunately the parachute failed to deploy
---Fortunately he had a back-up chute
Unfortunately that parachute also failed to deploy
---Fortunately there was a haystack beneath him
Unfortunately there was a pitchfork in the haystack
---Fortunately he missed the pitchfork
Unfortunately he missed the haystack
---Fortunately there was a lake beneath him
Unfortunately there was an alligator in the lake
---Fortunately the alligator was in a cage
Unfortunately the gate was open
---Fortunately the alligator was dead
...

I recently had a conversation with an unemployed journalist.

He assured me that "Fake News" was absolutely impossible.  Claims of "Fake News" made him livid. Journalists are trained to not let that happen. Journalists are PROFESSIONALS!

Telling the story:  Deadlines and commitments, what to leave in, what to leave out?

The most agreement that I could get out of him is that a writer can change the tenor of a story by when they choose to start the narrative and when they choose to end it.

Thinking other professionals I have know, primarily engineers and supervisors, I have known some of them to be thieves, cheaters, liars and scoundrels.  One of them was paying his mistress by hacking into the computer pay-system and changing her pay-code to a much higher pay rate (fired).  Another took care of their girlfriend by double paying them for an extended holiday (probation).  One stole $300 parts from the factory and sold them on eBay (fired).  Another sourced parts based on the supplier whose "all-inclusive" at Myrtle Beach was the most luxurious.

Any large population of humans will contain many bad examples.

I thought journalists were supposed to be cynical.     I guess I was wrong.