PressEthic

The world is a much more complicated place than we tend to give it credit for. Yesterday, news broke that Ashley Smith, the Atlanta woman hailed as a hero of faith for discussing God with the escaped prisoner who held her hostage in her apartment, also happened to give him some crystal meth that she conveniently had in her purse.

This story will make the rounds of the Daily Show and late night comedy shows, but what does it mean for reporters? After all, the story was a national event because it had all of the main plot points of a Lifetime movie: woman held hostage after killing spree, woman talks to captor about faith, woman released, captor now in a better spiritual place.

Reporters need to remember the adage "too good to be true." For outlets that rely on sensationalism (by which one can include most of journalism), this story was like finding out that John Lennon and George Harrison came back to life and the Beatles were going to play for free at Madison Square Garden that night - unbelievable in the sense of "I don't believe you" and not the sense of "Wow, that's amazing!"

Should we start asking every hostage if we can check her purse for drugs? No, probably not. But we should remember that life doesn't fit into nice little pegs, and that even in the most boilerplate pulp novels, the hostage usually has something to hide.