Note: After I posted my thoughts on the New York Magazine article profiling Cara Muhlhahn, I received the following correspondence from the reporter who wrote the story, Andrew Goldman. I am sharing it here at his request.
I checked out your blog because it recently popped up in a Google alert, and I discovered your post about your disappointment in my story. I'm sorry you didn't like it. I wrote it and I'm comfortable defending every word of what appeared on the pages of the magazine. I think your comments regarding the tenor of our conversation is inaccurate though, and even though it's not something I've ever done before, I'd be happy to meet with you and share both my reasons for asking you ever question I asked, and to demonstrate to you with the recording of our conversation that the interview was indeed about Cara and homebirth midwifery and your thoughts and feelings about it. As I'm sure you realize, 99% of what a writer hears in an interview ends up on the cutting room floor; your critique of my interview is a bit like a critic coming into your studio and reviewing your scrap metal, but my reputation is important to me,
and despite what you seem to think, I went into my own birth experience both open to the idea of home birth and impressed both by Cara Muhlhahn and argument that BOBB presented for HB. So, up to you.
Yours truly,
Andrew Goldman
how do you feel about his response? i'm actually pretty surprised after reading his article. bad journalism that definitely had an agenda. ick.
ReplyDeleteSo... are you planning to meet with him?
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't bad journalism unless he misquoted anyone, reported something inaccurate, didn't attribute information where it needed to be attributed, or intentionally left out key information. After reading the article, I came out of it finding it balanced. He reported the good and bad. When sources come to him saying they don't like the way something is going (home birthing/midwife practices), that's the *source* saying that, not the reporter. It's the reporter's job to report various opinions and thoughts on a topic, otherwise *that* would be biased. In this situation, he was also threading in personal experience and concluded with his reasoning as to why he and his wife didn't go through with home birthing. As a writer, it was his prerogative to express this opinion. Just like it's a blogger's prerogative to express one's own opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'm saying all this as someone with a strong background in journalism and as a mom who has experienced a hospital birth. I *totally* get why women desire home births and I love all the awareness being raised about it. I just hope that we aren't demonizing this reporter for expressing a different opinion.
If he was rude during his interview, that's a different story and it lacks professionalism and sensitivity. I'm not excusing him for lacking professionalism, but I will say that his story came off as thorough, balanced, and well researched UNLESS he did something that I listed at the very top of this comment. Inaccuracies aren't always obvious to a reader unless a correction is run by the publication.
I think discussion on these things is GOOD and it is not my intention to offend anyone, especially and including Leigh, who runs an amazing blog that I just adore.
By his "own birth experience" I'm assuming he mean's his child's and his wife's and not actually his own.
ReplyDeleteoh interesting leigh. i'm a journalist and i read the article. i know it's hard for me to approach an issue such as birth objectively. and considering his baby is pretty new i believe that he brought his own agenda to the story. a journalist has to ask alot of questions in order to fully comprehend the interviewee - but perhaps the 'hippy' questions weren't necessary.
ReplyDeletei've written a few birth posts recently and i have been blatant with my thoughts on cesarean births. i received a comment earlier in the week which was a little confronting. i'm passionate about natural birth, i teach pre-natal yoga - and i'm a writer. if i was to write a story on how wonderful cesareans are i would refuse. it would go against everything i stand for.
remember leigh that this blog is your space. it's your opportunity to say what you want - to criticize, ponder, deliberate.
i think it's wonderful that you confronted andrew (even if it wasn't deliberate). because sometimes we journalists need that criticism. I agree with what you said about the article. but you and I are both advocates of home & natural birth and we brought that 'reading' to the story.
just like women who are advocates of cesarean birth will bring their own reading to the story. just like men who believe in the power of western medicine will bring their own reading.
keeping writing here leigh. be proud of your words just like you're proud of the way you birth babies. x