Walking the Fine Line Between Moving On, and Never Forgetting
In journalism workshops they always talk about "what is news?"
Of course, the classic case is dog versus man. When a dog bites a man, it's not news. When a man bites a dog, it's news.
That applies to the feature reporting as well as hard news reporting.
When two elephants are best friends, it's not news. When a dog and an elephant are best friends, it's news.
But there's another kind of news that feature reporters sometimes turn to - and it is that kind of story that I will be telling in tonight's "Assignment America."
We call them "life truths."
A "life truth" news story is about an experience or feeling that most of us can relate to. It can be something as simple as "hot dogs taste better at baseball games." Or it can be a more serious topic like the one I'm putting together right now for the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric."
Tonight's "life truth" is this -- when you lose a spouse, you have to walk a fine line between moving on and never forgetting. The story is told through the eyes of a 58-year-old widow from Dallas named Jo Anne Hughes. Jo Anne lost her husband 6 years ago to prostate cancer and she has found a very interesting way of walking that line. It involves 8 men and a deck of cards.
Tune in tonight if you want the rest of the story.
