David Shepardson: The Life of a Reporter

Through following David Shepardson, a reporter for the Detroit News throughout the past couple of weeks, I've come to realize that a journalist can cover many different types of news stories. Shepardson has covered stories ranging from topics such as sports to topics such as drug busts.

One article that I found to be interesting that was written by Shepardson was one about a recent drug bust. I found his article to be very interesting because he had a way of grabbing my attention by throwing in an interesting fact in the lead, such as where the man decided to hide his drugs. In this situation, the chosen spot was a stuffed duck which is interesting, of course.

I found this to be a common pattern in all of his writing. He is able to write about anything but make a lead that is very interesting. For example, the following lead made me want to read further into the article; "The prosecution of NBA star Chris Webber ended not with a bang, but with the writing of a $100,000 check." To an average person, $100,000 is quite a lot of money. However, naturally as humans we are curious. Shepardson realizes this and he makes you want to dive headfirst into the story and swim deeper than just the headline.

Moreover, with the good comes the bad. This also applies to Shepardson's writing. After a while, I grew tired of hearing the constant negative news. I was wanting to find something more upbeat, more entertaining, but he does not cover these topics. Though he has a very natural writing style, it is always nice to hear some soft news.

Shepardson always has at least one of the ten elements of news incorporated within his articles. In one article he discussed a group of three teenagers transitioning from worrying about what college they were going to attend to now thinking about what they are going to do with themselves in their future days in a county jail. He was quick to mention that these teens were in Ann Arbor, a city close to many of his readers. He also mentioned the crimes they are accused of. All journalists know that it is best to strike a chord with your readers and he certainly did this with this story. He struck a chord with not only the people of that school, but with parents who have teenagers that age and many people living in the Ann Arbor area.

Through researching even more about Shepardson, I realized he has much controversy surrounding him. With a simple Google search of his name, I was able to find a site linking Shepardson to "phony reports" that were very much fabricated. The authors of this website proceed with offering proof of their claims that seem unreasonable to the average reader. Wouldn't a journalist value his or her credibility more than anything? To me it was very interesting that somebody who seemed so credible and intelligent may have done something so wrong as to make up false news stories and have them published. Because of this, I lose a lot of respect for any journalist, but particularly Shepardson, because up until today I was under the impression that this journalist was very trustworthy, and most importantly, credible. But unfortunately, I now have my doubts.

These accusations have opened up my eyes to see what somebody with the power of writing is capable of making their audience believe. Fortunately, all ten of the news articles I have read by Shepardson seem to be unbiased and I really appreciate that in a writer. I would rather hear all sides of the story rather than one side and Shepardson does an excellent job at this.

In conclusion, Shepardson definitely knows how to utilize his gift of writing. He covers a variety of news stories, most being serious. Unfortunately, I now have my doubts about his credibility. However, I am able to recognize that this man has the ability to cover every aspect possible in a story and he does it in a way that is interesting. Because of this, I enjoy reading any one of Shepardson's many articles.