Making An Apology, 15 Years Late
The hidden cost of a journalism assignment.
This story weighed on me for 15 years: a journalism assignment that changed how I see journalism and partly explains why I pulled away from it.
It’s about a front-page scoop I wish I could erase from my record.
Hi, I’m John-Paul Flintoff and this is my Write Like a Human newsletter.
You know already what makes a journalist tick: the thrill of the chase, the satisfaction of the scoop, the pride in seeing your name in print.
Yeah, sure. Those things can be important.
But sometimes that story comes at a cost.
Before I tell you, let me ask: Have YOU ever done something in your work that you regretted for years afterwards?
Something you wish you could go back and undo?
Now, allow me to tell you my own story. About the thing I wish I hadn’t done and about the call I made fifteen years later - in an attempt to apologise.
The story begins with a walk on Hampstead Heath, a conversation with a friend, and an uneasy feeling.
I told the story by talking directly to video.
This video probably deserves your attention as much as anything else I ever spoke or wrote about.
Warning: I may ramble a little, because I’m telling the story off the top of my head, without a script, and probably also because I didn’t really enjoy telling it.
Please stay with me. The details matter.
By the end, you’ll see why this story still matters to me, and maybe it will matter to you too.
I hope so.
Trigger warning: There’s also quite a lot of dark stuff.
Till next time.
JPF