Sorry for any unintended offense. I was overcome by an attack of extreme aggravation at several days of "Bob" and "Doug" from obscure news readers who wouldn't know "Bob" and "Doug" if they fell on their heads. Of course there are some great people in the media who take their jobs seriously, behave ethically, sensibly and professionally and are not common gossips. You sound as if you had the wonderful sense to marry a woman who is among them. I fully agree with you that the real stars are the people who gather the data and usually don't have a choice about assignments. I heard that Doug Vogt's injuries were less severe and that he's doing better. I'd like it if they both recovered fully and were assigned to less hazardous pursuits.
Generally speaking, very few of the "local" media types that I know professionally and personally, are pretty good folks. Most of them are tad bit more liberal than us, but thats OK.
What is a problem for them is the perception that these national idiots have created. It makes getting a good story more difficult because everyone goes running when a camera or microphone comes out. Most reporters just want to get the job done today. They appreciate help, and the generally dont have an axe to grind. It is assumed that they "care" too much about what they are covering. Most of the time they spend talking to the other reporters and photog's at the scene.
As a photographer, it is funny to listen to the conversations along the sidelines. Most of the time they are talking about their kids, the game they went to on Sunday, the food at the press conference, or the "hot tamali" in the front row. Everything but the issue at hand. And of course, we make fun of the reporters.
Of course, there are those kids right out of school who think they are going to set the world on fire. But we have those in every profession.