Recently, Dustin Pedroia, a local boy and second baseman for the Boston Red Sox, was quoted saying that his hometown was “a dump.” Within two days of the story running in local papers, Dustin retracted his comment stating that it was taken out of context and that he was only joking around. This got me thinking about how careful we need to be when speaking with the media.
Those of us in the know are the spokesmen for agriculture. It is a huge responsibility that really should be taken seriously. For some of us, me included, we use humor to relay our message. Most often, humor is great way to get our point across. We are able to talk about the stresses and concerns that we have about our operations and our livelihoods. Humor is a fantastic tool to use when talking with people who have an understanding of the subject at hand. But when we are expecting a reporter to know what we meant, there is a good chance that we are going to be misquoted.
Being misquoted or appearing to be “the idiot” talking to the news reporter is what keeps many of us from sharing our stories. These stories are the stories that need to be told; the everyday chores and responsibilities that we think are mundane. So much of our country’s population longs to hear stories from the farm; they long to know how their food is produced and who is doing it. So why not share agriculture’s story? Find positive ways to share what we are doing to better our world by feeding it and clothing it.
And if you are like me, might I suggest jotting down a few important things you want to say before actually talking with the reporter…it tends to cut down on those “idiot” moments.