On Mon, 26 Aug 1996, Travis Butler wrote:

Actually, that's probably the biggest problem I had with this part; one 
of the things we had drummed into us (at least where I went to j-school) 
was the need to be as fair and impartial as possible, and get as many 
sides to the story as possible. I don't see any of them, especially 
Noriko, try to do that. (For example, Noriko doesn't question Suzuki or 
Gos further about their story, nor does she try and find witnesses to 
what happened after they were knocked out.) 

    Ooorgh! That's the one thing I've been dreading about this fanfic: 
how to balance the objectivity of journalism with the maniacal vendetta 
that everyone in the Ranmaverse has against Ranma. I tried to get a good 
balance, but it apparently isn't enough. Unfortunately, I can't think of 
anything I can do about it since Noriko's blind fury is rather central to 
the plot.

    Okay, I guess I'll have to tell you the whole story now to see if you 
can suggest a different (more journalistic) way of doing it.

SPOILER!







    My plan was: have Noriko in her rashness print something truly evil 
against Ranma, only to find out the truth after the fact. She would, of 
course, be devastated by the un-journalistic behaviour she had just 
exhibited, which would only be compounded when Mr. Watanabe calls Noriko 
onto the carpet to answer for her crimes. Of course, Mr. Watanabe also 
has to inform her that Principal Kuno *loved* the anti-Ranma story, and 
has decided to continue to fund the paper after all. This would leave 
Noriko with an ethical dilemma of whether to print the truth and almost 
certainly lose the paper or to save the paper and allow the truth to be 
supressed (don't worry; she makes the right decision, with some help, of 
course).




END SPOILER

    Unfortunately, the entire story-arc here is based on the assumption 
that Noriko loses her head and acts quite un-journalisticly, which is the 
main problem people who have actually been involved in journalism have 
with this story (as you can easily tell, I've never been involved in any 
sort of journalistic publication whatsoever). 

    This was the reason I was so hesitant to cast Noriko as an 
editor-in-chief in the first place, since a newbie reporter could use the 
excuse of ignorance for her actions, while an editor-in-chief would no 
doubt be well aware of the wrongness of her actions. Maybe I could not 
make her an editor? Good grief, that would require a lot of re-writing! 
Any ideas?

probably hasn't taken full effect yet. <g> Seriously, I think Raphael 
does need to take this into account; possibly a discussion with the 
journalism teacher. 

    Well, I had that in store, but only after the fact. If the bomb is 
defused before its explosion, then much of the story is immediately 
removed. Or, I suppose I could ditch my original idea and try to come up 
with a more plausible one.    

I think the thing that bothered me the most was the way Noriko seemed so 
pig-headedly fixated on the One True Cause of the paper's problems. :) 
For someone as intelligent as she apparently is (I liked the bit at the 
beginning: "STOP SPREADING RUMORS" <g>), she's too unwilling to look for 
all the ramifications of the paper's situation -- once she found herself 
a not-quite-scapegoat in Ranma, she seemed satisfied to let it rest there 
without checking out the rest of the situation.

    Well, I tried to establish that Noriko already had a bias against 
martial artists and violence and nonesuch, being human and having the 
same prejudices and biases humans have (except, I suppose, good 
journalists...there I go again). I guess I let the bias get 
too out of hand. I also tried to establish that Noriko is a very *young* 
editor-in-chief; while she certainly has the raw talent and ability to 
head a paper, she doesn't have all of the discernment and experience to 
sort feelings from facts (then again, if she didn't have enough 
experience, how did she ever get the position?...aaarrrghh. Got me again. 
Maybe this story won't work at all, no matter what I do with it.).

    Actually, if you look at it, there isn't much else you can blame the 
paper situation on, other than Principal Kuno's pig-headedness. If Ranma 
wasn't at Furinkan, none of the disasters and property damage would ever 
transpire. Akane would continue to beat up the boys at school without 
breaking walls, Ryoga would never show up, Shampoo would never show up, 
Miss Hinako wouldn't need to come to Furinkan, etc. It really is (in an 
indirect way) Ranma's fault, although he certainly didn't mean for any of 
that to happen.

    So, in conclusion, I see and understand every complaint you have 
against the story so far. You're right: Noriko is being very bull-headed 
and un-journalistic, and the "Informer" isn't much like what a real 
school newspaper should be. Unfortunately, the story depends on these 
aspects for it to work, leaving me without many options. Any ideas? 

     And by the way, I'm not bitter or mad. I'm *glad* you pointed out 
these things to me, otherwise I might have cranked out a real stinker of 
a story, with little regard to fact or reality. Thanks for the comments; 
I just wish I could do something about them! Look for the next 
installment...well, maybe not for a long time now.

---
Raphael See