ALL television scriptwriters are corrupt pedlars of filth, whose sole aim is to corrupt the youngsters of today. What a ridiculous statement and crass generalisation that is!

Yet similar absurd stereotypes are churned out without a thought whenever a scriptwriter sits down to introduce a reporter on to our television screens.

They are all cruel, unfeeling brutes, forcing their way into homes without a shred of conscience. The latest example of the heartless and immoral cad who cropped up in Coronation Street this week.

Lest anyone think that Craven Herald reporters have crawled out from under a stone to harass widows and behave abominably, it should be pointed out that all our reporters live in the local community and have a strict code of conduct when dealing with victims who have become caught up in a tragedy.

Our job is to gather the news and publish it. It is not helped by such misleading impressions created by the television. Perhaps the scriptwriters on the soaps might portray a reporter in a more realistic light rather than recycling the same old stereotype.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.