On the outside, I deal great with constructive criticism. I smile, I nod, I pay attention to what I’m being told. On the inside, I’m screaming. Don’t get me wrong, constructive criticism is SO important, especially for a writer, and I appreciate every single piece of advice I receive. Considering I want to be a writer, journalist, or go into public relations I NEED to learn to deal with people criticizing or disagreeing with my work. This is actually one of the reasons I started this blog.
I had my first taste of this on Friday and it was hard.
Remember the 911 fiasco I have complained about, here and here. Well, I was asked to do an editorial for the Omega, TRU’s student paper where I am one of the News Editors. All the section editors switch out writing an editorial every week, and it was my turn. I’m new to the paper and most of the other section editors are fourth years, so I had no idea what to write about and wanted to make sure I did a good job.
I decided I would write about the 911 situation because I think it’s incredibly important that people be aware of this.
I wrote something very similar to what I posted on the blog but if you want to read exactly what was published in the paper go here.
On Friday my editor emailed me this:
“You got a response from your editorial. Congrats! I just wanted to let you have a peek at it so you’re not surprised by it on Wednesday. This just proves that people are paying attention to what we’re writing.”
Here’s the response that the CRTC sent in:
Dear Editor,
Re: “911 needs a revamp” by Amber Yake, February 25, 2009
Ms. Yake suggests that Canada’s 911 system is “outdated”. This is simply not the case. Canadians enjoy a class of wireless 9-1-1 service which is referred to as Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) Phase 1. This technology provides the 9-1-1 call taker with the cell tower location information and the telephone number of the mobile phone placing the 9-1-1 call.
It should be noted that E9-1-1 Phase 1 is currently the global standard and puts Canada slightly ahead of Europe – a number of EU countries don’t even have E9-1-1 Phase 1 yet. In the areas of the US where Phase II E9-1-1 is currently available, which has gradually been rolled out over the past eight years (Phase 2 was still not available to half of the US population until after 2005), the service enhancements have been funded through government-mandated user fees.
In addition to the enhancements that wireless carriers have already made to 9-1-1 services in Canada, wireless carriers have been working on further Phase II enhancements for quite some time. Canada’s wireless industry has always been fully committed to being a partner in providing safety and security to Canadians.
There are a variety of technologies that can be employed to further improve location accuracy, but they are extremely expensive to install and operate. Not only do carriers have to modify their entire networks to collect the additional location information, but 9-1-1 dispatch centres need to be upgraded to receive the location information and integrate it into their systems. As well, the technology must be made compatible with the local telephone service provider in order to relay the location information to the dispatch centres. Depending on the technology solution that is selected, subscribers may have also have to replace their handsets.
While we are thankful that Ms. Yake has never had to call 9-1-1 for help, we are certain the six million Canadians who do call 9-1-1 for help from their cellphones every year would consider the service invaluable.
Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association
As I read this, I could feel my face turning red and tears welling up, I felt physically ill. I immediately thought that having him disagreeing with me was going to make me look like a complete idiot to everyone who reads the paper. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die and I cursed myself for writing about the 911 situation.
I was really bothered about it for most of the weekend actually, I even considered asking my editor not to publish the letter. After awhile I got a grip, gained some perspective, and here’s what I figured out:
-This might be the first time someone’s publicly disagreed with what I wrote, but if I’m serious about being a journalist it definitely won’t be the last time.
-He doesn’t say I’m “wrong” in his response, and he doesn’t deny the accusations I laid. He simply states that Canada’s 911 system is not outdated because they have this E9-1-1 Phase 1 technology and then talks about the technology. Well, that technology didn’t save the four people that died in Canada in 2008 did it?
-My editorial got a response from the CRTC, a national government body, and that is pretty cool.
How do you deal with people criticizing your work?
PS: If you haven’t already, check out the new twenty-something writers blog. Obviously, I love writing and journalism and everything associated with it and this is going to be a great new venue for us bloggers to talk about writing! Yay.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
i have developed a thicker skin over the years. as a software developer, other people have to use what i build. so when they spot code errors, or want this button to appear on the left instead of the right, or think we need to collect 5 other pieces of information here. Basically everything is wrong every time i do something. Then we go through 4 rounds of “now this is what i want you to change next” until finally somebody approves. nothing like being told your wrong all the time every day to make you feel good about your chosen profession. but at least the end result is that someone else makes a lot of money thanks to your work. i get to feel good about that.
Hey, it IS very cool to know that the CRTC has read your editorial!!! You should be flattered
And anyways, they pretty much HAVE to defend what they’ve been doing…even if it isn’t enough!
It’s really cool that you got a response! I have to tell you that that kind of thing stings less and less. Sometimes the critic is right; sometimes they’re just full of baloney. The ones who are full of it can actually become amusing after a while. At the same time, I know it’s harder to take when it’s your first ones!
I take everything very personally. Usually, I try to pretend like I’m taking it well, then I go home upset, then I slowly get over it and make the changes I need to. I wish I had thicker skin.
Definitely cool that you got a response!
I used to get upset when someone disagreed with me, but now I either work harder to prove them wrong, or accept that they have a valid point and let myself grow from the experience.
Hey, at least this is an educated response and not like “hur hur you suck”. And better yet, it sounds like someone IS doing something about the 911 situation, which is what you wanted in the first place. What I’ve learned from reading my student newspaper is that often our student journalists look at all these problems and forget to check and see if there’s a solution being worked on. We had a similar editorial to yours awhile back, actually- despite being in the US with slightly better 911 service, cell phones in remote regions still weren’t being traced very accurately and it was causing problems. What bothered me was that the journalist wrote about the problem, but didn’t mention that there was a whole team of people working toward a solution- it made them look bad, like they weren’t making progress (they were). So that was a bit rambling, but maybe you can take away something from this- don’t just look for problems, look to see if anything is being done about them. I don’t think the response you got was highly critical, really, I think it was just trying to expose the other side of the issue.
That’s not criticism though, I do like your article
And it’s so awesome that you got a response from a governmental agency.
~Amanda
Amber, I wouldn’t go so far as having to be right. Not everyone is going to be ‘right’ all the time. I am not disagreeing with you at all. think that we need to ‘beef’ up our system as well. Especially when you call 911 and there is a 5$ charge on your phone, THEN you get a 500$ medical bill in the mail. WHY aren’t we up to speed, or if not better.
How I deal with critisism is take it and use it. Most of the time people are not critisizing you to make you feel bad, they want you to know WHERE You need to impove on. Don’t take it personal, they never said anything about Amber, the girl we all know and love. Just your opinions, and you know as well as I do, that opinions are like a**holes… everyones got one.
You are doing a fabulous job!!! Don’t let the ’self talk’ in your head bring you down.
Tam.
don’t worry, his response definitely did not make you sound like an idiot! you wrote an interesting article, and i bet a lot of people don’t know about that E-911 technology, so you just helped educate many readers! i think you are doing a great job! journalism is tough!
I get criticism a lot at my office too, mostly for my marketing/advertising ideas. I allow myself at least 30 minutes to cool off before I say or do anything, I never respond in an email if I can help and I make a pro/con list or “get real,” with myself and try to see if they have a valid point. It’s not easy, that’s for sure.
I also work out to get rid of the stress of my job!
I’m sure you’ll grow to take criticism well, even though you won’t want to, and you’ll find a coping mechanism that works for you.
I say Bravo for writing a piece that is likely to spark controversy; most people wouldn’t do that!
I do like the why your editor told you about it. That it was a good thing that your article even got a responce. Being that you got a responce from a National Organization would make me feel pretty important. Obviously they are writing to protect themselves. But you should feel encouraged that what YOU wrote made them feel the need to respond. Instead of brushing it off saying somethine like, “this won’t matter, no one will ever read this.” Clearly, they think you do matter.
Hon, I think it is very flattering that someone from CRTC took the time to read your article and write such a response. You should be happy that your article invoked a response from someone that knew/could do something about it. Good Job!!!
I totally understand the feeling of a reader criticizing or disagreeing with your story. It can be uncomfortable and embarrassing, particularly if you think the person has a point. It is easier to ignore when it is coming from someone who is obviously uneducated on the subject or is disagreeing just to disagree. but I think your three points of perspective at the end of your blog are exactly what you should focus on. It is ok to get upset by a letter like that, but don’t let it discourage you. If anything, let it make you better journalist. And letters like that mean people are reading what you put out and more than that, they are caring about it! As a reporter, I often get emails from people saying that they appreciated my story, which makes me feel good, but doesn’t really make me a better writer. It is those emails that question me that make me strive to do a better job next time. I might not have been wrong, but I might not have been as clear as I could be, as balanced, gotten all the info, etc. No article is perfect but each article presents a new opportunity to one-up ourselves, you could say. Just this week I received an email from someone saying I had written a “very biased article.” Now, after talking with my editor and re-reading the story, I stand by my article, but I see how it could have been slightly improved as to remove any possible trace of bias… I have even gotten a major fact wrong and had to run a front page correction. You live and you learn. But, I must say, with some people you can never win. On controversial issues, like the 911 system, there will always be people who think you didn’t get the whole story. Anyway, I will wrap up this incredibly long comment by saying, don’t be too hard on yourself. You wrote an informative editorial on something you feel passionate about and someone actually read it and cared enough to respond. That is a success in my book.
sorry for the dual posting… I accidentally deleted my first comment!
I think that’s why journalism never appealed to me. That, and I don’t like delving into other people’s private lives. I guess sometimes it needs to have a light shine on it, though. But yeah…I think your article did a good job of portraying what you wanted it to say, and the reply sort of sounds like bullshit to me. I mean, just because it has a fancy schmancy name on it doesn’t mean that it’s adequate. It just means their marketing goons are good at their job, which is to make people feel safe and not have doubts. You stirred people’s doubts, and that’s what the CRTC) didn’t like.
Something I forgot to mention the other day.
He writes: This technology provides the 9-1-1 call taker with the cell tower location information and the telephone number of the mobile phone placing the 9-1-1 call.
Providing the cell tower location is not entirely accurate, as I am over 50 miles from my nearest cell tower. So, if I place a 911 call and I can’t give my location does that mean they have a 50 mile radius to look in to find me? That’s not very accurate for a life or death situation.
Sales people don’t like journalists for a reason, because they see through the bullshit (like mentioning that it’s accurate to the nearest cell tower) but don’t mention the fact that the nearest cell tower could be a hundred miles away. You should get him to clarify that a bit.
For your own satisfaction plus maybe another article in the paper.