Last week I was stationed on Sullivan’s Island and while passing the town, I saw a sign that said, STAY AWAY MEDIA SCUM.

Today I was covering a story on a teacher who confessed to sending dirty messages to a 12 year old student. When I visited the school, I reached out to shake someone’s hand and they refused to do it. (On top of that, another woman wouldn’t give me her name even in casual conversation.) It was quite obvious I wasn’t welcome.

REAL NICE.

I don’t think either action was called for towards me or anyone else in the media.

Here’s the thing about us media folk. We are just doing our job. My station tells me to go and get a reaction, I go and do it. I don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Did I necessarily want to be at the school today or the governor’s house last week? Heck no. I know when people want to be left alone and these were times were seeing me wasn’t a sight for sore eyes. But the fact is, I have a job to do. Seriously, you don’t pay your bills. The repo man comes and gets you. Same situation. Don’t blame him. Don’t blame me. We’re doing our jobs.

So the next time you see me or someone else in the media: Be nice. We’re not trying to make anyone look bad. (Well, most of us aren’t.) Someone else already did that. We’re just trying to clean up the mess and tell a story.