Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/204210
PULSE Should federal requirements for driver medical certification address sleep apnea? "They need to test for a lot more than they're doing. I don't know how many people pass it." Bill Gray Klamath Falls, Ore. Owner-operator, Mercer Transportation "They should test for it. As a driver, you've got to stay in shape." Dennis Brinson Thompson, Ga. Owner-operator, WTI Transport "I think they should test for it. There are a lot of drivers out here falling asleep. It causes a lot of wrecks." Mike Mowlin Phoenix Company driver, ENE Transport "I think they're taking it a bit too far. It's a safety thing, but they've put unrealistic measures on it." Allen Causey Baconton, Ga. Owner-operator Folly as news L ast month's Ride for the Constitution fiasco brings to mind California Sen. Hiram W. Johnson's 1917 line about battlefield reportage: "The first casualty when war comes is truth." Truth also was a casualty in the free-for-all publicity surrounding the would-be megaprotest, which peaked at about 30 trucks rolling around the District of Columbia Oct. 11-13. Consider this Fox News headline posted the day before the Ride, when it was obvious that widespread support was absent: "Watch Out D.C.: Thousands of 'Fed Up' Truckers Are on Their Way." Other news outlets were less gullible, though many failed to question organizers' wildly divergent predictions. Such shoddy journalism, as well as the social media-inspired buzz that fueled the non-event, show how the Internet has changed the nature of news. No longer subject to professional gatekeepers, news has spread into the hands of the audience. Most people find the resulting diversity of media channels and voices refreshing, though that's not to say it's been a bloodless revolution. In older days, truckers might threaten a shutdown over the CB or in a letter to the editor of Overdrive. Rare were the cases when there was a sufficiently narrow focus on, say, fuel prices or fuel taxes, coupled with enough momentum, to stage shutdowns large enough to merit notice. Now it's easier to gain traction, at least superficially. A Ride for the Constitution website, a Facebook page and broadcast commentator Glenn Beck helped launch the idea of an October protest. Multiply that by thousands of Facebook, twitter and blog posts, as well as other sharing, and it's easy to see how banter evolved into stories in trucking outlets and eventually mainstream media. Were organizers prepared for the limelight? No. There was no designated leader or spokesperson, at first no clearly defined trucking issues, too many non-trucking issues and ridiculous statements about arresting members of Congress and impeaching Supporters of the Ride used this twitter hashtag, representing Truckers to Shut Down America, to publicize the event. President Obama. One organizer, Earl Conlon, admitted his extremist remarks were exaggerated fabrications intended to spark interest. One of my newspaper newsroom mentors often said, "Any fool can say something. That doesn't mean you have to print it." The new reality is that the fool can self-publish, and there is no shortage of fools willing to magnify foolishness. That puts a bigger responsibility on the audience to separate the wheat from the chaff, likewise on those of us paid to filter and interpret information to serve a particular audience. In the case of the Ride, Overdrive covered it closely because it was clear that our readers were very interested, even though most had no intention of participating. We tried to present all sides and trusted readers to discern the truth before it became a casualty. By Max Heine Editorial director mheine@randallreilly.com November 2013 | Overdrive | 5 Voices_1113.indd 5 10/29/13 10:39 PM