What's in it for me, me, me?

We've all heard of NGOs or Non-Government Organisations. I'm fairly certain most of us have heard of NPOs or Non-Profit Organisations as well... But as I look around, I find increasingly that the much-desired concept of NCOs or Non-Credit Organisations is yet to sink into the public conscious.

This latest rant stems from a run-in I had very recently with someone who shall hereafter be referred to as Gollum, stemming from said person's tiny stature and immense propensity to irritate. It was all going fine until I get an angry call from Gollum, who was pissed that an article I'd done hadn't showered Gollum with credit for work done by a whole heap of groups. Additionally, there were allegations of manipulating Gollum's squawking and worse yet, of being "untasteful". And there's more — Gollum's wrath also stemmed from the fact that no other paper had done the story that way.

Of course...

It must have been a lapse of my incredibly tiny memory to forget that inviolable rule of journalism — All stories must be exactly the same as everyone else's. As for manipulation, if I recall correctly (damn you Gollum, AGAIN testing my memory), putting someone's quotes in the same context that they gave them to you, wasn't exactly manipulation.

Manipulation to me, would be more like say, a person who informed the organiser of an event that he would be late by around 100 minutes and yet, the organiser didn't consider it necessary to inform people in attendance that said person would be late. Ring a bell*, Gollum?

Finally and most pertinently, I know what public relations is. If I wanted to be a publicist and write press releases for people like you, Gollum, I would have entered that particular field and not journalism. Right? Journalism, at least by definition, is about telling it like it is and not about telling it like people want you to tell it. So it occurs to me that you crying because you didn't get all the kudos you feel is owed to you by the world, is none of my fucking concern!

I seriously doubt you'll read this, because knowing you, Gollum, you can't think beyond Google-searching your own name. If however, you stumble across this particular post, then heed me words carefully. Do not ever call my phone again and threaten me or my organisation again. Ever again.

UPDATE: * I figured it may not ring a bell, so allow me to elaborate. When there was a packed audience with people losing their tempers and targetting their anger at the person who came late, did you not think it your responsibility to tell them that he had already called to say he would be late? Instead, you just let the people get angrier, thereby manipulating their mood.