There is no fine line between gossip and news. Lately it seems that many think there is.

Gossip would be Jimmy Bob and Peggy Sue eloped when all they did was go to the diner for the blue plate special.

News would be Jimmy Bob and Peggy Sue were robbed at gunpoint by an unidentified white male after leaving the diner.

We don’t deal in gossip. Let’s make sure that’s clearly stated, understood and if we felt like it emphasized in all capital letters, bold print and italics to make sure no one ever thinks we do.

What we try to deal in is the facts or, better stated, the facts that are given us. None of this is made up and we try hard to clear up ambiguities when they arise.

Where this becomes difficult is when we deal with cops. We like cops, think they serve a valuable service to the community and without them life would be a vigilante hellhole of make the laws up as you go along.

That being said, cops make it difficult because the system, the defense attorneys and district attorneys make it difficult for them.

On any given day we’ll receive at least one press release from the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office. On most of those given days we’ll call with follow-up questions to those press releases.

Some are perfect as written and leave no room for questions. Others require follow-up questions and sometimes because of the system you will see a bunch of declined to comments for reasons the officers feel may jeopardize a case.

These press releases from the sheriff’s office are not gossip. The news we receive when we call the Roanoke Rapids Police Department, the state Highway Patrol or other law enforcement agencies is not gossip either and we make every effort to ask as many questions as we can before a story is published.

Sometimes we receive tips and call the sheriff’s office. They give us what they know and if they don’t know will say so.

That’s why people close to the Jimmy Bob and Peggy Sue story may know more intimate details about the case and come screaming to the comment section saying we are dumb. Don’t think we don’t ask those questions and nine times out of 110 are met with a solid no comment because law enforcement feels it is sensitive to a solid case in court.

And not to sound cocky, but many times we know the story behind the story because we are trusted that we will keep off the record as being off the record.

Then there are comments made about a story that just aren’t true and that’s when news becomes gossip and we refuse to get into that. We can’t say a person died of blunt force trauma when there is nothing to substantiate that so we have to hedge and work our way around that.

Grandma and grandpa may shout it until they’re blue in the face but unless we have it documented, while it may be true, unless it’s in an affidavit, search warrant or comes from an authoritative source’s mouth it’s not going to be published.

While we’re on this, please, don’t for a minute think we are not sensitive to tragedy. We have left crime scenes in tears and self-loathing for having to make tough decisions on whether or not something is published.

Journalism is not an easy game and it’s not a perfect science when you have to beat your head against a wall of someone saying no comment, declined to elaborate or could not be reached for comment.

So when you hear that Jimmy Bob and Peggy Sue got married when they didn’t you won’t see it here because that’s gossip. When you hear Jimmy Bob and Peggy Sue went on a crime spree after their wedding you just might see it here because that’s news and there will be follow-up questions on the matter — Editor