Just a pawn in the hate game?

If a person decides to take a gun and shoot someone, you wouldn't blame the gun for killing the person right? 

A senior of mine called me and told me about a story that I needed to go and cover.  The incident, which I cannot disclose at the moment was not really what I would call hard hitting but it was a story none the less.  We arrived at the scene and I interviewed all the relevant people.  On our way back he comes out with it..

 He (my senior) tells me that he wants the story to be a big scandal.  He continued to say that he wants to make sure that they (perpetrators) feel his wrath because they had a fall out in the past. He went on and on about how nervous the person I was interviewing was.  It was at that point where I realised that hey, wait a minute... 

I'm not properly in the profession yet and already I am  being used as a decoy to settle  vendettas.  "Tit for tat" he said.  He was honest enough to tell me straight to my face.

The story I was covering wasn't even newsworthy according to me. But then again I cannot feel entirely bad because I was just doing my job right?  Well not tarnishing someones reputation but simply covering a story.   Journalists in South Africa do not have a good image. A colleague sitting next to me just commented saying that the media destroyed Zola 7's reputation.  Never mind the fact that he openly admitted to physically abusing his girlfriend and later denying it.  But he still insists that the media is to blame. Then there is the love-hate relationship between the media and government were journalists have been labelled 'the imperial capitalist owned media' amongst many other names given by politicians.  This was only one case but I wondered, how many phone calls am I going to receive about stories only to find out that I am just a pawn in a vicious game.

This weakens the analogy given above about blaming the gun for shooting someone.  Although it is your job to report, it is still imperative to ensure that you investigate all sides of the story.  Every story should be weighed against the news values that determine what makes a good story.  And of course you should have the backbone to tell your boss that uhm, that story you want me to do is really not newsworthy ... *note to self*