The Star Trek Hero Horrible At Their Job
The relationship between Ben and Jake Sisko is the heart and soul of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and DS9 is not only my favorite Trek series, but my favorite TV series, period. Regardless of how much I value the character overall, as a professional writer and editor it has always been clear to me that out of all the heroes in the franchise, few are as horrible at their jobs as Jake. I don’t mean he’s a bad writer—I mean that Jake Sisko’s behavior during the Dominion War singles him out as perhaps the worst fictional journalist of all time.
The Official Correspondent
In “A Call to Arms,” the Season 5 finale of DS9 and the same episode in which the long cold war with the Dominion finally turns hot, Jake Sisko reveals himself to have all the journalistic ethics of a paparazzi motorcyclist trailing Princess Di.
The intro credits are still rolling when Ben Sisko confronts his son about an article he wrote for the Starfleet News Service. The Dominion is negotiating with Bajor for a potential non-aggression pact and Jake Sisko’s story reveals that his father is against the treaty. Ben is angry with his son that he didn’t get a warning first, and he seems disappointed that Jake is pursuing a career in journalism rather than working on his novel.
They have their dinner and things seem fairly cordial, which hides the fact that Jake just did something that wasn’t just inconsiderate—but wildly unethical.
Jake Knows Ethics As Well As Doctor Bashir Knows How To Not Hit On His Patients
When Ben confronts his son about the article, he makes it clear that he was unaware beforehand that Jake was working as an official correspondent for the Starfleet News Service.
That means two things: First, Jake Sisko could not have had a formal interview with his father (because such an interview would have made Ben aware his son was now working for the news service), and second, Jake learned that Ben was against the non-aggression pact through a casual conversation—a conversation that Ben had no idea would be reproduced in a Starfleet News Service report.
Listen, I’m an editor at GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT. And no, it isn’t the Washington Post. But I feel confident saying whether you’re writing for GFR, the Washington Post, or any place in between, “stuff my dad said when he didn’t know I was writing it down” is not a reliable source when discussing a tense political and military situation.
How Did He Even Get The Job?
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Jake Sisko isn’t the only one in the wrong here. Again, I can tell you as a GFR editor, I would not accept a writer’s story about an important political/military situation if “my dad” was their only source.
The Starfleet News Service in this distant utopia is apparently much more enlightened than I am, because they’re all like, “oh your only source is your dad which everyone will know as soon as they read the last name in your byline? Sweet! When can you start?”
He’s As Diplomatic As A Werewolf In A Chicken Coop
In a bid for relevance, Jake Sisko stays behind in DS9 when the Dominion takes it over. In the Season 6 premiere, “A Time to Stand,” he turns into a whiny child when—while badgering Weyoun for an interview—he finds out the Vorta has blocked all of the news stories Jake thought he successfully transmitted to the Federation. Weyoun’s reason? He says the stories are biased.
The very fact that Jake thought that the Dominion—who finds it necessary to genetically manufacture troops addicted to a rare drug only it can provide in order to ensure loyalty, whose stated goal is to subjugate all other intelligent life for its own safety, who has tried to kill almost everyone Jake knows, who is known for doing things like infecting entire worlds with a painful and incurable disease in punishment for non-cooperation—would somehow respect the freedom of the press, doesn’t say a lot for the guy’s judgment.
And the way Jake Sisko reacts to Weyoun doesn’t say a lot for his maturity. He acts like a little boy trying to get out of being grounded—“alright, my mind is open, now can we do the interview?”
Weyoun is evil, sure, but if he’d ordered the Jem’Hadar to gun Jake down right then… okay, yes that would be bad. But he was being really annoying to an intergalactic warlord. He’s lucky the Jem’Hadar didn’t bat him around like a cat toy.
And Weyoun Isn’t Wrong About Jake
That’s right—the Vorta is right about Jake Sisko being biased, and Jake proves that in an even more annoying way in the following episode, “Rocks and Shoals.”
Jake Sisko is interviewing Kira and Odo when he asks them whether or not they’ll be attending an anti-Dominion protest organized by the Bajoran Vedek Yassim. It turns out that neither Kira nor Odo knew about it. When Odo complains the demonstration will give Weyoun an excuse for a security crackdown, Kira says, “I’ll talk to Yassim.”
Jake responds, “So, you’re going to abolish the right to protest here on the station?”
Well that was a huge leap through the air, wasn’t it?
Sure, Kira does try to convince Yassim to not go through with it—and she does ultimately regret doing that—but there is a galaxy of difference between “trying to convince” and “abolishing.” It’s like he was just waiting for an excuse to jump down their throats.
In the end, I think we can all agree that as a journalist, Jake Sisko was a really good novelist.
