Within chapter two of our course textbook on the idea of the “Basic News Story,” I found much of what was laid out interesting regarding the writing process and how it differs from what I do in more academic, long-form writing. For instance, I found the idea on page 33 interesting, where visual effects and infographics with more multimedia options are now a part of the writing process. For example, you wouldn’t want to duplicate information that could be viewed visually. To me, that was a different way of thinking about the significance of words on the page in a spatial sense and how you might have to extend your perspective to think of what would be most visually compelling to the reader in not just sentence structure but with the possibility of charts, boxes, photos, etc. Another area within the chapter that I was drawn to was some similarities to much of my writing. I think of how those skills of arranging information to reach whatever the intended goal apply to many different writing genres. As the chapter mentions, in a basic news story, it is essential to identify the main idea or “the focus” and develop a lead, body, and ending. It made me think of how engrained that idea is to me just under different names such as thesis, body, and conclusion. I also found it very helpful at the end of the chapter, where the authors explain how certain grammar rules might change, like quotations or in-text citations.
Month: January 2024
Within our course textbook, Writing & Reporting the News (WaRN), the first chapter looked at how to conceptualize this idea of news today and consider the various forms, terminology, and progression it has taken. One thing that I was very interested in from our last reading by Carey and found myself drawn to within this chapter was the concept of immediacy in the news. As the chapter outlines on numerous occasions, simply the form of our news changing from solely print to print and digital to now mostly digital and to go one step further, via social media, brought up the idea of how our priorities surrounding news/journalism may have shifted. As the chapter alleges, should we have immediacy at the expense of “accuracy, thoroughness, and fairness…”(8)? Thinking back to even just the last 20 years, I believe there is a conversation to be had regarding values such as this — is that immediacy and incredible access that has ensued worth perhaps less in-depth, authoritative pieces? Another section within Chapter 1 I found compelling was the conversation around hard vs. soft news as it relates to some of what we discussed in class – there is the news that saves thousands from an earthquake, and there is the news from the Cannes Film Festival. But what I found interesting and in the spirit of intersectionality was how they can complement each other and perhaps even in the same story. It brings to mind the recent Oscars, undoubtedly soft news, with Lily Gladstone being the first Native American to be nominated for a lead role, which also brings in the potential to highlight some hard news on the state of Indigenous peoples of this country and their struggles. I like to think that journalism can still provide a space to deliver the most accurate sense of reporting but can expand into making those artistic writing maneuvers to shed light on deeper issues.
Journalism as a practice, profession, and craft is the duty to gather information or evidence about events, issues, people, etc., and verify and record those findings in writing or audio to inform the public. I like to think of journalism as a running document of human history; it’s never truly ended but instead takes its place in the log of our culture, waiting to be called upon as reference, evidence, or context that allows our now to have shape and meaning. I am the first to acknowledge how many systemic inequalities, power structures, etc., have always existed within journalism or the news. Still, it is the act of having journalism that allows us to know about those in a democratic society. Much like our values of democracy, we anticipate abuse of power, greed, and dishonesty and, therefore, build an elaborate system of checks and balances and laws in hopes of having methods to combat the inevitable. Journalism cannot be separated from these circumstances, but our First Amendment allows us to counteract dishonest or wrongful accounts freely. The political and cultural moment we are in right now will be recorded through journalism; it is vital that our historical record is something future generations can look to with high regard.
Journal #2 – On “A Short History of Journalism for Journalists: A Proposal and Essay” by Carey
Two interesting elements I selected from Carey’s article “A Short History of Journalism for Journalists: A Proposal and Essay” begin with the idea he proposed that while historians and scholars argue over the origins of news/reporting/journalism, the answer is really found in identifying an immense web of innate human necessities to monitor, signal and share critical information but also the developments industrialized, commercialized societies of the 18th/19th century. In the scope of his initial claim that journalists don’t know the history and craft of their profession, I find this development of cultures, politics, and power shifts alongside news and reporting that comes to be known as journalism to be a powerful image. To open up the discussion in a framework such as this, it feels necessary to progress past this current tradition of journalists idealizing or romanticizing the generations before in a short-sited, politically induced manner and instead realize the scope of history that spans so much further. Another aspect of this article that I connected with on a personal level regarding my major in English was the discussion of the novel and journalism. The idea that fiction was given such authoritative detail but dealt with only imagined realities was confusing to novel readers. Thinking of the continuity of journalism alongside the novel is an angle I never thought of before, and opening up these preconditions of journalism that build upon each other not in separate, rigid binaries but in a mashed-up mix that is true to life. I feel that is an excellent concept to keep in mind when we think about the roles of journalists.
