journalistic writing an introduction. quick activity: observation ◦ how many things can you...
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JOURNALISTICWRITING
An Introduction
Quick Activity: Observation
◦How many things can you remember from today’s flag-raising? Write down in your journals all details of things you saw/heard/remember. You only have three minutes to do this.
Observation Activity
◦Look through your observations. Which ones are facts? Which ones are opinions or impressions? How can you distinguish between the two?
◦Look at the observations of a person sitting next to you. Did you note down the same things? Did you use the same words to describe them?
◦Is a journalist’s job to note facts or impressions? How might the words you use as a journalist affect your writing?
◦Do you think you would have done a better job at this activity if I warned you in advance to pay attention during flag-raising? Why?
Things to think about…
◦What is ‘journalism’? What is ‘news’?
◦How might journalistic writing – i.e. writing a news article – be similar and/or different from expository and narrative writing?
◦What are some of the skills that you think a journalist should possess?
From the American Press Institute:
◦Asking who is a journalist is the wrong question, because journalism can be produced by anyone.
◦At the same time, merely engaging in journalistic-like activity – snapping a cell-phone picture at the scene of a fire or creating a blog site for news and comment – does not by itself produce a journalistic product
Why?
◦Gil Thelen, the former publisher and president of The Tampa Tribune, believes the journalist has a very specific role in society. He calls it the “committed observer.”
Is journalism just listing facts?
◦No – journalism, even when it purports to be “neutral”, inevitably reveals something of the writer’s bias. A truly “neutral” piece of writing is near-impossible. Different journalists will focus on different aspects of the facts, or interpret them in different ways – even if they’re trying to be ‘neutral’ or ‘objective’!
◦Journalism is also about good writing: it involves stringing facts together coherently and in a way that supports the general theme or argument of an article; and writing in a way that engages readers and doesn’t just bore them with a list of facts.
So how can I make facts interesting?
◦Researching for different perspectives –anecdotes and stories that might make the subject more personal or interesting to the reader
◦Avoiding cliched, hackneyed phrases that you’ve read a thousand times before (how many tributes to Mr Lee Kuan Yew used the exact same phrase about ‘from a fishing village to a first-world country’?!)
◦Looking for facts that support ideas that we’ve all come to accept as fact (i.e. ‘The US is a global superpower’, ‘racism is a controversial topic’)
How do I cite my sources?
◦X newspaper quotes Y as saying…
◦X was quoted in an interview as saying…
◦In an interview with X, Y mentioned…
◦X newspaper states that…
◦A commonly-reported anecdote is that of…
◦X’s article on Y describes an incident where…
◦X famously declared…
Bias and Objectivity◦Singapore and the death penalty – are these ‘harsh punishments’ or ‘just
laws’?
◦Abortion – is it ‘the murder of innocents’ or ‘giving women the right to choose’?
Different newspapers and journalists will describe the same thing in different ways; this can depend on a variety of factors – where they come from; gender; political views, and so on.
While the choice of words is your decision, you also need to learn to match your tone/register (how you say things, and the specific words/phrases you use to say them) to the requirements.
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
WHAT’S IN A PICTURE?
Bias and objectivity
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
Instructions◦ For every picture you see, quickly jot down your impressions of the person in the
picture.
◦ Also jot down WHAT IN THE PICTURE gives you this impression.
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
http://www.notcoming.com/images/reviews/l/nowvoyager.png
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
http://www.notcoming.com/images/reviews/l/now-voyager.png
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
What if I told you they’re the same character?
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
Instructions◦ Now compare how the same person is presented differently in the following
pictures
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
Case 1
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
Case 2
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
Wrap Up◦ Bias is often present in media reports
◦ Bias can even be present in pictures
◦ The presentation or re-presentation of something/someone is rarely neutral
HCI / ELL / 2015 / J. Phay
Credits◦ http://time.com/3100975/iftheygunnedmedown-ferguson-missouri-michael-brown/