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Reader Feedback: Online VS. Print

“In print it’s easy to feel you are at odds with readers because people will find one little thing wrong. So as a journalist you get defensive. The readers on a blog chime in and help you. They want you to get the story right.” Ben Mutzabaugh USAToday.com Business Travel Columnist (Courtesy of iStockphoto.com)

We all have an opinion or a certain degree of knowledge on different subjects and ideas. Although newsletters go back five centuries to the Renaissance Europe, America’s first newspaper debut in Boston in 1960 (entitled Publick Occurrences). Increasing dissemination of information has posed a significant financial threat to the newspaper as we can see from this years layoffs. However, Online media and blogs have given people a chance to share their voice with others. I do agree that it is sad to see print newspapers go. In high school, I remember riding on the subway (train 1 and 4) every morning with the New York Daily News and reading on the day’s top stories all before I got to school. I got what I needed to know and discussed any good stories with friends. I didn’t really use blogs that often then and frankly I enjoy having a hard copy of the newspaper. The dynamic nature of the web publishing, text linking, imaging, video, and finding news that’s personally is something the newspaper can’t rival.

It seems that with online publishing, blogs, and forums people typically know what their talking about and readers want to help get the story right. There is not as much tension between a journalist and a reader in online media because the web is an even playground. It brings things down to earth were we feel we can see, speak, and engage with the writer on the other end. Do you find yourself helping others or being helped in your blogs? Is it a benefit to the way you take in information VS. the traditional print?

Freelance Careers and Narrative

Freelance Writing (Courtesy of Google Images)

Narrative in the News Organizations

I wonder how many people read a newspaper and feel engaged in the narrative. With the challenges of retaining readers, news organizations have to constantly draw is into a certain reality. One this is done is by what Walt Harrington calls intimate journalism. It’s a deep examination of ordinary people. Journalists are record keepers of our culture.

Developing a complete understanding of a subject is essential in making your readers comprehend an individual’s reality. Lane DeGregory, writer for the St. Petersburg Times, enjoys writing about ordinary people. Here some of tips DeGregory gives on finding good story ideas like her piece on Introducing Susan:

• Talk to strangers- sit by someone at a coffee shop, diner, or local bar
• Eat lunch alone- Listen to nearby conversations and be observant
• Ignore Important people- We heard enough about Brad and Angelina
• Celebrate losers- Those who fail always have a good follow up story
• Look for the bruise on the apple- This is important! Open your eyes and ears and don’t assume you heard it all.

Dialogue is key. I’m amazed at how conversation can lead to streams of information never expected. Sometimes all we need to do is keep quiet and listen because ultimately the story has to speak for itself.

Building a Freelance career

Author Stewart O' Nan (Courtesy of Google Images)

I got to admit as a graduating college student I don’t know if I’m going to find a job in this field let alone make a living in it, which makes a freelance career a tedious process. You have to be persistent, focused, and a little creative. Some of the most successful freelance writers spend as much time pitching story ideas as they do receiving rejections.

The idea of independence sounds good until you have to regulate your own schedule and motivate yourself to write. In Telling True Stories, author Stewart O’ Nan, speaks a little bit about time management. He has several rules, but what stands out in my mind is always have a notebook and pen with you and never stop; keep the project in mind.

Check out freelance switch on how to be accountable.

I hate it when I see or hear something interesting and don’t have a way to document it. If you don’t like the old fashioned pen and paper text message yourself. I have found that even in writing the dreaded research paper keeping the project in my mind helps me stay focus.

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Journalism Ethics: Same for Bloggers?

Journalists are faced with the dilemma of telling the whole truth every single time they write or report on a story. Choosing an angle in any piece of nonfiction writing constitutes subtracting elements of a story that may distort its reality. However, that distortion of reality still results in nonfiction. This is called subjectivity. Here is a look into the ethical standard of a journalist.

“This much is clear: Ethics are crucial to journalism’s legitimacy. In part this is because journalists claim the right to determine their own ethical relationships. “

- Walt Harrington excerpt on narrative writing in Telling True Stories

In Telling True Stories, Roy Peter Clark mentions how there is a firm line between fiction and nonfiction.

Roy Peter Clark (Courtesy of Google Images)

Sources, quotes, names, and scenes can’t be changed for the sake of entertainment or at the attempt of narrative in nonfiction writing. Reporting and blogging have become friends over the past couple of years, but they both pose two different questions. A Reporter wonders whether it is a story while a blogger wonders if it’s interesting. Check out “The Benton Curve”.

In today’s world, a journalist’s worst friend is time since it makes it difficult to make judgments and fact-check. Information has become a blur and new information quickly becomes old news. Bloggers are not under that same constraint because of our ability to post quick information with links on a story. Time is a factor when it comes to making ethical decisions and blogs get the edge on that one.

The ethics code is the same for other mediums. Radio and television have to responsibly edit material so that a story doesn’t become a tall tale. However, radio personnel have the freedom to be opinionative just like a blog.

“In a culture of media bravado, there is plenty of room for strategic humility. This virtue teaches us that Truth, with a capital T, is unattainable; that even though you can never get it, with hard work you can get at it. “

- Roy Peter Clark excerpt on truth in Journalism in Telling True Stories

Author and journalist Walt Harrington is a literary writer that tells true story in narrative form. In an interview with poynter.org, Harrington talks about his book, The Everlasting Stream, writing in narrative and its place for journalist.

Debra Dickerson (Courtesy of Google Images)

Journalists and bloggers are held to the same ethical standards by their audience, but the applications differ. Journalists follow certain ethical codes that are not applicable to blogging. For instance, bloggers can be personal and include opinion while journalists have to let the sources do the talking. Bloggers can create characters while journalists always have to cite original names. Although certain bloggers use information to personalize, review, or mock the story still has to be true.

In 1996 Writer Debra Dickerson, wrote an article, called – Who Shot Johnny? – that ended up on The New Republic and also won Best American Essay. The piece is based on her nephew being shot in the back by a man that she ended up questioning. Although it is a personal account, the story remains true.

“I became a writer to deal with the complexities of my life. If I’d had the emotional and mental sophistication to deal with it from the beginning, I wouldn’t have needed to become a writer. “

- Debra Dickerson excerpt on ethics in personal stories in Telling True Stories

A blogger has the same obligation to its audience as a journalist. It is about making your post worthwhile to readers while using links, videos, pictures, and other tools to make it credible. Yet, the ethical standard for a blogger doesn’t hold the same weight as a journalist.

 

Characters and Stories In Journalism

Blog Cartoon (Courtesy of Google Images)

I bet the cartoon got you attention. However, Drawing and keeping an audience (without the picture) is one of the most difficult things to do for writers, but also one of the most fulfilling. As writers of we search for a certain voice that will connect with readers. Literary journalist Jon Franklin and Latin American journalist/author Alma Guillermprieto are established writers with a distinguished style.

Characters:

Jon Franklin pioneer of "New Journalism" movement (Courtesy of jonfranklin.com)

Jon Franklin’s strategy for drawing a reader lies on the characters inner world against the external. Reality and illusion were seen completely different then they are now. During Medieval Europe reality was internal and illusion was external, but during the Enlightenment things switched. Victorians labeled people as either good characters or bad characters with family background being the only source of judgment, not experience.

Franklin’s Mrs. Kelley’s Monster

In journalism the aim here is to put the reader inside the mind of an individual and how he/she views the world around them. Observation is also key in understand your subject. The small things count when focusing on a character, but there is no way to paint a complete picture. As a writer you have to choose what matters.

I think that Jon Franklin’s advice on writing is beneficial when you are trying to minimize yourself from the story. Allowing the source to present their experience also makes a story a lot more interesting then one of just plot.

Telling Stories:

Mexican Journalist Alma Guillermoprieto (Courtesy of Google Images)

Alma Guillermprieto tells stories to make sure U.S. readers do not ignore Latin America. Specificity is a central part of her writing and reporting because it gives the story a focus similar to how Franklin does with characters. Alma feels that by focusing on detail the story advances. In addition, she sets her stories up like a theater with a leading dancer as the stand out performer.

In journalism telling stories bring certain situations to life while making them easy to understand. Historical accounts and its affect on a country are sometimes difficult to write about without making it bland and boring. However, when a story can be developed then it takes a new toll on how it is presented. Check out Alma’s piece on Fidel’s Farewell.

I think that Alma’s advice on telling stories is another way to draw in an audience. However, I wouldn’t treat the subject in my stories as a separate entity. Although it is a story, I think it should still have a connection and relationship with society.