One of the very first topics we discussed in class was what makes good journalism. More specifically, we talked about the elements and yardsticks, which are guidelines for journalists to follow in order to produce good journalism.
One of these guidelines was outlining that for news to be effectively received and understood by an audience, it must be attention holding. Lets face it, not every newsworthy story is interesting. I'll be the first to admit that I would much rather read about a mysterious disappearance than what tax-bill was denied. Thats just part of human nature.
My point here is that journalists have a much bigger job than a lot of people realize. It is very common for the most important news to be somewhat boring, and for the not so newsworthy content to be very engaging. This is where good journalism comes in. I am not saying that every story has to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, however, it is a large responsibility of the writer to hold attention long enough so that the receiver a) chooses to read the story int the first place, and b) can internalize or somewhat understand the news.
This, I believe, is one of the hardest aspects of being a journalist, along with following a practice known as enterprise. See the next entry for my thoughts on enterprise!
One of these guidelines was outlining that for news to be effectively received and understood by an audience, it must be attention holding. Lets face it, not every newsworthy story is interesting. I'll be the first to admit that I would much rather read about a mysterious disappearance than what tax-bill was denied. Thats just part of human nature.
My point here is that journalists have a much bigger job than a lot of people realize. It is very common for the most important news to be somewhat boring, and for the not so newsworthy content to be very engaging. This is where good journalism comes in. I am not saying that every story has to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, however, it is a large responsibility of the writer to hold attention long enough so that the receiver a) chooses to read the story int the first place, and b) can internalize or somewhat understand the news.
This, I believe, is one of the hardest aspects of being a journalist, along with following a practice known as enterprise. See the next entry for my thoughts on enterprise!
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