Journalism Class - Tuesday November 8

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

Spider has a mug of coffee and a slightly more cheerful look on his face. He's seated again on the top of his desk and sharing his cigarettes with his cat. Swinging his heels, he addresses the class. "Grading's almost finished, up to and including the midterm, and I'd have to say that I'm impressed. Well, with those of you who are still with us, anyway. Attendance has been above and beyond the call of duty and participation has been very, very high. Grades, credit and attendance reports will be available by Friday for the curious."

Taking a swig of coffee, he gave his students an evil grin. "Which means that the final project for the term is going to be a doozy. I'll be giving you over a month to put together the article that I'm asking for, however, and I'm in final negotations with a few people before actually assigning it, however. I am very, very pleased with the amount of class participation."

There was a pause as he waved the cat away from his coffee before she got cigarette ashes in it. "Today I have an ethical question related to yesterday's discussion on slant - specifically the remarks concerning the journalist who seemed to draw from only one source and leave a great deal of detail to one side. Some of this is due to editing for space, some of it is sloppiness. When you have only a very specific number of column inches in which to tell your entire story... what do you cut first?"

Comments

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"When someone expects a certain slant with limited space, the easiest way would be to eliminate the entire opposing argument. Not usually good but it'll keep the slant." John pauses for a moment. "Instead of doing something like that, perhaps giving both sides equal space but using different semantics. Use words that put the side you want in a positive light. Everything is positive, possible and doable. For the opposing side, use negative words. For instance, if there's an eighty percent chance of a sunny day, say there's a twenty percent chance of rain. Frame the opposing side with negativity while still giving their side."

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

"A relatively obvious method and one of which I approve, if forced into it. It allows any reader actually using their mind to interpret the facts correctly, despite the forced slant."