ICRN#2: Journalism/news reporting

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ICRN#2: Journalism/news reporting

2/19/2021

Today's ICRN prompt: What are the characteristics of this kind of writing? What differences do you see between the various kinds of reporting (sub-genres if you will)? What sort of surprises you about journalism--so what is NOT the movie version of being a reporter.

NOTE: Reading folks posts from last week, please try to get around 200 words down. It can be more, but some folks wrote little more than one sentence. Additionally, please make direct references to what we read/listened to this week. Part of the point of this assignment is to make sure that you are actually doing the reading. Last week, everyone got a "VSR" for Very Strong Reading just for posting. Going forward, if it's not clear to me that you did the reading, you will earn a "BR" or Bad Reading. You can revise, of course, as long as you post today. If you are confused about ICRNs and how they are scored, take a look at the ICRN assignment page for this class.

Once you've posted your response to this post, read and respond to one other person by connecting one of the readings they don't talk about to the characteristics/differences/surprises they do talk about. Again, aim for about 100 words in your response unless you are dying write more.

30 Comments

Kate Bazarsky

2/19/2021 10:15:40 am

The biggest thing I noticed while reading all of the author bio's and some of the articles was the amount of topics covered. Nikole Hannah-Jones was a reporter who stuck out to me because she was a NY Times writer who covered racial injustice. While reading articles, the most important part of all the articles was that they were digestible. Investigative articles were the most interesting to me because I like to research. A large portion of investigative research has to do with uncovering groundbreaking facts or missing pieces to the story. While investigative reports are more factually based, it does not mean they lack of personality or charm. In 2019, Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan and Paul Pringle wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative report on a USC gynecologist violating young women. As an article, this did not just have to uncover all of the wrong doing; it also had to validate feelings and help find a solution.

Brittany Ann Oppenheimer

2/19/2021 10:27:34 am

I think that "finding a solution" part is very important to journalism as a whole. Since we are in the middle of a pandemic, it is now more important than ever to find ways to get information about covid updates or vaccine information. Imagine how this could be handled during the beginning of the 20th century? Would it be better or worse to have people give newspapers to one another or shout out the information from the rooftops from the tops of their lungs. With video and radio, we can now share this information in a safer way, which I feel is something interesting to think about.

CJ Hall

2/19/2021 10:33:36 am

"digestible" is such a good word. That is totally a tenet of journalism. Unlike looking at a peer reviewed article where I inwardly groan at how many pages? I looked at this 1619 Project article, grabbed my coffee and dug in. It's like we know if it comes from the press it will be an accessible read

Marissa Merlino

2/19/2021 10:33:56 am

Your last sentence brings up a valid point - it's important for the investigative reporter to acknowledge the audience's feelings while also presenting information in a somewhat objective manner. The article by Brian M. Rosenthal's New York Times article about NY taxi drivers being scammed into taking out irresponsible loans. This article contains information and details that are highly emotional without necessarily inserting the journalists' opinion, while still acknowledging the audience's emotions of sympathy and outrage. For example, the detail about one of the bankers responsible for these predatory practices booking Nicki Minaj for a private concert at a family event sparks outrage in the reader without the writer directly expressing that this is something to be angry about. It's about carefully choosing what information to include and what sequence to include it in. Though the resolution to this article in particular is depressing and unfortunate, the fact that the article is being written to inform the public about what happened and hold these bankers somewhat accountable for the lives they destroyed is enough to inspire some degree of hope in the reader.

2/19/2021 10:20:54 am

Subgenres of Journalism: Investigative/Expose (historical, current events, financial/corruption), politics, humanitarian crisis, opposing point of view, daily pieces that are all part of a bigger report.

Characteristics of Journalistic Pieces: need for anonymity is vital for some sources, histories vs History, digging deep vs scratching the surface (puff piece), very stylistic finishes (podcast vs 1619 Project vs court reporting), spanning a large terrain of subject matter while keeping a personal approach: a story is definitely being told… this is not merely a regurgitation of facts. A personal beginning and end, this “be a good human” angle prompts the listener to get interested and stay awake through somewhat boring stats, and then rewards their attention with whatever conclusion is available to the original opener. Still found a protagonist and adversarial characterization of business, government or population present in these samples. The author is taking something of mild or even non interest to the reader and inviting them to take up a cause and share in the emotion they want them to feel. The best outcome is to forge a sort of trust with the new follower. Over time, hope they become a fan.

The Reality of Journalism vs the Hollywood Glory coloured Overlay: the fetid smells, the complex and sometimes impossible emotions, connecting breadcrumbs and snippets of speech to uncover the actual situation, balancing the need to keep interviews focused and support the interviewee as they tell their version (providing space and a fertile energy for this work), knowing you’re being lied to and remaining professional. Attempting to keep a distance (can’t save them all, even if you desperately want to).

I think the main characteristics of this type of writing are plot, stylistic finishes and a battle: against a foe, against a corrupt organization, against a deadly disease. Very few journalism pieces for papers are entirely “feel good” kinds of stories. If they are, they usually appear in the Sunday edition or a specialty section. I also think all journalism pieces should hold up to fact checking and scrutiny while attempting to be transparent about bias; while within the same article trying to walk back any author based bias into a more neutral territory. I also am not naive and understand this is an ideal world example of work ethic. I saw style, subject matter, and media differences, but also saw many similarities in the use of a personal voice or anecdote to humanize stats. I think that is helpful to bring in a wider audience. My biggest surprise in journalism is when the reporter or author proves themselves to have a heart. I am biased to think they are tenacious and sometimes callous to the plight of the common person. Like any profession out there in the trenches, they can become numb to things that we might find terrifying.

Amanda Guindon

2/19/2021 10:28:03 am

I think it's interesting how you brought up the idea of "feel good" stories, and how not a lot of news centers around these types of stories, and it makes you think about why that might be. Why exactly are people reading these news stories? Do they not want to read about the good things happening to people in the world? Well, that may not be the case, people read news stories to learn about things happening in the world. One of the pieces I read was from Nikole Hannah-Jones and she wrote about the American history and how the enslavement of Africans is at the center of so much of our story. This isn't a happy part of history, but it's there and it's relevant and it's important to talk about.

Maddie Staples

2/19/2021 10:29:45 am

CJ, I think you make a really good point that the plot is a super important part of journalism. No one is going to sit, transfixed, through a play-by-play account of a change in tax laws--that is what breaking news is for. But if you want someone to care about the plight of indebted taxi drivers, black Americans, border refugees, etc., people that the reader doesn't necessarily immediately relate to, you have to tell the story in a way that makes them care, make them want to "take up the cause," as you say.

Michael Wood

2/19/2021 10:21:36 am

Something I noticed while reading articles by published reporters is that they often use plenty of references that always serve a purpose in the structure and the content of their covered topic. After reading a few articles from local Boston reporter, Lisa Heughs, I found that a lot of what she had covered did refer back to other events to sort of create a documentation. When previous events are contextualized such as previous covid lockdowns, there is a sense of comparison to provide listeners with a reference. Even these sources and articles where the information was taken from is cited as many of them were often conducted by other reporters, including those from other states. When it comes to covid lockdown, it requires a high degree of knowledge on statistics and estimation to generate a scenario that people can loosely depend on which I feel is necessary but unreliable in and of itself.

LT (on behalf of Kate B)

2/19/2021 10:30:02 am

I also noticed how effective the use of references was in their writing, primarily because I felt like it helped give their words 'legs to stand on' if you know what I mean. You used the word 'documentation' and I think that's the best way to say it because Heughs is proving her point with a fact--with documents. However, like you said at the end, some stats are just unreliable; so, it's important as the reporter to make sure you are giving the purest facts you have.

Amanda Guindon

2/19/2021 10:22:41 am

Journalistic writing definitely paints a narrative for their audiences, more so than you would see with other professional writing I feel. In the few pieces I read from the lists in the syllabus, all of the pieces seemed very personal and like I was invested in the lives of the people who were being talked about or in the situations that were being talked about. There is more scene setting, character building, and emotions put into journalistic writing as the author wants their audiences to care about these stories and they are trying to elicit some sort of emotion as well.
I think the main difference that I noticed between the audio piece and the writing was that, obviously with the audio, you can clearly hear both the narrator of the writing, and there was also background noise and voices from presumably the persons in the story. That alone made it more interesting to listen to and I found myself listening more for what those people were saying, even though it was in spanish, as I felt more connected to the story hearing those voices. With the other genres, it seemed like the breaking news focused on the facts of the story rather than adding in any additional emotion or narration. This is expected given that with breaking news you’re kind of just reading for the general outline and as more things happen more information is released.
Honestly, when I think about the movie stereotype of reporters, I instantly think of less personable, more intense people who are only really looking to get the story and don’t quite care beyond that. Reporters are presented as these almost like hungry characters who would hound individuals for the latest breaking news, and clearly through the writing we were assigned that isn’t really the case with actual reporters. To be a reporter, you have to care about whatever it is that you are writing a story about otherwise people won’t care for your writing or you as a reporter; you are trying to create a story for an audience about whatever the situation is that you are presented.

Derek Krysko

2/19/2021 10:33:41 am

It is interesting that you mention the narrator themselves in the audio reporting, and I didn't really consider how their tone or style can influence the perception of the story. When reading someone's writing, we can sometimes hear their own voice, but for the most part we can read it and interpret the info how we want. The audio reporting differs in that the narrator can skew our understanding by reading things a certain way, and like you mention, can allow us to more easily connect to the story because we are pulled in deeper.

Marissa Merlino

2/19/2021 10:23:08 am

Reporting is done on behalf of the community. It is writing that you want to be accessible to a wide audience, since it is centered around current events or important information that the reporter/journalist believes the public should know about. This means it's very important to hook the reader/listener in as well as maintain their interest throughout the article or segment. For example, in the news article by Andrew Wolfson and Joe Sonka, the article is broken up with images, bullet points, headers that jump out at the reader with questions they might be asking while reading, etc. Since the article is about an important political/moral issue, the writers decided to use these elements to engage the reader and encourage them to read more about the situation to get informed. There are various differences between the stylistic choices and types of evidence these reporting genres use. An audio report might have rich description that enhances the quality of the verbal experience, while a news article will more or less get straight to the point. While an audio report listener does not want to be bored by the information they're being fed, a news reader doesn't want to have to read through a bunch of unimportant description in order to get the facts they're looking for. Commentary is more opinion-based while also interjecting facts and research, while investigative reporting presents the evidence in a more objective way.

Michael Wood

2/19/2021 10:38:28 am

I find that accessibility is becoming a much more relevant topic in recent media including movies and games. I do agree that it is important to maintain the reader's attention throughout but I am not sure how this would be used in a practical sense. I definately like the idea and you provide a great deal of context for it but I do feel that an audio report to accompany the written report could be juts as useful.

Matt McGuirk

2/19/2021 10:43:40 am

Hi Marissa. Your comment about how journalism being directed toward a community is spot on, and you make a great point when saying it is important to hook the reader. One of the breaking news articles I read that had an interesting hook is "A veteran was among 336 drug offenders Bevin freed. He died of a likely overdose days later" by Jonathan Bullington and Matt Mencarini. This simple line is what hooked me in: "The court hearing was supposed to give Bryan Bishop another chance to turn around his life." As the reader, I immediately said, "it was supposed to give him the chance, so what happened?" I was then engaged and had to finish the piece after that.

Maddie Staples

2/19/2021 10:23:13 am

There was a surprisingly diverse array of writing that is considered to be under the umbrella of journalism. The bits of breaking news were very short and informative, a sort of "just the facts" approach to reporting. In contrast, the investigative reporting--both the taxi story and the audio reporting from the border--and especially the commentary article, were more personal, emotional, involving the reporter as well as the subject, whereas, at least ostensibly, breaking news is just reporting straight facts.
All of the types of journalism were telling stories. The commentary article author framed his point about black America around his own family's story, while the investigative reporting and the audio reporting centered around others' stories. I would say that the point of breaking news is to tell the stories that most immediately affect all of us, which is definitely another kind of storytelling. If I had to say it another way, the formerly mentioned types of reporting are to make you care about a story. Thus they are longer, more passionate, rhetorical. Meanwhile, breaking news reporting is meant to give you more information about a story you already care about, so they don't outright have to convince you of anything.
As we just said, I think reporters are stereotyped, at least in the media, as being muckrakers, gumshoes, sometimes even ambulance chasers (I watched Nightcrawler over the weekend). What surprised me about most of the journalism that we read was that it was not as impersonal and removed as I thought it was. Obviously the breaking news wasn't a heartfelt account of the effects of Matt Bevin pardoning people, but in the rest of the examples the authors were clearly involved in their work, which definitely gave me a better impression of journalism than I might have had going into this assignment. For me, the most effective piece was the audio reporting because you could hear directly from those being reported on, the emotion in their voices and even just the background noises of the experience that they were going through.

Brittany Ann Oppenheimer

2/19/2021 10:23:25 am

I feel that the characteristics of journalism writing comes from the word "Action." There must be some form of event or danger from getting a story that causes the piece to become more significant. Think about it. Weather men and women don't HAVE TO report outside in the rain or snow, but they do it so that audiences can see how bad the storm is getting. Plus, seeing these reporters struggling helps us to understand what we are dealing with and in some way's, helps us sympathize with the reporters as a whole.

Honestly, I feel there are very few similarities when it comes to reporting. On one hand, the point of reporting is to get the news out there about specific events that took place. That's one simarlarity. On the other hand, how we get that information out feels much more broad. We can do radio shows, video broadcasts, websites, newspapers, drawings, novels. I feel there is many ways to share the news, but the goal is always the same.

I'm mostly surprised by the fact that some reporters will literally jump into a hurricane in order to get footage of the news or weather. It worries me sometimes about the safety of these reporters, yet, then again, they were the ones who signed up for the job. I wonder what the limits are when it comes to jobs like journalism and reporting? How far will someone o to get the news until someone is injured? That's just my take on it.

Rebecca M.

2/19/2021 10:35:45 am

I agree with you. I think of action is closely linked with journalism because you have to go around and get information to send to people. Journalists tend to move around a lot especially when it comes to journalism about traveling.

Rebecca M.

2/19/2021 10:24:48 am

The characteristics of this type of writing is that they always have an informative voice. They have to have all the research done before they write or speak about a certain topic and they have to fact check it. If they do not do so, then they will be responsible for spreading misinformation to everyone. The differences between audio reporting, breaking news, investigative reporting, and commentary, is in audio reporting you are able to reach a bigger audience. They still need to research about a topic/situation before coming on the air. Breaking news is news that have a sense of urgency and must be told to the people. News so important that it interrupts regular scheduled programs. Breaking news relies heavily with politics. Investigative reporting reports of findings of news that mostly deal with crimes and death. They look into the nitty gritty details about a crime or a situation that is publicly broadcasted on TV or online. Commentary writing is is writing that focuses on comments made on particular social topics such as race, class, gender, politics, lifestyle, etc. it gives the writer/reporter more artistic freedom in the sense of what they are talking about because it is so heavily focused on the things they've studied themselves.

Ron

2/19/2021 10:33:10 am

I noticed too that it takes a lot of research in order for journalists to uncover the truth they are trying to find. Especially for commentary writing when the project almost becomes a passion of the journalist's life.

Maddie Staples

2/19/2021 10:34:13 am

Rebecca, you make an excellent point about audio reporting having the potential to reach a wider audience. Just as Dr. Torda was mentioning, fewer people are buying print newspapers, and more and more people are listening to podcasts. Audio news is something that can be consumed during a commute, while cooking, before going to sleep, etc. etc. It requires less effort and attention on behalf of the reader/listener, and I think that makes it an attractive new medium for communicating news. Obviously television and radio have been around for some time, but it does seem to me that more and more people are listening to long-form audio news like "This American Life."

Ron

2/19/2021 10:27:49 am

One thing I noticed about journalism, is how close the authors are to their stories. Nikole-Hannah Jones, for example, is very close to her writing with the 1619 Project and her essay discussing the e3ffects of slavery 400 years later. Unlike the movie and television versions of journalists, it takes more research to uncover the truth.

CJ Hall

2/19/2021 10:40:06 am

I like how you noticed how Jones and other journalists are "close" to their work. This isn't always a Hollywood portrayal, sometimes they only show the intern or green reporter who gets the advice column and scut work. But in real life, I feel like once a writer is proven they are given leeway to really explore subjects that light that fire under their butts and give us a great read

Matt McGuirk

2/19/2021 10:30:25 am

Journalism is an interesting type of writing because most of the time, you are writing to inform others. I’ve taken a couple journalism classes in college and that was always one of the main things we were taught about. That said, there are a couple “genres” of journalism, if you will. There’s the hard news story, which can also be a breaking news piece. These pieces are all facts with no opinion or insight from the writer. Hard news stories use the inverted pyramid, where the most important information goes first and the least important information goes last. The article ends when there is no new information to give; there usually isn’t a big sendoff at the end.

Investigative reporting, I think, uses a lot of the themes you see in breaking news stories but goes more in-depth with its storytelling. This is evident in “Now-Senate candidate gained a reputation for making overtures at mall” by Stephanie McCrummen, Beth Reinhard, and Alice Crites. They tell the story from Gena Richardson at the beginning to provide insight, but they don’t stop there. By the end of the article, you’ve essentially read through an entire investigation, if that makes sense.

In commentary pieces, like some columns for example, you see the use of first person from the author as well as an incorporation of opinions. That wouldn’t work in breaking news or investigative reporting because the stories aren’t about the authors. In commentary, you are free to offer an opinion on a topic or situation. I really liked Peggy Noonan’s “The Republican Party is Shattering.”

Movies portray journalists in an interesting light because they are always getting the big story and jumping over every obstacle to get it. These things can happen, yes, but they aren’t always realistic. I think it’s more common to cover a robbery at a restaurant or a house fire or a sports press conference than sneaking into offices and stuff like that.

Derek Krysko

2/19/2021 10:30:40 am

Journalistic writing tends to be very rigid, and there is a clear formula that exists across most formats. While there are often some individual changes in tendency, for the most part journalistic writing values brevity and clarity, as evidenced by the short paragraphs that are separated in order to make the content easier to read. There is also typically a headline in larger font at the top of the page that attempts to draw the reader in as well as indicate what the story is going to be about. Journalism also makes use of the inverted pyramid format, which means that the most important information comes first to keep the readers engaged, and then hides the less pertinent info at the bottom of the article. This is a key difference between journalistic writing and other forms of writing, as here the reader should be able to fully understand the topic at hand after reading a paragraph or two. Also, the objective of journalistic writing is to inform, and with that in mind it must always try to be objective (unless it is an editorial piece, than opinion can factor in). Journalism relies on fact, and it makes great use of quotes because those are strong pieces of evidence. Breaking news reporting and investigative reporting have a few key differences, one of the main ones being that breaking news reporting is meant to offer some level of shock value right up front. Often times a breaking news story is designed to elicit a strong emotional reaction in the reader to get them to engage with the piece. For example, one of the Pulitzer headlines in breaking news reporting reads: “'Matt Bevin can rot in hell': Family of murder victim reacts to pardon of donor's relative.” This headline is written specifically to move the reader in a certain way, and by using harsh words such as “rot in hell” and “murder victim,” it creates a more effective emotional attachment. Investigate reporting on the other hand does not necessarily have to be as aggressive or upfront with their approach, as their articles are meant to be consumed fully given their comprehensive nature. When it comes to breaking news, people may only read the headline in order to get their quick fix of info, so the wording of that is very key. Investigative reporting is meant to get someone to read deeper, so their headlines often ask questions or sound mysterious. For example, on the Pulitzer page, a New York Times headline reads: What Actually Happened to New York's Taxi Drivers?” This headline is not nearly as aggressive as a breaking news piece, and it is meant to slowly draw the reader in and create a bit of mystery. Investigations are comprehensive, and their meanings cannot be accurately summarized in one headline. Commentary differs in that it is often more personal than other forms of journalism, and it is similar to an editorial piece. An author will provide his or her opinion on a particular issue, and go piece by piece to explain their point of view. Audio reporting is a broader category, and combines many other forms of journalism depending on the situation. Audio reporting is meant to be consumed over a longer period of time, and is less effective if someone is looking for a quick headline. One thing that surprised me about journalism and reporting is the rigidity. Movies tell us that reporters can bend the rules and break stories by cracking skulls and breaking into locations, but really that isn’t the case at all. Journalism has a code of ethics that must be adhered to in order to maintain credibility. I was also interested to learn about how journalists use various writing tactics to sort of play with the reader, and increase their interest just by changing format or phrasing.

John Walden

2/19/2021 10:36:45 am

Journalism as a genre is heavily relies on the work of the journalist to synthesize and condense stories and information. This work results in pieces that inform their readers in a concise and comprehensive manner. The information provided must be clear enough to inform the reader on the events or concepts being described, but most importantly it must be factual information and well presented. Readers trust the information that journalists relay to them, so responsibility and accountability are crucial for Journalism.
There are major differences when it comes to specific sub-genres of journalism. For example, Commentary writing focuses specifically on the author’s unique perspective on current and historical events, which may broaden the reader’s perspective outside of their own. Investigative journalism, on the other hand, focuses on exposing some sort of unknown or underreported corruption, flaw or event in society and providing the facts to illuminate said event in context. Breaking News journalism, another sub-genre, focuses on current events as they unfold, informing the reader of the important highlights and people of these stories. In each specific sub-genre, there are differences in the intent, scope and perspective of the author and the information they are trying to convey to the reader.

Paige Couture

2/19/2021 01:27:35 pm

Hi, John! I completely agree with what you said about journalism. Like Professor Torda stated in class today about children's Tylenol, we don't want to give out unimportant information that will make readers second guess themselves. I also wanted to add into this that we should make sure that we go straight to the point. It's true that readers count on journalists for accountability--sometimes, we look up information that we don't understand and those facts should be accurate in these articles. Breaking News is almost like what you see on TV, when the show you're watching gets interrupted and you read: "Breaking News" on the bottom screen. The information we get from any kind of breaking news is always straight to the point with important information. Good post.

Paige Couture

2/19/2021 10:40:31 am

There’s one thing in common that all of these sub-genre’s share for characteristics: there is always important information to give that goes straight to the point. For audio reporting, it is much different than breaking news, investigative reporting and commentary writing. In audio reporting, there is not much to read besides a summary of an audio of these reports. “The Out Crowd” provides experiences that others have encountered from borderline Mexico in a refugee campsite. While listening to these reports, I’m surprised that these audios are divided into acts like a drama play. It reminds me of Shakespeare, how his acts are divided by acts and sections.
As for breaking news, these articles report incidents that happen throughout the world. These articles can range from writing about crime to investigations. Using breaking news would be good for those who need an example for legal writing and trying to find an argument. It is also used for telling something that needs to be brought attention to others. This type of news could even show up on screen’s and interrupt a show that viewers are watching.
Investigative reporting often relies on crimes, missing people or those who have been murdered. Sometimes, they will often send out Amber Alert’s for those who have gone missing. Commentary writing is more like what we do for college. This type of writing will analyze, reflect or give certain opinions about certain topics that writers have knowledge on.

2/19/2021 11:51:29 am

Test

2/19/2021 11:54:52 am

Now that I'm trying to show what the problem is there is no problem

2/19/2021 11:50:44 am

This is another test

ICRN#2: Journalism/news reporting

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