readings: August 2007 Archives

English Essay

News Story

Audience: Your Instructor 

Usually, the instructor knows more about the subject than the student-author.

Audience: The General Reader 

Usually, the reporter knows more about the subject than the general reader. 

Essays for Your Instructor 

• Your academic goal is to demonstrate how much you know or what you can do.
• Your instructor does not expect you to be an expert. You are supposed to be learning. You write from the position of a learner.
• An instructor already knows the subject matter, and is interested in evaluating your knowledge, technique, and growth over time. Your  teacher will read your work with an expert eye, ready to call your attention to claims that are inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete. 

Journalism for the General Public 

• A journalist aims to inform the reader.
• The journalist writes from a position of authority. The news is supposed to be a source of verified facts, not just a vehicle for passing along what people are saying. (We will cover the term "verification" later.)
• Most readers won't know when you are wrong. Their understanding of the subject depends entirely on your ability to research and write the news. 

Personal Perspective

• In high school, you may have been asked to express your feelings, perhaps by explaining what you would have done if you were in the protagonist's place, or relating a concept to your own life.
• You used phrases like "I think" or "I feel" or "now that I look more closely at it..." in order to tell the story of how you came to your present understanding of a subject or incident.
• Your teacher rewarded you for demonstrating personal involvement with the subject, because students who engage in this manner are generally more likely to learn the subject matter.  

Objective Perspective

• Traditional journalists stay out of the story.  No "I" or "me," and no "this reporter," either. (We will cover the concept of the "Invisible Observer" soon.)
• Journalists report the emotions and opinions of the sources they interview --not their own personal feelings. (We will cover the concept of "Attributions" soon.)
• Journalism investigates each story from the perspective of those who care -- including those whose reasons for caring conflict with each other, or with the journalist's personal values. (If it's not interesting to you, it may be interesting to someone.)