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Giving them what they want, but at what cost?

It is no secret, that we all enjoy reading something that's entertaining, well atleast I do. As a writer I like to write things that will entertain people. However, as a journalist I won't necessarily have that option. Sure their are entertainment sections and magazines, but when dealing with hard news articles, you're not writing to entertain, you're writing to inform.

News accounts, as we stated above, should aim for truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth--not the excitement, the whole excitement, and nothing but the excitement. (pp. 53)

 As we've disscussed in class you have to remain objective, and that means viewing a strory from both sides, or from however many sides there are. We don't have the luxury not to, our careers and reputations, depend on how "truthful" we report stories.

 

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Comments (3)

Maddie Gillespie:

You're right, as journalists we can't always entertain people unless our editor assigns us to an entertainment piece. We have to be continuously searching for the truth; even if it is exhausting!

You had some interesting points and I agree. People are mostly interested in the bad things that happen to people or pretty much things in general. Nobody will want to hear about just some random person like falling asleep on their couch or something. Its not interesting and nobody will pay attention to it or care. So I agree with you fully!

Corey Struss:

I agree with you Jara. A journalist doesn't have the option to be fluffy with their material. They are there to deliver the cold, hard facts. If the public doesn't think it's catchy enough, then they need to look elsewhere for news.

People today seem to only want to know about celebrity "news". Do they really care about the war in Iraq? What about the economy? It's frustrating, but it's the truth. Journalists have to deal with it, but then again, it's not our job to write article after article of fluffy garbage.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on October 21, 2007 10:08 PM.

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