Emotion - To include it, or leave it out?

Emotion in a story works to create not only a mood, but also a setting that can help to grasp many readers attention. It gives insight into a background and can go so far as to convey the emotions of an entire crowd.

But where is the line between emotion and editorializing? Often times, writers will work to write emotion into a story, but will fail when they forget the thoughts of their subject and include their own opinions into a subject.

Emotions in Journalism by Ruhi Khan gives in-depth insight into the subject that many have had struggles with (including myself) of writing with emotion but avoiding that fine line. One quote that really caught my attention helped to bring into perspective my ill-thought belief on journalism and reporting on only the facts.

"The tremendous use of emotional play in news reporting makes one wonder whether it is reporting, or is it crossing over into something else and whether the media are increasingly getting involved in a moral crusade?"

A moral crusade perfectly describes what I have been dealing with, but in a different light. I have been trying to fight my emotions and what I was taught when it came to writing. I was keeping my own opinion in that all readers were like myself, and wanted something that could draw them in through imagination.

But the more I research, and the more I learn, the more I realize that I am not like everyone else, and news is catered to a market that has been around for centuries, so why try to fight my own battle? Is it really right to include emotion in a story, and if so, where does that line end where it turns into nothing more then a personal moral crusade?

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Could editorialization be the future?

As a writer who is used to giving in depth description and honing a skill of showing emotion through words, editorializing has been my biggest downfall. Journalism trains writers to give facts, and only facts; writing without bias and taking all emotion out of most stories.

Maybe this could be the underlying reason I tend to avoid news articles, as they leave nothing to the imagination and lay out all of the facts that help build a "good" story. Maybe this is also the reason that blogging has been able to thrive where newsprint has begun to dwindle.

In searching for pertinent information regarding editorialization in blogging, I was shocked to see the results of a Google search that contained many articles that pointed out editorializing in news articles. I began to understand why this is such a taboo point in news as many readers crave the facts and are looking for a quick read, and not another persons opinion, but when it comes to blogging, the conflict is welcomed.

The additive of consumer interaction has helped to boost the blogging lime-light as it adds an all important aspect of conflict into the story. The ability for a reader to voice their opinion on a writers views or facts adds involvement that helps the reader feel as if they are a part of the story and may also shed light on additional aspects of a topic for those who are un-informed.

Could this be a welcome aspect for news print that may help to once again promote their margins and give them a leg up on instant media access?

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"Released With A Hashtag"

Imagine living in a society where your voice was silenced, your rights were minimal, your safety was not guaranteed and the information you received about the world around you came with the caution that it may or may not be the truth. This unfortunately was not just the imaginary life for millions of people, it was the reality for those calling Egypt home.

In the midst of their recent revolution, however, there has been a great shift. This shift was outlined by Hanna Sistek in a post she recently co-authored with Tanja Aitamurto.

Prior to the revolution, Freedom of the press was not a feasible ideal. Nor was the idea of citizen bloggers, tweeters or facebookers. In fact, the media was so highly regulated by the government that a top newspaper, Al-Ahram, printed an apology for "inaccurate reporting" after President Mubarak stepped down.

With Mubarak no longer in control, the country's consumption and production of media has changed dramatically. The article states that new channels are being created, media agencies are forming and citizen journalist are becoming high profile "celebrities" in the region. This all began with something so simple, something most of us do everyday in America and something that is taken for granted-sharing.

This new environment is happening via the Internet in Egypt, and has begun to transform their culture and allow them to partake in the global exchange of ideas. It has also given way to a stronger sense of unity and ownership because they are now able to more freely communicate with one another and have open and progressive discussions on where they see themselves as members of this new Egyptian climate.

Although tremendous strides have been made in the short time since Mubarak's exit, there are still barriers to break down in the country. Freedoms of speech and press have increased significantly, but people are still being prosecuted, convicted and jailed for their words. The good news-the people in Egypt will not allow this to go on quietly. Thanks to their new tools (facebook, twitter, ect.) they are able to quickly spread the message and mobilize support when these instances occur. In fact, one blogger was recently freed from jail after an enormous outcry from the country. She was not only released but also saved with a hashtag.

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Illegal or Undocumented?

When writing articles on immigration what terms should the media use, illegal or undocumented? This is one question that is posed by every journalist when writing a story about the topic.

According to the AP Style book the term that is preferred is Illegal Immigrant, but it says not to use just the term illegal as a noun.

There are many groups like the Diversity Committee of The Society of Professional Journalism and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists are trying to get jour

nalists to use other terms like undocumented worker or undocumented. These groups consider the term illegal a slur and politically incorrect.

What terms do other countries media use? An article by New America Media gives a few examples of what other countries use. Most Spanish speaking countries and the Philippines term Undocumented instead of illegal. In Russia both terms are used. However in Vietnam and China they use the term illegal, although in China it is not as controversial.

How should the American media react to this? Is this as controversial as some groups make it out to be? Is the term Illegal politically incorrect and should we start using the term undocumented?

Photo by: Fibbonaci Blue

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Who Cares About the Emmys?

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Emmys dropped a million viewers from last year. This statement is not suprising and should have dropped more than a million viewers.

But when all America's coverage and center focus is the Emmys its hard to have the viewing number drop more. When our world is at war with two different countries, in major debt crisis, and constantly increasing the

unemployment rate more coverage should be directed towards those issues.

The Emmys are entertainment and should have little but some coverage. War and the debt crisis should be broadcasted and be covered fully. Media should have a direct focus on American society. Media needs to have priorities when chosing coverage of topics.

However some people are concerned with the Emmys most people would rather be worrying about our society and where it stands. This leaves me with my statement "Who Cares About the Emmys?"

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Freedom of Speech Costing Freedom

Turkish journalists marched in protest on Sunday in Istanbul’s central Taksim district on the 200th day since journalists Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener were arrested.
“It is not Ahmet and Nedim who are on trial in this case, it is journalism itself that is on trial, press freedom and freedom of expression are sitting in the felon’s dock,” journalists said.
The two arrested journalists, Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener, have been in prison for 200 days. In the indictments against them, which were completed more than three weeks ago, they were charged with aiding and abetting the alleged Ergenekon criminal gang.
Some 1,500 people, including members of the Freedom for Journalists Platform, or GÖP, the “Friends of Ahmet and Nedim” group, journalists, and main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, deputies Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Bihlun Tamaylıgil, Süleyman Çelebi, Gürsel Tekin and Umut Oran, marched during the protest.
Those who attended the demonstration held banners that read “No to pressure on media,” “Freedom for journalists,” “Even if we get burned, we will touch it,” referring to Şık’s telling reporters, “Those who touch [the Fetullah Gülen community] get burned” as he was being detained by police on March 6.
Demonstrators chanted slogans like “Ahmet and Nedim are our honor,” “Ahmet will be free and write again, Nedim will be free and write again.”
After marching down İstiklal Avenue, the protesters made a press statement.
“Dozens of journalists like Ahmet and Nedim are in prison and on trial with the charges of dozens of years behind bars because of the research they did and the articles they wrote,” journalists said.

Photo:Creative Commons

“Those who say that ‘Turkey should not be the country of suspicions and fears, it should be the country of freedoms and ideals’ have unfortunately created a country where more than 50 journalists are in jail, more than 4,000 journalists are on trial, books are confiscated before they are published and people are afraid of expressing their thoughts,” journalists said. Journalists said all the information in the indictment against Şık and Şener which are considered as the “evidences”, are in fact “normal activities of journalism.”http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=journalists-protest-arrest-of-colleagues-2011-09-18

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