JOURNALISM LITERARY JOURNALISM Journalistic Writing Journalists cannot march

JOURNALISM & LITERARY JOURNALISM

Journalistic Writing • “Journalists cannot march in the parade. They can only stand on the curb and write about what goes past and why. ” • Roger Mudd, award-winning TV journalist

What is Journalism? Journalism is the discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news.

Different forms of Journalism • News – Breaking news: Telling about an event as it happens. – Feature stories: A detailed look at something interesting that's not breaking news. – Enterprise or Investigative stories: Stories that uncover information that few people knew.

Different forms of Journalism • Opinion – Editorials: Unsigned articles that express a publication's opinion. – Columns: Signed articles that express the writer's reporting and his conclusions. – Reviews: Such as concert, restaurant or movie reviews.

Different forms of Journalism • Online, journalism can come in the forms listed above, as well as: – Blogs: Online diaries kept by individuals or small groups. – Discussion boards: Online question and answer pages where anyone can participate. – Wikis: Articles that any reader can add to or change.

Five Ws • Consider the answers to the “Five Ws” about that source: – – – Who are they? What were they doing? Where were they doing it? When they do it? Why did they do it?

Reporting • Three main ways to gather information for a news story or opinion piece: – Interviews: Talking with people who know something about the story you are reporting. – Observation: Watching and listening where news is taking place. – Documents: Reading stories, reports, public records and other printed material.

Reporting purpose structure writer’s knowledge contents • To retell events • Headline • Byline • Column • Subheadings • Different type faces • Clipped style • Mixture of direct indirect speech • Summary of events in first paragraph • Names, ages places inside commas • broad view of story moving towards details • Details to bring events alive • Use specific names of people and places • Recount significant events • End by commenting upon events • Do not refer to yourself

Writing • Keys to writing good journalism: – Get the facts. All the facts you can. – Tell your readers where you got every bit of information you put in your story. – Be honest about what you do not know. – Don't try to write fancy. Keep it clear.

What Is Literary Journalism? Literary journalism is a form of journalism that combines reporting with storytelling of a nonfiction event.

Why Literary Journalism? • Effective literary journalism enables readers to gain an enlightened perspective that reveals the extraordinary in everyday life and offers a richer understanding of the facts surrounding an individual, institution, or event.

Storytelling Readers will find much more figurative language, description of emotion and a deeper understanding of those that are in the story. At times, the writer may feel that he can use fictional descriptions based on fact to fill in the gaps of information.

Form and Length Literary journalism can take many forms and lengths. At times, pieces of literary journalism end up in a magazine or as a long essay online or in an anthology.

Ethical Guidelines • Everything should be verifiable • Use of information not imagination • Creative presentation of facts, not “creation” of facts, scenes, or events

Traditional vs. Literary Journalism • Traditional journalism’s unit of construction is the FACT • Literary journalism’s unit of construction is the SCENE (witnessed or recreated/anecdotal)

Differences between literary and journalistic writing Literary writing Journalistic writing To entertain and inform leisurely Must inform quickly May or may not be entirely factual Entirely factual To appeal primarily to emotions primarily to give information Based on facts gathered by reporters Limited to only writer's imagination To interest a comparatively small group or selected people Interest a large group with varying education backgrounds Refers to author's technique of expression Refers mostly to preparation of copy, use of cap , punctuation, spelling, may refer to author; individual technique or expression Subjective usually objective and simple direct Any length Usually short, concise and correct Any type Avoid using important or unusual word twice in same paragraph or closely together in same paragraph

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