Mass Media Writing

Elise K. Parsigian

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136690624
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This innovative book is the first to identify and describe the systematic process that drives the day-to-day work of writers in the real world of print and broadcast journalism, public relations and advertising. The key to creative problem solution for both simple and complex assignments in media work is engagingly detailed in this thought-provoking guide. Users of this book will learn how to fulfill assignments and write copy that meets an editor's or client's expectations, speaks to the intended audience, stands up to question, and remains in memory. The author skillfully blends tested processes from science and art to equip the student with the tools of self-management and the techniques of disciplined creativity that defend against erroneous judgment. Recognizing the role of problem solving in media and the primacy of critical thinking at all stages of the writing process -- from preparatory measures to final writing -- the author challenges the assumption that discipline and creativity are incompatible partners. That partnership is described in detail, then dramatized with absorbing examples and illustrations drawn from interviews with experienced practitioners in print and broadcast journalism, public relations and advertising. Each chapter is a discovery of how this reliable partnership for solving writing problems in media applies to both anticipated and unexpected communication situations. Making known what media professionals have learned through trial and error on the job, here is a thinking and writing dynamic that students, new hires, and aspiring free-lancers can now acquire before entering the world of print or broadcast journalism, public relations or advertising.

1

On Being a Mass Media Writer^3

Without any idea of what sort of process is at work, how is one to comprehend why certain conditions enhance understanding whereas others hamper it? And how is one to discover the best methods of training the mind for its profession?

–Rudolph Arnheim (1969)

Media writers are critically tuned conduits of information. Information is their stock in trade, but it is information of a verifiable kind, not hearsay, not fiction. Unlike fiction writers, who are free to write from the depths of their imagination, journalists are expected to write from a bank of information checked and re-checked through a series of valid sources in the real world. Without substantiated information, they have nothing to communicate.

To build that bank of information, professional media writers read all types of print materials. They are practiced at absorbing information with a discriminating mind. They observe people, events, and situations. They listen to speeches, comments, and testimonies. They read fine literature as well as general materials. The latter may include books, newspapers, magazines, press releases, newsletters, manuals, government documents, business reports, professional journals, and the like. All these are composed by people who want the reader to accept what they have written.

Because media writers bring so much of their background reading to their writing, they first take account of their own biases before determining whether the information they hear or see is accurate, a sham, biased, or controversial. These writers are, therefore, astute judges of information. Applying certain critical skills, they have learned how to separate the counterfeit from the genuine. For example, one conservationist claims uncontrolled forest fires minimize new growth. Another claims some fires allowed to run their natural course maximize new and diverse growth. Two witnesses give conflicting accounts of the same event. Checks on statements made by sources or witnesses fail to square with the record. Information in different records concerning the same matter proves contradictory.

In the last analysis, it is the writer who must decide what information is valid and how to write about it. That holds true for all areas of the media, whether the written work is produced for a 12-inch news article, a full-length magazine piece, a 20-second radio or TV spot, a 60-minute video, a press release, or a full-page advertisement. The accuracy and merit of information communicated is the professional writer’s greatest concern.

Of course, a writer may choose to accept received information without question. But then that is the writer who is a passive thinker and an unwitting participant in surface appearances and the claims of others. In addition, the produced copy is more than likely to prove meaningless, inaccurate, incomplete, perhaps even libelous.

There is an alternative choice. The writer can adopt the professional practice of methodical and critical behavior. To act methodically, experienced media writers rely on a systematic strategy. To think critically, they raise relevant questions to evaluate what they observe and what others write or say. They have learned controlled methods of getting answers and thinking critically to produce reliable copy that is creatively written for a mass audience. The professional media writer is, therefore, an active thinker and a critical conduit of information received and communicated. After studying and practicing the principles outlined in this book, the novice will be able to:

• determine the requirements of a writing assignment,

• develop an internal gauge of judgment about received information,

• organize time and the writing task to meet deadlines and reduce stress,

• discover insights that contribute substance to copy,

• write accurate, relevant, creative copy that speaks to an audience, and

• win an editor’s confidence.

When confronted with information requiring a decision, the intellectual independence and self-confidence that accrues from practicing disciplined thinking is rewarding, particularly when that thinking manifests itself in writing. Because critical discipline fosters intellectual freedom, many writers discover that controlled thinking stimulates ideas for creative treatment of what is essentially objective data. Today’s sophisticated public expects objective information not fiction from media writers, but they also expect media writers to engage their interest. Your aim is to produce creative copy that is grounded in objective data. However, one’s imagination need not recede into cold storage. Imagination has a role in mass media writing, but that role comes into play only after a great deal of objective data has been accumulated, evaluated, and digested.

ON THE ISSUE OF OBJECTIVITY

The aim of media professionals is to be objective. That is, they aim to present the facts without bias. Print and broadcast writers are obliged to de-bias themselves and to present accurate information or face litigation. These days public relations and advertising writers must do as much or face angry consumers and clients.

Because media writers deal with complex social matters and people with varying viewpoints, they avoid making snap decisions. They know employers, clients, media consumers, and writers tend to gravitate toward causes and explanations consistent with personal views, and that individual preferences and decisions often reflect tenaciously held values and motives. The forces on human perception and behavior are so complex, scholars of mass media communication are unable to agree on definitions for objectivity, fact, truth. And an approved standard against which media writers can measure objective evidence is still awaiting discovery.

In the physical sciences, researchers answer questions about the world with greater confidence. They measure things: the speed of light, the depth of ocean waters, the age of an unearthed relic. Human behavior is less dependable. Media writers know objectivity is often beyond their grasp, but they also try to get as close to it as possible.

For this reason, professional writers try to be cognizant of motives and values and critically weigh the evidence received. They start with their own biases. They acknowledge them, recognize there is more than one side to any issue, realize even reasonable people will disagree on any matter, and try to determine why they disagree. The ability to recognize one’s own biases, raise relevant questions, identify and organize the most substantial evidence from various sides, and still present objective copy creatively requires skill and practice. It is a methodical and critical skill professionals struggle to perfect because mass media audiences demand it.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUDIENCE

Before writers undertake any media project, they ask: Who cares or is interested in this? The answer identifies the audience and indicates whether the subject matter will serve the interests and needs of that audience.

Once the audience is known, the writer tries to anticipate the questions the audience will want answered because what the writer needs to know about the subject of a media project is usually what the audience needs to know as well. To identify your audience and its needs, ask these basic questions:

• Who cares or is interested in this problem (issue or question)?

• Why do they need or want to know about it?

• What does my audience need or want to know about this problem?

• What do I need or want to know about it?

Other self-inquiries throughout this book will help you write for an audience instead of writing writing, which means writing to satisfy your ego instead of fulfilling the expectations of media consumers.

MEDIA VOICES AND VARIATIONS

Audiences expect media writers to speak in a voice appropriate to the purpose of the message and the medium. For example, the purpose of the news and magazine writer is to inform without fabrication, error, or bias because their audiences expect accurate, complete, and relevant information.

Public relations (PR) audiences, however, know the purpose of PR is to promote the image of a company, its personnel, its product. Like news readers, PR audiences expect accurate information, but they also know that the PR writer discloses only what the company chooses to disclose. Because the purpose of PR work is to persuade, emphasis is placed on information that portrays the company in a favorable light. Unfavorable information is usually put on hold. However, in recent years, the trend in PR is to tell it like it is when a crisis strikes and to explain what the company is doing, or at least planning to do, to correct a bad situation.

The purpose of advertising, like PR, is to persuade. Here, too, the consumer audience expects accurate information about an advertised product, but like PR audiences, they do not expect an impartial appeal. Consumers realize ads are designed to play on buyers’ emotions. They will accept varieties of and varying degrees of honest hyperbole, comedy, and fantasy depending on personal preference or tolerance.

Professional media writers understand these differences in voice, but still rely on verified data to write in whatever creative scope their medium allows. In short, all writers in media have patrons – current, temporary, or prospective – whose attention they must capture, inform, and in some cases convince. However, PR and advertising writers are usually far more selective about information relayed than news and magazine writers. Still, all must be very sure about the information they do relay, or at least indicate its tentative or questionable nature.

PRACTICE IS IMPORTANT

Systematic and critical thinking habits do not happen over night. You learn the skills of professional writers by practicing them, not by being told what to do. It is much like learning how to get a tennis ball over the net or how to play the piano. It takes practice. Acquiring the skills of experienced writers is not easy, but the reward of insight into management of a media assignment is the gratifying outcome.

Refer frequently to the examples and models in this book. They illustrate how the strategy and critical self-inquiries work as a unit to produce a media product worthy of publication. Apply the strategy ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• PREFACE
• 1 ON BEING A MASS MEDIA WRITER
• 2 STATING THE PROBLEM, ISSUE, OR QUESTION
• 3 BACKGROUNDING AND RESEARCHING THE PROBLEM
• 4 THE WORKING STATEMENT
• 5 EVALUATING THE RESEARCH: GENERAL MATERIALS
• 6 EVALUATING THE RESEARCH: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
• 7 DESIGNING THE INTERVIEW PLAN: IT’S IN YOUR COLLECTED DATA
• 8 DESIGNING THE INTERVIEW PLAN: THE SECRET IS IN THE ASKING
• 9 CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW
• 10 ORGANIZING AND CODING THE DATA: GETTING READY FOR ANALYSIS
• 11 ANALYZING THE DATA: MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL
• 12 PRESENTING AND WRITING THE COPY: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
• EPILOGUE: LOOKING BACK
• APPENDIX A: SOME DO’S ABOUT WRITING AND EDITING
• APPENDIX B: WRITING THE TECHNICAL/INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO SCRIPT
• APPENDIX C: THE FREE-LANCE PROJECT
• APPENDIX D: CAREER BACKGROUNDS OF INTERVIEWED MEDIA PROFESSIONALS
• REFERENCES
• AUTHOR INDEX
• SUBJECT INDEX