TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> Either way, it has always been a lie that journalism
is objective. It
> cannot
> be. It is created/committed by human beings who -
try though they might -
> are going to be human filters for whatever they see
and however they
> transcribe it.
I totally agree. I am a technology journalist (well,
isn't that a
combination of both tech writing and journalism) and I
have noticed how the
author's thoughts and beliefs condition a story. An
author likes a
technology and it excites her, you can see it in the
article. The author
hates a vendor, you can see that in the article. In a
few magazines, I have
noticed that the content in articles is also dictated
by marketing tactics
(XYZ regularly advertises through our magazine,
perhaps you should mention
him in this article.) A lot of such factors, not
always wrong, condition how
a story ultimately shapes up.
> When writing stories about abortion controversies in
court or public
> debate,
> I made certain to have exactly the same number of
paragraphs and points on
> one side as I did on the other.
Wise. Yet, I have noticed that sometimes equal number
of paragraphs are not
required to balance both sides of an issue in a story.
Every sentence in an
article can be in favour of an issue, but a cleverly
worded conclusion that
brings the flipside to the readers' attention is
enough to set them
thinking.
> Journalism is committed by people. If you believe
any source of
> information
> is somehow "totally truthful, objective, or
comprehensive", then you are
> going through life with your eyes half closed and
with blinders on.
Agreed. How an author perceives a situation,
interprets, analyzes, and
ultimately communicates it to the readers depends on
the personality,
experience, thoughts, opinions, and umpteen other
factors that are exclusive
to that author. As long as authors have a mind of
their own, there is bound
to be subjectivity in journalism and writing.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
