Keeping it simple, reevaluating TMI, and the book

I smirked when I read George Orwell's essay on the english language. For too long have I believed that using big words makes people sound smart. For too long, I have felt stupid when someone used a "big word" in a sentence that absolutely made no sense no me. I still believe that having an extensive vocabulary can be quite beneficial, but george Orwel's point will not be missed.
"A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible."

Hahahahha. I have never looked at the English language in that way. And he was right, those example were confusing. And within those lies, I remembered the first lesson my journalism teacher in high school taught me..."Write as if you are writing for a five year old." Because when I began to read those examples I found myself skimming the information rather than reading it because the sentences were too complicated. Throughout the essay, Orwell pointed many errors when the Modern English language loses the intended meaning of the sentence while attempting to sound good. I have always had a problem with Latin words. I mean I know that by using Latin words you sound smart but then the reader/listener feels foolish. I guess the point that Orwell is trying to make, and that directly affects us as journalists is, as journalists it is our job to serve our audience in the most simplified manner of information delivery, it is not our job to make us sound smart. Orwell's five rules at the end have been said too many times, but as student, I am used to writing essays that make thing "sound pretty." Therefore a coflict arises between "sounding pretty" and ensuring comprehensions amongst reader. I am working hard toward the latter.

The Academic Prose article was a good follow up to Orwell's essay minus the fun. In other words the prose document laid out the facts straight up. And while reading these documents, I find myself realizing that I practice many of the don'ts but I also know that after writing for newspapers , I have improved my style. I guess experience is the best teacher in this case. In the real world, if our editor knows the rules, then I think we will be okay as beginners. But that does not mean that we stop trying now.

The Thre Mile Island report was a pain to read. But I need to admit that it was quite useful. I do not really want to go in detail with the docment of its extensive nature, but I would like to point out certain things that I realized while reading. I cannot stop thinking about the one line that ABC news correspondent, Bettina said which was something like no information was enough information when she was justifyiing the need for multiple sources. That idea applies to me in real life too. I mean I need to go indepth in all that I lear. I ask a lot of questions, and I thought it was just me. But I realize now that part of it stems from my journalism training.
The second thing that caught my attention was the way the report was quoting the journalist and describing their hjistory. And they spoke about how many of them did not quite know about the topic. And honestly that freaked me out. I mean I could potentially be a subject of a report when all I wanted to do was write the story. They could analyze my writing based on a story and am I ready for that sort of scrutinization.
I was quite impressed with the amont of detailing that was done in order to generate a report of media content. I mea the fact that they had coders to understand and mark the ocntent was intriguing. But what intrigued me the most was the report that suggested that many of the media focued on alarmng the public rather than reassuring. "Give them the facts." but the stats said that for certaing elements of the story, the media reassured the public and for the rest they alarmed. The media is the watchdog of the society, but then our social responsibility calls for owing the public a sense of reassurance. If I were to cover the story I would try to do both.
ALso the fact that the media missed the part about the dumping of sewage into the river and focuesd on soemting else was also quite striking.
Basically this report taught me to do my research, rememeber that I am also a member of society, stick to the facts and understad the true news elements of the story.

PHEW!!!!


Okay now the books:
Ch8 was actually a great supplement to all that we were assigned to read today. It essentially demonstrated the writing that George Orwell stressed: simple and concise, and the need for good reporting.
Good reporting requires observation skills that can document everything in the room. You use all our sense to grasp the atmosphere of the story. And if you have the details thenwriting the writng the story could not be too hard. This chapter probably had the best introduction compared to all the other chapter I have read-- ridiculous! And I completely agree with Patricia Rodriguez's idea of writing for the ear. It is good to read your story out loud but sometimes time does not permit. Another key point made was the use of unbiased language. In a world with Internet and globalization, one needs to be aware of the speed with which the media travels. The need to be careful about language has never been more important than right now.

Ch22 is a necessary chapter in all journalism guides. And no matter how many times it has been reiterated, incidents do happen. As journalist we have the power to gain access to information that not many others can, yet we need to know ehn to draw the line. Ken Paulson's little paragraph is probably the most informative paragraph in the chapter. The questions he asks us to ask ourselves can easily determine where we stand with our story in accordance to the law. We need to stick with our duty toward the truth. I liked how the chapter gave us an insight into the court's point of view. It is always good to know the other side. I could continue talking about this topic for a long time but I would be repeating what I have learned so far. Basically be aware of your surrounding, but more importantly be aware of how you present that documentation of your surroundings.