In which I rant about good journalism
Before I really start this rant I have a few things I need to say. On August 23, Jackie (NOT ME) went to the Carrie Vaughn signing at Schulers Books (and Music) in Lansing, Michigan. (I live in Florida and couldn’t make the drive up there.) She made two facebook statuses that night, one worrying about whether the night would end in chaos or not. In the other status, she said she was disappointed in SE Michigan because approximately 20 people showed up to the signing (I will show both statuses in their entirety later on). A few people were upset by this and a whole lot of facebook drama ensued. I personally don’t think facebook drama is worth anything (if you don’t like me, say it to my face not my facebook). However, Jenni made “just a few editorial comments for the sake of good journalism.” I am currently putting myself through school to become a journalist and I CANNOT leave that comment alone. I am NOT here to attack Jenni, or Schulers or Jackie or anyone else. I am simply here to EDUCATE in the ways of journalism.
Journalism is reporting the news to the public. News is NOT your opinion. News will NEVER be your opinion. NEWS AND OPINIONS ARE NOT THE SAME THING! Everyone has an opinion and they can share their opinion but it is NOT the news and CANNOT claim to be news. Is this starting to make sense? If you’re reading a newspaper, blog or watching the news on TV and see/hear the words “I think,” “I believe,” “In my opinion,” “My understanding of the story is…”, know this – that is NOT news. Because the FIRST and MOST IMPORTANT rule of journalism is keeping yourself (the journalist) OUT of the story. Journalists are supposed to present the FACTS in an unbiased way. Unbiased meaning, presenting both sides of the story without showing favoritism to one particular side.
Like I said before, I’m putting myself through college to become a journalist, so I do know what I’m talking about here. I’m the news editor for our school paper which means I have to edit every single news article that is submitted. I have to make sure that the journalist didn’t use words that show their opinions or favoritism. It isn’t always as easy or as simple as finding the words “I,” “Me,” or “In my opinion,” but words like “old man” (everyone has a different idea of who is old), “awesome” (my awesome may be crap to you) or even “the best thing ever.” All those words show a bias towards one side of the story. Like I’ve been saying, journalists NEVER EVER SHOW THEIR OPINION and that’s what makes being a journalist so dang hard. Because no matter what, I will have an opinion on a story, but when I write about it, I cannot put my opinion in it.
Pop quiz time! (I know, you thought that ended with school but I’m just going to have to pop that bubble) I’m going to give you two sentences and all you have to do is figure out which one is biased. Ready, set go!
1. “Bob was the best contestant at the National Apple Eating Contest eating fifteen apples in five minutes. Jennifer came in second place, eating only twelve apples.”
2. “Annie joined the army because she believed that she could help protect her country. Her sister Amber joined the UN because she believed that the rest of the world could use more help.”
Take your time to read them over and think about what I said earlier. I’ll sit here and wait while you figure it out. Don’t worry, I have all the time in the world. I can sit here and sing a song while you look over each sentence, looking for the words that show a bias toward one side of the story or show the journalists opinion. Lalalalala.
Ready for the answer? It’s sentence number one! When I said “Bob was the best” that showed pure bias-ness towards Bob. Instead of saying “the best” I should have said “Bob won first place at the National Apple Eating Contest…” Just because he won doesn’t necessarily make him the best. Did you get it right? If so, you get a brownie! But not from me. ‘Cause I don’t trust the mail to give you a brownie before it goes bad. So you have my permission to go out and buy yourself that brownie you were secretly eyeing at the bakery. Go forth and enjoy that brownie because you deserve it! If you didn’t get my pop quiz right, well…I can’t stop you from eating a brownie, but hopefully you now know how to use a critical eye when reading a newspaper while eating that delicious brownie.
Getting back to the reason why I wrote this rant – Jenni made her comments for “good journalism.” Her comments were PURELY her biased opinions. I’m not saying her opinions were wrong, but I am saying she cannot say that they are good journalism. This is what she posted on facebook on August 24, at 6:04 pm:
Just a few editorial comments for the sake of good journalism: It is Schuler Books (and Music); wine not wince; it was a Girl’s Night Out Event and they always serve wine; the first thing Whitney said about the wine was “for those of age”; wine is never served at YA specific events; Lansing is in central or mid Michigan; MSU IS the largest university in MI; Grand Rapids is approximately 2.47 times… larger than Lansing; I whole heartedly believe that you are entitled to your opinion, as I believe others are entitled to theirs on this topic; however, when your goal was clearly to criticize the bookstore I see no valid reason to pretend later in the evening that it was not. For example, agreement with the statement concerning marketing abilities of “the venue” is a clear attack on “the venue”. I do, clearly, see a reason to defend an amazing Indie bookstore that brings in talented and enjoyable authors to a typically appreciative audience.
Okay, so the facts that Jenni used (Lansing being in central Michigan, MSU being the largest university in MI, etc.) are completely irrelevant to the topic. Yes the signing was in Lansing but who cares that Grand Rapids is approximately 2.47 times larger? If this was for any kind of actually news story all of that would be thrown out of the story. Poof! Gone. The rest of her comments…yes she is entitled to her opinions, but for the sake of good journalism let’s see what Jackie actually said. Her first status was:
So I’m at Schulars for the Carrie Vaughn and I’m nervous. They have nothing in place for tonight including copies of her new books. Either they are not expecting a crowd or it is going to end in chaos.
Does that sound like an attack on Schulers to you (apart from accidentally misspelling the name of the store)? To me it just sounds like a legitimate concern for someone who is using her knowledge of prior book signings. But that is my opinion of that status. Jackie’s second status was this:
I’m disappointed in SE Michigan. There was only about 20 of us at the Carrie Vaughn signing. She’s a fabulous author and it should have been packed. I was expecting a far larger crowd and hopefully we can do that for the Smart Chicks tour in October.
Okay, honestly, I don’t care if Jackie ran around screaming “Burn it down – this book store SUCKS!” (She would never ever do that, this is me just making a wild example.) That would be her opinion. If she decided to share that opinion, I wouldn’t really hate her for it. (Okay maybe I would hate her for wanting to burn down a book store – because that is WRONG – but since we all know Jackie would NEVER say that, let alone act upon it, we don’t hate her.) But if she went around saying “In the name of good journalism, I’m here to tell you that Schuler Books (and music) is the worst place ever and we should burn it down!” Well then I’d have a bigger problem with that because that is NOT journalism. That is an opinion. (Remember that paragraph up there, where I already went over this?)
That is my problem with all of this. I don’t care what Jackie’s opinion is or what Jenni’s opinion is – I just can’t stand the fact that Jenni claimed her opinion as journalism. Editorials are opinions – journalism is facts presented in an unbiased way.
If I were writing an article on the event (it would be a feature article, not news, because news is always something that’s needs to be published ASAP. This wouldn’t be so important. Just another little journalistic tip for you.) I would interview the person in charge of setting up for the event at Shuler, track down others (besides Jackie) who showed up to get more of the overall feel from the group, see if Carrie Vaughn herself wouldn’t mind giving her opinion on the subject and her publicist too. With all of their opinions, I would be able to write about what THEY thought of the event. (Maybe Carrie Vaughn loved being able to spend time with that small crowd, getting to know her fans better. Maybe her publicist was so disappointed in the small turn out that they will never again use Schulers. I don’t know what their thoughts or opinions on the subject are, but a good journalist who is reporting about the event would find out!)
Let me reiterate a few things before you go off and eat that brownie. One, I was not at the Carrie Vaughn signing so I don’t really have an opinion on what happened. I am NOT here to attack either Jackie or Jenni, or say who was right or wrong. Everyone is allowed to have an opinion. But nobody (and I mean NOBODY) can claim that their opinion is fact. That was the purpose of this rant – to show how opinions are not facts. Hopefully after reading this you can go forth into life knowing how to differentiate between fact and opinion in the news.
