Declan Schweitzer

Intro To Journalism

Heather Chaplin

10.7.10

Journal 4

This week I thought that it would be helpful to explore a new medium of news since I have been getting most of my news by reading it only. Instead of only reading I decided to compare a story that I heard reported to one I read. Both were on the same issue, flu vaccinations but each took a different approach. I think that the most striking difference was the story each decided to tell but, the point of the comparison was not to find out how the content of each article differed, instead it was about how to distinguish a written news article from a radio news report. What does each do that the other doesn’t and what is the same between them?

My first observation was not surprisingly that quotes are used in a very similar way. Both formats of news have a seemingly formulaic method of using direct and concise quotes to verify specific claims they make. Further, they both make a claim and waste no time giving a relevant quotes to back themselves up. Usually it is in the next line. I found this to be very important because it made me think of how on a conscious level it may not be important to put a quote directly after your assertion. However in the hopes of making an article flow and subconsciously sound and feel honest and truthful, putting a quote as near as possible to the assertion of the article makes the most sense. I think that both written news and radio news need that sense of flowing and subliminal legitimacy because they are the pieces of information that people don’t have time to ponder. They either feel good or bad about an article and judge the validity of the claims accordingly.

I did notice however, that with audio, you have a lot more flexibility with quoting and claims. In the radio news clip I listened to the author choose to quote or perhaps I should say “sample” a part of a radio advertisement, which proved her point about flu vaccinations. Afterwards I was thinking about how the written piece could have included something like that and although I think it can be done, it would probably mean going on a tangent within the story to illustrate a greater point. This I felt might be dangerous because it could disengage and lead the reader astray. For the radio piece however it was perfect because it verified the claim that one can get flu shots everywhere and it made sense to use the advertisement that way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/health/25patient.html?_r=1

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130242508