Question #5
This March the Associated Press made a change in how it offered wire stories. Read the following excerpts from an Editor and Publisher article:
New on the Wire: AP to Offer Two Leads for Some Stories
In a break with tradition at the 156-year-old news cooperative, the AP will now offer two different leads for many of its news stories. "The concept is simple: On major spot stories -- especially when events happen early in the day -- we will provide you with two versions to choose between," the AP said in an advisory to members. "One will be the traditional 'straight lead' that leads with the main facts of what took place. The other will be the 'optional,' an alternative approach that attempts to draw in the reader through imagery, narrative devices, perspective or other creative means."
The advisory added that the change is an attempt to "enhance the value of the AP news report to your newspaper." The AP serves about 1,700 members.
An example of the differing leads:
Traditional
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) A suicide attacker set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners Thursday, splattering blood and body parts over rows of overturned white plastic chairs. The attack, which killed 47 and wounded more than 100, came as Shiite and Kurdish politicians in Baghdad said they overcame a major stumbling block to forming a new coalition government.
Optional
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) Yet again, almost as if scripted, a day of hope for a new, democratic Iraq turned into a day of tears as a bloody insurgent attack undercut a political step forward.
On Thursday, just as Shiite and Kurdish politicians in Baghdad were telling reporters that they overcame a major stumbling block to forming a new coalition government, a suicide attacker set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners in the northern city of Mosul.
Some are concerned that the optional approach cannot help but have bias and opinion interweaved into the otherwise factual narrative, thus going against the ideal of journalistic objectivity. What do you think?
posted by Kate at 9:48 AM
3 Comments:
I agree that the examples provided are pretty bad writing and do show how more creative writing can get sloppy and promote bias. The hard lead is obviously crisp, attention grabbing writing.
What is particularly dangerous about this new idea is that those biases get distributed to almost ever newspaper in the country, day in and day out.
That being said, if these softer leads are crafted well, i think they could be a great asset to the profession and to the readers. I have this nostalgic notion that newspaper writing used to be more exciting narrative with a bit more character, and over time we have beaten the art out of the skill. I would like to think that we could regain some of that charm and savvy through a more serious focus on alternative lead styles.
7:42 PM, October 23, 2005
Objectivity is a nice idea. But it's a leap to postulate that a change in style is equal to more bias in the news. First, there is always bias. News consumers can't get the whole story. A newsworthy event is remembered and recaptured by different people in different ways. The same event, retold by ten people will yield ten different stories. In journalism, this is true of both the interviewees and the journalists on the ground. The stories we read are filtered through layers of opinion that are introduced by those involved: reporters, editors, and even readers themselves.
I think the news is doomed to be a little biased. That said, I also think most journalists try as hard as possible to eliminate their own voice from their writing and editing. So I trust (perhaps foolishly) that even if the day's news is occassionally told in a more narrative way, it will serve to draw in readers rather than be a stumbling block for objectivity. This is the kind of writing news magazines do well - and we trust them to remain as unbiased as possible.
Personally, I'm attracted to the idea of presenting information in different ways - charts, photo illustrations, feature-esque stories, etc. I'd like to see more colorful language, more expression and literature in news writing. Variety is, after all, the chili pepper of existence.
1:00 AM, October 24, 2005
I think this other version sounds a lot like television news which is fine but television news is different from print. Do we want to get away from print all together in order to get more readers? I am not so sure it's the best idea. The fact that AP is giving readers a choice is interesting though and the second lead was a bit more creative so maybe this idea will get more readers.
11:59 AM, October 25, 2005
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