On "just saying" and "putting it out there"

On air…
Dan: Have you noticed how phrases like "Just saying" and "putting it out there" seem to be everywhere these days?
Barbara: Yes, it's like people use them to say whatever they want without taking responsibility. Making our society more chaotic, maybe?
Dan: Definitely. Social media amplifying these phrases, making it easier for politicians and conspiracy theorists to spread lies and fake news just to get attention.
Barbara: Remember Vance? He admitted to telling lies to make a better story.
Dan: Exactly. It's scary how effective that strategy can be. The more they repeat these lies, the more people start to believe them, creating divisions in society.
Barbara: And social media just makes it worse. The echo chamber ups the volume. A constant state of outrage. Everyone trying to outdo each other with more shocking stories.
Dan: Unchecked for facts, yes. And the algorithms on social media platforms prioritize these kinds of posts because they generate more engagement.
Barbara: Which means more ad revenue for the platforms, but more misinformation for us. It's a vicious cycle.
Dan: It's not just politicians and conspiracy theorists. Even regular people use these phrases to avoid accountability for their words.
Barbara: Saying something controversial without fully committing to it. "Just saying" gives them an out if they get called out.
Dan: And "putting it out there" could give the impression someone is sharing an idea, even if it's totally fake. You never know what's true anymore because there’s such a cacophony of competing stories.

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Voice-over
Some news outlets are making efforts to restore balance and credibility in journalism. ABC, today for example, reasserted its commitment to impartial reporting and fact-checking. It's tough to do, especially in today's media landscape, but crucial for maintaining public trust. Can the ship be saved from capsizing?

wh5 vs whh

Who?

Where there’s smoke…
Bob: There is corruption, I’m sure.
Carl: Is there a provable link? Can you follow the money?
Bob: We’ll find it. Asking all the political questions: what, when, where, who and how.
Carl: Not the narrative question: why? 
Bob: Well, how is like why, isn’t it.
Carl: Not even close. "How" is modus operandi. "Why" is the reason explaining an event.
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Voice-over
Questions reveal facts and drive a narrative. The basic ones are wh5 (what, when, where, who, why). Perhaps “how” should be spelt whow.

Interviewing the Interviewer (2)

Spy vs spy…
Interviewer: You’ve been an interviewer for 40 years. Particularly in Japan. What’s the most important thing to keep in mind while interviewing?
Stephen: You, the interviewer, are the medium. The interviewee is the message. Your job as interviewer is to help the interviewee tell their story.
Interviewer: And as the interview progresses?
Stephen: Keep a balance of planned questions and spontaneous questions. Questions should be short. Allow the interviewee to tell a story. Keep the tone light, don’t beat a topic to death.
Interviewer: Do you prepare?
Stephen: Usually. Times I haven’t it’s gone less well. You may not use your research but it’s there to be drawn on. Plans are useless but planning is essential.
Interviewer: As an interviewer do you ever find yourself interrogating friends?
Stephen: Oh yes. They sometimes say, you aren’t conversing, you’re interrogating me. And you have to learn to the difference between interrupting and interjecting. Takes practice.

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Voice-over
The interviewee tells stories of his successes and sketches of when things went wrong. An admirable synopsis of interviewing.

Truthful headlines

Agriculture and horticulture journalists chat…

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Aggie: You OK? You look a bit off-color.

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Hortense: Had my annual health check-up this morning. Barium.

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Aggie: Sympathies. Kick in the guts that stuff.

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Hortense: Zombies you. But I’ve got to think of a headline for my column today.

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Aggie: What’s the topic?

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Hortense: Rhubarb. Having writer’s block getting a title any better than “How to grow better rhubarb.”

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Aggie: The title has to attract readers.

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Hortense: How about “Orchids that bloom underground”?

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Aggie: Hmm. Maybe we’re straying into fake news a bit with that.

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Voice-over

Granted the need to spice up a headline. But readers will feel misled by a fake off-topic headline. “Growing better rhubarb” catches a gardener’s eye well enough. It has a down to earth appeal.

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Troll bones found in Norsewood

Ready for a new assignment…

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Woodward: Things are getting exciting. Today he rambled incoherently, then shouted at everyone they weren’t giving him a fair hearing and burst into tears.

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Bernstein: Sounds like a story I could report on.

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Woodward: Get yourself up here. There’s more than just giving speeches nobody understands. He’s giving orders for the police to arrest mayors and judges who won’t do what he orders.

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Bernstein: This sounds more exciting than reporting from Norsewood. Hey, did I tell you they just found evidence for the existence of trolls? Troll bones have been excavated.

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Woodward: You’ll get more readers if you cover the news up here.

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Voice-over

Incoherency? Anger? Tears? An approval rating suggesting that still a third of the people approve of him? Maybe they identify with incoherency and anger and tears…

Choose your stories. Know what people will read. What’s hot, what’s not. But sometimes a little light relief is good too, eh Trevor?

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Economist on Trump, Chomsky on Trump: Trump as Hitler

Morning meeting with the editor…

Economist Dec 8, 2015

Journalist: Possibly the most commonly asked question these days is why Trump is getting so much support.

Editor: The Economist published a graph correlating his support rising each time he made an outrageous statement. Media theory that sensation outsells good news?

Journalist: If he became president he would be an international embarrassment.

Editor: But more of a worry is the reason why people are getting behind him.

Journalist: People believe he’s rich so he would fix the economy? Ha. He says things that other politicians are too afraid to say in public? Many of the American public secretly believe the outrageous things he says?

Editor: All of the above. Triumph of emotion over reason.

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Voice-over

Many meticulous predictions of how a Trump presidency would play out are disturbing. Snippets from Noam Chomsky:

"Trump is appealing primarily to less educated white sectors of the population, lower middle class and working class, people who are angry, frustrated, frightened, bitter that they have been cast by the wayside… Hitler’s hostility drove forward a historic process in which resentment against a disenchanted world found deliverance in the ecstatic escape of unreason."

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Extreme Reporting Assignments

In a press club…

AP: Stay out of the way of the Islamic State or North Korea.

WP: I guess somebody’s got to file stories.

AP: Takes a special kind of character to go into such places. Could become a hostage. Could lose your head.

WP: What do you carry on the job when you go into difficult places with no police, government, embassies or Red Cross?

AP: The Emma Beals approach. Dumpy bag containing energy tabs, bulletproof vest, med kit, camera, iPad Mindy, Iridium tracker, Moleskine notebook, mic. Don’t look like you are who you are. Blend and look nondescript. You’re thinking of going?

WP: It’s not me. I’ll stick with writing movie reviews. And maybe doing a little Photoshop.

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Voice-over

There are journalists who go after real stories. To be the voice of the downtrodden. For justice. Journos whose spirit rejects routine. And then there are those who rephrase stories that are media or in the media.

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