Week 5: Final Project and Student Response

Tiffany VanVolkinburg

8:07pmDec 14 at 8:07pm

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The last sentence in the article, Emphasizing Enterprise Reporting, from this week's readings states "no matter how much the platforms change, first-class journalism remains essential" (Rieder, 2012). Proof of this lies in the traffic a news story, especially those outside of the 'breaking news/hard-hitting news' categories, receive from readers.

When looking for an article to analyze, I browsed The New York Times' website, since they are my typical go-to for print news coverage.I came across a story about the Zika virus, which swept news headlines last year. The headline for the article was the first journalistic technique I noticed--especially since it was what prompted me to stop and read the story--which read, As Zika Babies Become Toddlers, Some Can't See, Walk or Talk . (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

The story was about the first wave of children born with the Zika virus, and their developmental problems as they reach toddler age. It included several studies conducted by the CDC, and other health organizations around the world, that have kept track of the amount of children born with the Zika virus since it's initial outbreak a few years ago. The results were based on the most severe cases.

As I began reading the story, I was completely engaged in the content. I finished the article before I even realized I had been reading long enough to reach an ending. The journalistic style I noticed that made the article so engaging was the compelling source commentary used throughout the piece. As journalists, it is imperative that we remain objective, but great commentary is the best way to liven up a story while still delivering factual and non-biased information. The reporter, Pam Belluck, did an amazing job with this stylistic technique, and using this technique was able to inject relatable human emotions into the writing (like sadness and empathy) while remaining neutral.

One journal article discusses the impact of journalistic techniques and styles on society, saying "journalism’s techniques, as with all forms of media, take over and reshape moral models of human society. Techniques become metaphors that predispose particular ways of thinking" (Miller, 2012). Thus, I think it is imperative that a reporter creates an engaging piece of writing without presenting a biased influence to a reader's internalization of the content, because of the reporter's writing style. So, when I read this heart-tugging article, I was thoroughly impressed with Belluck's achievment of this.

Tiffany VanVolkinburg

References

Miller, J. (2012). MAINSTREAM JOURNALISM AS ANTI-VERNACULAR MODERNISM. Journalism Studies, 13(1), 1-18. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2011.578946

Rieder, R. (2012, April 4). Emphasizing enterprise reporting (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. . Retrieved from http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=5284