The Story is in the Telling

If there is one thing I have learned while writhing this little chronicle, it has been to distrust the media even more than I already do.

To me, reporting is as much the art of storytelling than it is the science of recounting the facts. After all, newscasts don’t give the top facts of the day, they tell the top story. In any given event there are multiple points of view. If the topic is subjective, each point of view may also carry multiple personal opinions. But, the story gets confusing and hard to tell if there are any more players than the good guy and the bad guy. The story gets too long if all the details are discussed. So you take a bucket of facts, pick out enough to fill the time slot, and assemble your story.

Politicians are infamous for spinning a story for their benefit. Can’t emphasis be used in the same manner? Maybe everything the reporter says is true, but the emphasis is leaning toward an ideal. I use emphasis all the time to down play how much the majority of a day might have sucked, and accentuate the vastly outnumbered good parts of a day. The end result is that the day seems better than it really was.

The craft of storytelling is often in the distillation. Even if the truth is told, it’s probably not the whole truth, relevant or not. The whole truth would make a tediously long and boring story. There are stories I have not told and probably won’t be told for one reason or another. They don’t get to influence the overall tone of the journey because I don’t want them to. Plain and simple. There is no reason to believe that a majority of the sources that reporters use don’t do the same thing.

Every news source is out for ratings. The journalist is taxed with the responsibility of making the story interesting. I can only speak for myself here, but I am not a strong enough writer to enhance a story simply by writing well. I need interesting subject matter. Sometimes that’s not enough and I slip in a little white lie to make the story flow. These are not things that have any bearing on what the outcome of the event is, just a little filler to pick up the dull spots. Here’s the funny thing: people often remember the little white lies or anecdotes more than the point of the story. After all, they are entertaining- that’s what they are designed to do. At the end of the day there is a story that is more remembered for the fabrication and fluff, rather than the overall message.

Then there are adjectives and little journalistic liberties. Was the fire gargantuan, as the reporter said, or was it merely big. What is your definition of the two? Who is to say that enormous is bigger than huge, or vise versa. Is picking a heavier word misrepresenting the story, or just used to avoid using the same word over and over again?

Just some thoughts.