Writing in the media environment

1. Writing in the media environment

2. Writing in the media environment means taking on the principles and practices of a professional. The writer must undergo an acculturation.

3. Purpose of media writing • Information, not opinion • Accuracy – presenting accurate information – is the chief goal. • Writing for an audience • Observing the conventions and practices of media writing

4. Conventions and practices • Objectivity and fairness • Impersonality • Sources and attribution • Editing and editors • Limitations of time and space • Deadlines

5. Objectivity • Part of the ethical contract with readers • The “third party” demeanor we take on in our writing practices • Problems with the concept

6. Impersonality • Avoid direct, personal statements • Do not use first- and second-person pronouns outside direct quotations • Direct the reader to the content of the writing, not the writer

7. Writing coherently • Information, first • Writing simply • Unified writing, transitions

8. Transitions • connectors • hooks • Pronouns • Associations • logic

9. Three steps to improve your writing • Read • Analyze • Emulate

10. And finally . . . The man who won’t read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. Mark Twain