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Location: Emotion in the Media
Discussion: The effect of writing in someone else's voice
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SusanGreenberg |
The effect of writing in someone else's voice
Mar 13 2009, 9:05 PM EDT
As a practitioner, now teaching on a writing programme, I would like to air an issue that I believe may have an impact on the emotional life of journalists, but which doesn't get discussed very often.When you are writing "for hire", you have to adopt the tone and voice of the organisation paying you. Although people have criticised the conventions of 'objective' reporting, it does have at least one clear advantage for the journalist, who can write in a neutral voice, and keep a distance from both the story and audience. Nowadays, many media demand something that sounds more emotional, personal and subjective. If you have some control over what you write about, and how you do it, this is not a problem. But if the feelings being demanded of you are not authentic, it takes much more out of you. When that happens over and over, across the years, it can create conflictual feelings which are hard to live with. It would be interesting if someone were to explore this more fully, perhaps relating it to the issues raised by Arlie Russell Hochschild, in her books, "The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling", and "The Commercialization of Intimate Life" Do you find this valuable?
Keyword tags:
alienated objectivity
emotion
journalism
subjectivity
voice
writing
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SusanGreenberg |
1. RE: The effect of writing in someone else's voice
Mar 24 2009, 2:18 PM EDT
| Post edited: Mar 24 2009, 2:19 PM EDT
An afterthought occurs to me... We talk about "alienated objectivity"... What I am describing here could be described as "alienated subjectivity"Do you find this valuable? |
CSreedharan |
2. RE: The effect of writing in someone else's voice
Apr 1 2009, 8:34 PM EDT
"An afterthought occurs to me... We talk about "alienated objectivity"... What I am describing here could be described as "alienated subjectivity"Susan, interesting thought. You might find this piece on how journalists report trauma useful/interesting: http://interjunction.org/article/how-did-you-feel-then/ I am not sure whether trying to write in a neutral voice would be of any real help in a situation, though. Agree, though, writing in a 'falsetto' is terrible -- whether what's demanded of you is an 'objective falsetto' or a 'subjective falsetto'... Trouble with journalism, and most news editors, is that it is so prescriptive. But, hey, things are getting better, I would like to believe. Imagine five years ago trying to convince your editor you would rather do a first person piece from a war zone than a, ahem, 'objective' piece! Do you find this valuable? |
