Sad Bitch Guide to the Fundamentals of Reporting and Beyond

If we're going to talk about the fundamentals of reporting, really the best way I can describe it to you is that essentially to be considered credible it has to be as boring and laid-out as possible. 

The whole point of journalism is to have an angle, but you have to find a way to push your point without the stating of opinions, emotive language, unorthodox sources or making things up (obviously this is the challenge for me). It means you have to be a bit careful/sneaky in how you push your angle or objective, but I suppose that is what ethics are for (once again maybe not for me). 

But what really are the fundamentals of journalism? In order to really understand journalism, we have to look into the role of a journalism, why they are essential to society and why despite all this, they are still a massive pain in society's nether-regions. 

Journalists are called 'knowledge workers,' which basically means journos are noisy and always trying to find a news story for their usual mediocre newspaper (my local newspaper is an example of this). However what can and can't be printed is a big part of journalism- the idea of 'on' and 'off' the record is fairly sacred and privacy of sources is highly regarded (at least it is in any B-Grade Hollywood movie). However, the platform and ways in which a journalist writes is almost as important as having genuine and reliable sources.

In print media, news stories should be clear and straightforward, with a strong lead so the audience can read the title and already know how they should feel about a story without actually reading the article (people are lazy and often avoid thinking for themselves). It is usually in this title or 'lead' where a journalist can be sneaky and put in a damning opinion without burying the hatchet in their own article.

We all thought the same thing.

Photography does come into play in stories, because nothing says important like a big colour photo that takes up half the front page.

Television often plays into these visual cues, because if you have a video or photo of something, once again it must be true (even though this was probably the most dramatic of the six versions that were taken/ filmed.)

Essentially when you are reporting you should be dealing with facts, and only the facts, because it stops you from being the victim of 'kite-flyers,'- those who like to show how  'in tune' they are to the world and purposely humiliate people and journalists over the internet to prove some point.

The Internet itself is complete game-changer, so articles are obviously designed for this different platform and often audience. Online news-stories often need visual cues- relevant or not. Essentially if Miley Cyrus has done something rebellious, photos of her at the MTV Music Awards in 2013 is totally the appropriate photo for the present story, no matter what it is.

This photo will never not be relevant. 

So at the end of this all I can say is how a story is written or how it 'leads' is not always they position a story would actually always take- lets be slightly lazier and read the first three lines or something before posting our 'informed' opinions all over the internet.