# Journalism summarized

True journalism is rare, and most people who go to journalism school are taught how to [distort the image](people-image-distortion.md) of things.

- However, the discipline of journalism is the art of [storytelling](stories-storytellers.md), but directed at conveying stories that are both informative and interesting.

Without good journalism, the endless facts will interfere with the audience's easy [understanding](understanding.md) of a [story](stories-why.md).

## Starting with facts

Due to [marketing](marketing.md) reasons, the temptation to [distort the image of the truth](people-image-distortion.md) is far too great to ignore.

- It all starts with the headline and "lede" (introductory line of the story), but the opening of the story creates the flow and mood of the entire article.
- In an [information overload](information.md) society, shorter and emotional will win on [social media](networks-social.md) over facts.

The easiest way is to see an example. For this example, we'll use the quote of a CEO in the automotive industry to talk about new [technologies](technology.md) in cars that may use tracking:

- "The truth is, we have no control over what people choose to do with our vehicles. If they want to disable the new technology, they have that right. However, their liability will be an utter bloodbath if they get into an accident and everyone else has it. All we care about is the safety of our customers, and disabling this technology could get in the way of that."

Opinions aside, what he said wouldn't be considered groundbreaking. However, we can make the following emotional headlines about it:

- Just In! Auto Exec Says Surveillance Tech Is Coming And Forecasts A Bloodbath For Everyone Who Doesn't Comply
- CEO of Major Auto Company Says Drivers Are At Fault For Company's Tech
- Major Auto Exec Says There Will Be A Bloodbath If People Turn Down Surveillance Tech

As you can see, the lede is a severe misstatement. At the same time, it's important to give *something* that summarizes for people:

- Auto Exec Indicates Hesitancy Over Surveillance Tech Shutdown
- Major Auto Industry CEO Addresses Surveillance Tech Concerns
- CEO Opines On Company's Latest Auto Surveillance Tech

It must be truthful, but also draw attention, and that balance is very difficult to attain.

- That balance is where the art of journalism arises: in winnowing out the boring and mundane to inform the public.

## Doing the work

The actual work for good journalism is difficult, and requires many elements:

- Combing through [lots of information](information.md)
- Doing research on what you don't know
- Researching cited sources, including [scientific papers](science.md) and past interviews
- Contacting people, conducting interviews, and asking questions people would want to know

With the exception of contacting people, the internet now empowers *anyone* to be a journalist.

- However, the purpose of the work is to do what other people either don't want or care to do.
- In light of this, stay humble enough to realize that *you* as a journalist are never as special as the information you dig out.

Most journalists, sadly, give the industry a bad name.

- Many of them simply wait for their talking points.
  - At one point, they'd sit by the fax machine and get the headlines and talking points they were supposed to portray.
  - In recent years, many of them turned to [social media](networks-social.md) for their "breaking news" (Twitter was one example for about a decade).

## Presenting the information

The research for collating the information into a usable end requires several steps:

1. Decide what's actually important.
2. Omit the unimportant or boring information.
3. Edit the entire thing to give a clear flow, with some type of tangible call to action at the end.

The domains of this articulate into the corresponding domains of [writing well](language-writing.md) or [show business](business-show.md), depending on your medium.