August 20, 2009


The 3 key parts of news stories you usually don’t get

Matt Thompson uses US healthcare reform as a launchpad for analyzing the best and worst of journalism. This is a must read. (via waxy)

Take a look at this Washington Post topic page on health reform. As I write, it includes a list of headlines signaling recent events in the health-care debate: several Democrats called the public plan essential, key senators are pushing cooperatives as an alternative, patients want more transparency on doctors’ links to Pharma, etc.

This stuff is what most news organizations consider the foundation of journalism: the news. To the extent that any of the other parts of a news story get traction, they must fit into a structure where the news is the main attraction.

Of course, this is also the most ephemeral piece of a news story. The reality that these headlines reflect today will likely be completely changed tomorrow. The lead article, about Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats calling the public plan essential, encapsulates an isolated moment of political posturing in a neverending storm of signals sent in press releases, conferences, and interviews, through spokespeople and Twitter accounts, during appearances on Sunday talk shows. By October, this story will lose most of its present meaning.

We often theorize that over time, the accumulated weight of all this news compresses into a sort of understanding, but I remain unconvinced.

posted by Andrew Simone in journalism 

comments

One Response to “The 3 key parts of news stories you usually don’t get”

  1. Michael Smith on August 20th, 2009 at 11:57 am

    I often think that if the news industry dumped the idea that a news story is ever balanced the nation would be much better off. This is probably an over generalization, but it seems that much of what I read today is all about reporting what someone else is saying about the topic with little to no effort put toward validating claims.

    Journalists, I think, shouldn’t be afraid to say, ‘that guy’s full of shit.’ It’s one of the reasons I love Jon Stewart. Sure, it becomes my responsibility to sort out the facts from the truthiness, but the openness of it all makes all that easier.

    I guess I’m saying ‘news’ should be more like a conversation…if that makes sense.

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