Monday, January 02, 2006

Objective what?!?

Seeing as I am, in this college age, studying the field of Mass Communications, I have been thinking about the job of the reporter/writer/journalist. One of the many jobs that we take as being journalist is the duty of objectivity. Objectivity as Dictionary.com is "judgment based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices". As a human being, it is hard to view something, an event or occurrence, without emotion or personal prejudices. If someone is to write about an event, how are they to choose one detail over another? How is he to remain objective? Won't the journalist, by their choice of details, already make the article subjective? Subjective is the opposite of the word Objective, as in the world of journalism. Subjectivity according to Dictionary.com is "judgment based on individual personal impressions and feelings and opinions rather than external facts". So with this in mind, if one is to remain objective about a story, one will have to remove all instances of personal impressions and stick to facts. How is one to remain objective when reporting a rape. The pure nature of the crime is severe, proving that if one is to remain objective in such a case a reader would be appalled by the cold nature of the article.

The reason that I am going over this is because of my current read. I just finished "Kingdom of Fear" by Hunter S. Thompson. He is famed for starting Gonzo journalism, a supersubjective way of reporting news. He coined this idea and like the great Karl Marx, it was made out of the purest of all intentions. Hunter designed this to create a way of reporting without editing and censoring the journalist. He devised a plan to trust the authority of the journalist, and take away the censoring that binds and hurts the honest and sincere intentions of the writer; to leave their thoughts and feelings honest and pure. I, for one, admire this way of reporting. It would make for a more honest society, maybe. Honesty is such a hard idea to conjure up. People have feelings, which by their nature are genuine and honest, but are change to become more acceptable to society when they spoken or written on paper.

It has been a while since I have read for pleasure, due mostly to classes. Classes inhibit my motivation to read because it harms my eyes after a while, that and I become lazy after a while and forget to read other stuff. I wish that I read more and wrote more. My cousin Amy told me "my favorite professor told me to write at least 4 pages a day, even about inane stuff. It will gradually make you better". I think that this is right. Although you may start to write shit at the beginning, it will help you in the long run. You will eventually start to get into a flow of writing. Flow is the most important thing that a writer can possess. Without flow, no one would read Dan Brown's popular books. People wouldn't make it past the third chapter of "The Catcher in the Rye," and finish it with a deeper understanding of their own teenage angst.

Well, that is it for me. I hope to keep this writing up for the rest of the break. I still have the last two hours of "Band of Brothers" to complete as well as a whole stack of DVD's to watch before adding them to the list of movies that I have seen.
-------------"I'm just an actor with a gun who's lost his motivation." - King Kong (I subjectively suggest that you see it!)

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