Chapter 8 Engagement and Relevance
“Journalists must make the significant interesting and relevant.”
This chapter tells a very interesting story of a reporter named Diana Sugg, who went into great depth to follow the story of a dying boy by the name of R.J. Voigt in order to show how hard it is for a sick child to die in America. She said, “Too often we tell the tale of a person just because it’s a great tale. We need to not just go seize on following a kid with cancer just to see how it goes, but because there are larger issues.” This story reminded me of a movie that I have seen before, called “My Sister’s Keeper” which is both a novel and a major motion picture that depicted just how hard it is for a sick child to die in America. Here is a link to the trailer:
It becomes a balancing act between what is engaging and what is relevant, what is fun and fascinating and what is straight-forward news, what people want and what people need to hear. “Storytelling and information are not contradictory. They are better understood as two points on a continuum of communicating.”(Elements p 188). It should be storytelling with a definite purpose. I decided to research what other people believed regarding this topic, I found an article by Shelly Crutz which verified what the author of “Elements” was saying. Here is a link to her thoughts:
On the other hand, I found a blog called the Buttry Diary stating why storytelling should be less part of the news. Here is a link to his blog:
Overall, I believe there should be a balance in all things. There is nothing wrong with telling stories in the news, because no matter what that is what news is. However, it should not be so embellished or dramatized that it seems like a soap opera of some sort. The trick is to find the balance to engage your audience in the relevant topics.
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