AND AN EXAMPLE OF WRITING WITH AUTHORITY?
In an unusual twist to the sometimes bitter fight over bilingualism in Miami, complaints have been filed with the Dade County Fair Housing and Employment Appeals Board by two women …
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Complaints have been filed with the Dade County Fair Housing and Employment Appeals Board by two women …
- I raise this issue because it is an issue that arises often.
- Editors here removed the clause in front of complaints –
- “In an unusual twist to the sometimes bitter fight over bilingualism in Miami,”
- because they felt unusual is an opinion term and didn’t feel it was necessary.
- I WOULD DISAGREE – IT GIVES CONTEXT – IF THE WRITER KNOWS WHAT SHE OR HE IS TALKING ABOUT REGARDING THIS SUBJECT, I WOULD SAY LEAVE IT IN.
- And, you would never remove it unilaterally. You would consult first with city desk or even the reporter.
- As Professor Foley told you in reporting, it is the job of the journalist to make sense of a confusing world.
- Often a good reporter who knows much about a subject and writes with authority can inform his or her stories with this kind of contextual matter derived from the hard work of reporting.
- Certainly, these editors have good instincts here, but they need to be cautious. It is a balancing act and the editor needs to ensure that reporters do not say more than the truth.
- This, of course, is WHY editors have to be aware of all the news in their community and nationally and internationally.
The issue arises again here -->
- The issue of bilingualism has led to heated debate in Miami.
- Editors note that heated sounds like opinion.
- Here, again, the reporter is writing with authority and can say this if history shows it is so.
