Joho the Blog
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January 21, 2005
One of the differences between the journalists and the rest of us: Journalists have a tiny vocabulary for expressing incredulity: "alleged," "reportedly," "claimed," "suspected." The rest of us have a rich rhetoric of semi-belief, starting with a simple "I think that..." and going all the way to "I find it really hard to believe anything that lying fathead says, but..." Part of the value of traditional journalists is that they only tell us what they know. But that's a more fragile credibility. And it forces uncertainty out of stories, or, worse, allows it only in what isn't said. Posted
by D. Weinberger at January 21, 2005 02:19 PM
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» Rhetoric of Journalism vs. Blogging from datacloud Tracked on January 21, 2005 03:34 PM |
Comments
It didn't hit fox news until about 8:00 p.m., as far as I saw (although I try not to stay glued to that channel as a habit).
Posted by: jeneane | January 21, 2005 08:31 PM
oops--this one's meant for the Wikipedia post above.
Posted by: jeneane | January 21, 2005 08:33 PM
The "tiny vocabulary" of which you write creates "worst case" scenarios and "conspiracy theories" in the minds of those who allow themselves to be mis-led by the mass media.
Posted by: Angel | January 22, 2005 12:46 AM