Academic
vs.
Journalistic
Writing Styles
Because our expository writing class focuses on media shifts, I thought I would blog about the differences and challenges of actual media or journalistic writing compared with the academic style we follow as expo students.
I am also taking a writing in the mass media class this semester and I sometimes struggle going back and forth between these two styles of writing. The journalistic style completely focuses on different aspects than what makes a good quality paper in expo. In journalism the writing is all about being clear, simple, brief, and accurate. Brevity is not something an academic writer normally uses unlike a journalist. Writing papers in expo or any other type of English class usually receives a much better grade when the writer goes into a lot of detail, explains all parts of the argument or claim, and expresses complex ideas. A paper written like this would never appear in a newspaper as a new story. People that read novels or academic papers want the detail and the vocabulary while someone reading the news wants a quick, clear, simple, and to the point story.
Future novelist, journalist, or neither, I figured this would be an interesting and ironic topic to blog about since all of our academic writings in this class do relate to the media in some way. Do you face challenges in these two specific writing styles? Have you noticed the simplicity of a media story? How can you separate the two styles? Are there other formal and informal writing formats that can be confusing?
This is very interesting! One possible answer for this disparity in writing styles is that the journalistic form is adapting to a world of electronic media. In the electronic world, everything is about clarity and time, where the world of print revolves around complexity and timelessness. Journalism is bound more to the rules of electronic media, as transmiting information quickly and clearly is paramount.
ReplyDeleteAnother far more cynical answer is that a journalist must keep his or her writing simple and clear, or the average American reading the paper will be unable to comprehend the information provided. This also can be seen as a symptom of the transition to an electronic world. People are more concerned with gathering information than comprehending it. Therefore, if information is not spoonfed to the reader, it is not of interest.
I, fortunately, am not going into journalism and have no conflict in writing styles. Therefore, I can continue to write long, boring, and complex stuff to my heart's content.
Devin
Lissy you are not the only one to struggle. In high school, I was blown away when my history and science teachers wanted me to write in short, concise terms. They hated the fluff that I was used to English teachers pounding out of us. The conflict between brief versus descriptive and complex writing is not as strong as it used to be since I am no longer in science courses. But the conflict never disappears entirely.
ReplyDeleteOne conflict I continue to struggle with is formal essay writing versus informal creative writing. Years ago, I used to love to write. I was good at description. I enjoyed using vivid imagery words to create places that the reader could easily picture in their minds. But once I stepped into high school, the days of fun stories were over and essays took over. My love for writing slowly evaporated.
In my opinion, as we grow older, the world pressures us to think in more concrete, direct terms. Especially in America, life has become a business and that means concrete facts, short, simple, and sweet. We don't have time to waste reading long, complex passages. And the electronic media, such as internet, has only made that worse. As spam increased, emails grew shorter.
So, yes, there is definitely a conflict of writing styles going on in the world. Not just between academia writing and journalistic, but also between creative and the argumentative essay style of writing. What is better or worse it is hard to say. But, it's pretty evident that journalism, short and simple and definite, is the way of the future. Unless America learns to slow down, the longer, complex forms of writing are only going to grow more obsolete.
As someone who has spent a large chunk of her life studying writing, I'm not all that worried about conflicts between styles. Surely there is room in the world for both short and to the point, complexity, and creative writing! And there IS journalism (like investigative journalism) that delves into complexity, just as there are academic writers who use creative forms for serious thoughts. Intention and seriousness (as Plato reminds us) count and good thoughts can be expressed simply, although we continue to need complexity as the world grows more complex.
ReplyDeleteWhat worries me is that students get conflicting messages about what kind of writing is best, or they get unclear instructions from their teachers about expectations, or they feel they have to choose some paths and eliminate others. Clear, logical, but interesting, self expression (which doesn't necessarily elminate creativity) is important in ALL aspects of life. I wish students were given more time to explore that in different ways and not just through the required first year writing class!
I haven't had to switch between two writing styles like you described, but I can tell the difference between writing styles. In a class like Expo the amount of detail is extremely important. While in a journalism the extreme details are not as important.
ReplyDeleteI am a journalism student and I find it much easier and comfortable to write the journalistic way. I often find myself searching for things when it comes to writing for expo. I have to spend days upon hours going into detail about something I would rather just make short sweet and to the point !
ReplyDeleteMacey Flowers