THAT’S JUST, LIKE, YOUR OPINION, MAN.

I live and breathe for opinion—it’s the reason I became a journalist. I feel that, if every journalist were to follow the inverted pyramid method down to a T—perfectly—there would be no point in employing different personalities for reviews and impressions.

To me, the entertainment industry relies solely on subjectivity—and would die without it. Reports on press conferences, unveilings, progressing information etc, all come with slivers of opinion laced into the articles—admittedly, sometimes heavily disguised, but they’re there.

For example, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the largest tech-based trade show in the world, is normally covered with standard news reports. Yet with every report each news outlet also enters its thoughts on the ‘news item’. Meanwhile dedicated feature writers sculpt their pieces like finely marbled statues, alongside further, extensive analysis and opinion. IGN, for instance, produced daily videos outlining reporters’ responses to all the big announcements, alongside ‘round-up’ videos plastered across their homepage—all this so the reader would know exactly how each publication felt about the new products launched at the event.

Film coverage is another example of writing that would be non-existent without subjectivity. Roger Ebert became the go-to film critic because of his brutal style and indeed accuracy in describing what made films good and bad. One of his most notorious pieces was the review of the cult-horror film The Human Centipede’, which he concluded by saying:

‘I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don’t shine.’

ONLY A SITH DEALS IN ABSOLUTES

Although the above examples illustrate that subjectivity is imperative for our profession, I am not blind to the importance of Objectivity. Subjectivity is necessary—integral, even—for many subject areas: entertainment, politics, sport—to name but a few. However, my study of journalism has impregnated my DNA with the notion that straight-up, bread-and-butter, meat-and-potatoes news reports should be written objectively, in the inverted pyramid style. However, although I keep this technique in my front pocket at all times, I feel that it may only be practical—or even necessary?—during—forgive the term—‘serious’ subjects.

One of the greatest examples of pure, objective reporting that I have been shown during my studies is Tom Wicker’s report of the Assassination of President Kennedy. It is perfect. It is objective description, written completely without bias. And, although it may read robotically at times, it gives the reader exactly the information he-or-she needs as it arises, and completely aids the gravitas of the situation.

Likewise, the reports surrounding the London 7/7 bombings and the 9/11 terrorist attacks follow this simple, robotic formula, which gives the reader the information needed quickly and concisely.

But, as someone who writes news and features regularly, do I think Objectivity is possible? Well… not entirely. The above examples of world-altering news articles may prove that, yes, Objectivity is obviously possible; however, is everyone capable of being completely unbiased and fair? Of course not! We as humans are flawed beings, and we reflect our opinions in everything we do—even subconsciously. I believe—subjectively, of course—that many journalists reporting news are attempting to be as unbiased as possible; but some WILL do this better than others.

CREATIVITY IS JUST CONNECTING THINGS

To conclude this line of thought, I’m going to refer to Andrew Calcutt’s  Manifesto on creativity in journalism, and why I agree that, yes, we are in DIRE need of more creative-writing across all sorts of journalism, not just journalism of the literary kind.

The writing game is an archaic chemistry of information and wit—relying on the author to give us, the readers, the relevant information that we so desire, whilst telling us WHY we want to read it, and why we ought to care. A good writer can get the cogs of the reader’s minds churning with but one sentence. The amount of Subjectivity in writing that we currently get is good—not great—but enough for us to start perfecting smaller niches of it. We as writers need to start challenging ourselves in writing—by ‘finding opposites, and attracting them’, according to Calcutt. By finding absurd links between stories and enunciating why they relate, and why they are important. Along these lines, at the risk of promoting them, rogerebert.com houses a string of fantastic writers who string quotes between film reviews all day long—and they are incredible fun to read. Describing James Bond as ‘a suitcase nuke in a cable-knit sweater’ is hilarious, ridiculous, and – in some sense – revealing.

Whether it’s in a newspaper, on a blog-post, or, hell, graffiti’d on a wall downtown: plaster your opinion everywhere, get creative with it, and scream at anyone who disagrees with you.

LINKS

IGN’s E3 Coverage

— Round-up Video:
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2015/06/23/our-favorite-games-of-e3-2015-ign-access

— Aggregate page:
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3

Roger Ebert on The Human Centipede:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-human-centipede-2010

Tom Wicker’s JFK Assassination Report

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1122.html

7/7 Bombings (BBC Report)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/london_blasts/what_happened/html/edgware_rd.stm

9/11 Attacks (NY Times Report)

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0911.html

Matt Zoller Seitz on Spectre (RogerEbert.com)

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spectre-2015

James Harding’s ‘Future of News’ – an influential strategy document written by the BBC’s head of news – points to various news websites which have been developed or redesigned to attract a younger, more internet-savvy audience. So, as a self-proclaimed ‘young person’, I am going to look deeper into one website—i100 (The Independent’s child website)—which is, apparently, being aimed at my crowd. I’m going to do this in order to determine whether it is a worthwhile venture for news websites; whether it draws in the correct group of people, and whether it succeeds in keeping them around for long.

The first thing I noticed is that the i100 imitates Facebook’s addictive endless scrolling feature, wherein users are encouraged to see ‘just one more post’. The i100 sticks all of its articles together in a never-ending feed of news; mixing politics with celebrity gossip and internet trivia seamlessly—ultimately making procrastination extremely easy—especially for students, young people and the like.

The strength of the i100’s style, however, lies in how it presents its content, and where it draws it from.

The younger generation is being pandered to—and it’s working. The i100 produces a range of—for lack of a better word—simpler articles, which are produced quickly, intended to be read quickly, and written to attract the regular social-media-users. These articles come in the form of top-ten lists—‘The 10 Most Highly Valued Sports Stars in the World’—and rehashed information originally discussed on other websites—Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, for example. The information dragged out of these aggregate websites spawn articles such as ‘12 Brilliant Songs to Pump You Up That Aren’t Eye of the Tiger, According to Redditors’, and ‘The Worst Tweet About the Northern Ireland Peace Process You Will See Today’. Although the written articles are merely regurgitated information, they are aggressively pushed on Twitter and Facebook, to ensure that even if you ignore it the first two times it pops-up on your feed, you would have eventually—hopefully—clicked through it by the end of the day.

Some articles are put together by simply copy-and-pasting the URLs of Twitter fights. We all love watching rich people fight, right? Well, luckily, celebrity feuds are meticulously detailed in the i100, aggregating the furious tweets between high-class-hot-heads such as Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan. Again, using as much information from Twitter as possible, the arguments are chronologically listed, making sure that you have not missed out on any of the latest bust-ups.

Sometimes, these arguments, political advancements, or downright ridiculous articles are accentuated with GIFs and memes. For example: when the New York Times magazine asked its readers about killing a baby Hitler, the i100 topped off the piece with a photo of Tom Cruise questioning everything. Similarly, when Daniel Craig spoke out about James Bond’s misogyny, the i100’s writer simply inserted a Daniel Craig-themed ‘thug lyf’ meme at the foot of the article. Sure, these are funny—but when that singular photo is really the only input the author has contributed, it makes me wonder whether I ought to bother with studying for a degree in Journalism, or simply learn to make well-placed GIFs.

Slow news days are no match for the i100’s ability to find gold in any situation. A little boy’s YouTube page full of dinosaur toy videos, or a group of kittens playing rugby with a small, remote-controlled mouse can become the front page on a Sunday evening.

Above are just a few examples of how the i100 uses social media, GIFs, and memes to attract the younger audience, and keep them around by using intelligent website design. Is it the most productive website to spend three hours scrolling through whilst you should be writing your dissertation? Not at all. Is it entertaining? Without a doubt. Did you see those kittens playing rugby?

The i100 is an effective website for young people. It’s easy to get coaxed into scrolling through articles for hours on end—but is it a good source of news? Politics and current affairs are touched upon within the articles, but never truly explores them deeply. Which is fine—it isn’t a newspaper. It holds no obligation to discuss these matters. However when 21% of its demographic is aged 18-24, the information provided could be used in a more productive way.

Links

12 brilliant songs to pump you up that aren’t Eye of the Tiger, According to Redditors —http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/12-brilliant-songs-to-pump-you-up-that-arent-eye-of-the-tiger-according-to-redditors–Zkb6AbRtmOe

10 most highly valued sports stars in the world — http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-10-most-highly-valued-sports-stars-in-the-world–bk3CVtlBde

The worst tweet about the Northern Ireland peace process you will see today —  http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-worst-tweet-about-the-northern-ireland-peace-process-you-will-see-today–ZytOFgDEdg

Piers Morgan keeps trying to to insult Gary Lineker on Twitter and it keeps on backfiring — http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/piers-morgan-keeps-trying-to-insult-gary-lineker-on-twitter-and-it-keeps-on-backfiring–b1lHt4vU4de

The NYT magazine asked its readers whether they’d kill baby Hitler and no one know what to think — http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-nyt-magazine-asked-its-readers-whether-theyd-kill-baby-hitler-and-no-one-knows-what-to-think–WkxsvWOw7ug

This little boys toy dinosaur adventures are definitely the best thing on the internet — http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/this-little-boys-toy-dinosaur-adventures-are-definitely-best-thing-on-the-internet–ZkmPAQY7Oe

If you don’t like the rugby world cup you’ll love this kitten version — http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/even-if-you-dont-like-the-rugby-world-cup-youll-love-this-kitten-version–Wylof1_Xdg

Daniel Craig just said what we’ve thought all along about James Bond — http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/daniel-craig-just-said-what-weve-thought-all-along-james-bond-is-a-misogynist–WyM_y5jz_e

https://www.quantcast.com/i100.independent.co.uk#/demographicsCard