Whilst reading Felix Salmon’s blog entry Teaching journalists to read on the internet yesterday, I did find very interesting the quote: “we need much more critical reading”. That could not be more true. As an IB English A Literature student in high school, I was taught that critical reading is fundamental and has to be applied not only to books, poetry and extensive newspaper articles, but also to the smaller things we read. It gives us a bigger picture of today’s society and how an action will have determinate consequences. It also helps us see the smaller details in what we’re reading, the ones that were so accurately chosen by the writer/journalist to make an impression on the reader.
Critical reading is also about giving these kinds of words more meaning. Asking yourself “why did the writer decide to use exactly that word?” and “is there a second meaning to it? is he trying to let on something?” are signs of good critical reading. Just like Felix Salmon says, the problem to most of today’s journalism courses is that students are being taught to write but not to read. If you think about it for a while, you will realise that you can get all the practice you want at writing, but that will not be enough if you want to be a journalist. Because being a journalist is not all about knowing how to write a piece using the correct rules of grammar and not making any spelling mistakes. I mean, if you think that is what it’s all about, then you’re probably better off as a novel writer.
As a journalist, you have to be able to get the message across even by using a five word not exactly grammatically correct sentence. It’s not all about the writing, it is also about the critical thinking behind it, which allows you to give much deeper thought to what you’re writing. As my middle school English teacher said about writing essays, “it’s about quality, not quantity”. Hence, would you rather write a shorter piece that instantly gets the message across to all your readers and encourages them to investigate the topic, read about it and do some critical thinking over it, or write a really long piece that everyone is going to stop reading because they’re too bored to continue? In Felix Salmon’s words, “the biggest thing that’s missing in the journalistic establishment is people who are good at finding all that great material, and […] presenting it to their readers”. Therefore we better get to work, and spend more time researching stories that will help us see the bigger picture and have a deeper and more interesting conversation with other people.
What's inside the closet - Cecilia Peruzzi 