"Setting the Scene" journalism

Tha Gopher

I was wondering what people thought of articles which set a scene, which give the impression the reporter is somewhere they are not (see it mainly in the Indo). Ill give an example from memory re an article on underage drug use a few months ago

"Its a cold Friday morning. John (not his real name) takes a drag from his cannabis joint at the school gate. He and his friends are anxious. Their dealer, Paul, is running late. The guys start to worry that maybe he has no supplies, that Garda raids have caused what is known as a "drought". 10 minutes later a car pulls up, the driver blasting hardcore dance from his sound system. Money is exchanged, and the boys have what they need- cocaine, hash, and ecstasy. Their idea of a good weekend......"

That was, basically, the article opener. However, its quite obvious that this scene, while it may have happened somewhere, was not witnessed or even relayed to the writer, and its purely for effect. After all, do dealers really like doing drop offs with some old guy hanging around with his pen and notebook observing? Is it interesting journalism or just giving the reader the impresssion the writer did more work than they really did?

flogen

Tha Gopher wrote:

That was, basically, the article opener. However, its quite obvious that this scene, while it may have happened somewhere, was not witnessed or even relayed to the writer, and its purely for effect. After all, do dealers really like doing drop offs with some old guy hanging around with his pen and notebook observing? Is it interesting journalism or just giving the reader the impresssion the writer did more work than they really did?

Neither - it's fiction and when presented in a newspaper should be labeled as such.

Tom Dunne

flogen wrote:

Neither - it's fiction and when presented in a newspaper should be labeled as such.

But therein lies the problem - not all journalists state that it is pure fiction.

Is it yet another case of "sexing up" a story to give it an edge? To conjure up an image of a hack at the cutting edge of investigative journalism? I think it is nonsense, but you know people will read it and actually believe the journalist did witness the event.

flogen

tom dunne wrote:

But therein lies the problem - not all journalists state that it is pure fiction.

Is it yet another case of "sexing up" a story to give it an edge? To conjure up an image of a hack at the cutting edge of investigative journalism? I think it is nonsense, but you know people will read it and actually believe the journalist did witness the event.

Well exactly - it should be listed as fiction but it's not always and while the journalist mightn't say it's true, putting it in a newspaper and omitting the reality is bad enough.

Worse still is the "this kind of thing happens up and down the country every day" follow up to a fictional intro because it leans even more towards it being fact when it's clearly a figment of someone's imagination, based on what they think is really happening out there.

r3nu4l

I've often wondered if this is a case of certain journalists testing the water to get noticed by literary agents so that they may be asked to write a book.

Even if that is not the reason, it does add a certain 'realism' of the 'gritty city' that we all live in. You know what I mean, a city where it rains 23 hours out of every day, where we walk the mean streets at 4 am, drenched, pulling our hats low and our trenchcoats tight, the glare of sodium lights highlighting the promise of easy sex from the girls plying their trade. Somewhere in the distance a siren wails and then fades into the night, dogs bark and rats scuffle in the trash...

Honestly, I really believe that some journalists want us to believe that we are either living in 'da hood muddafukka' or in some cheesy 1930's gangster movie.

I believe that this distortion of fact may be attributed to 'Veronica Guerin syndrome' where a journalist believes that this kind of writing will get them noticed for the 'realism and shocking reality of life on the street'. It's a safe way of writing hard-hitting journalism without actually annoying anyone who may make the journalists life difficult...

I could be wrong but that's how I feel. Either way it's terrible cheesy writing and if it really must be continued, should be at least prefaced with the words "Imagine the scene, ..."

jdivision

I think if you write something like this then you have to have been told it by somebody who was there if you weren't yourself. If you make it up then you're being unethical.

La La

i have no problem with colour in a story, particularly when th writer has been there.

i DO have a problem with colour fluff that the indo churns out like the aforementioned kicker - as far as I'm concerned it's sensationalised guesswork if the person writing it hasn't actualy seen "john taking a drag from his cannabis joint"

in any case, it was a woefully written intro and oozed "im desperate! pleeeease read my story! it's.....it's gritty and daring and....and.....just read it!"

Tha Gopher

Did anyone catch the piece in Saturdays indo about an upcoming book about the medias favourite overblown* topic, rich people who like cocaine. Some journo has written a book in which she follows a dealer doing his drop offs in leafy D4-ish Dublin

"Among other addicts featured in the book are a politician, a priest and a pilot who flys out of Dublin"

I lol`d. Hard. Jaysus, anyone i knew who chanced their arm at the game sold to students, skangers and skangerettes. The media really ought to get over this rich daddys girls who coke binge thing, from my real life experience its almost exclusively working class. Imagine being this unseen dealer to the stars, the politico and the upper echelons of the church, knowing things about people in these trusted positions that could shake Irish society to the core, just where do these journos find such interesting dealers :rolleyes:

Slice

I hate this sort of journalism even if the story was rooted in fact. It seems to be a device that's especially common in the Sunday supplements. I've read features in papers like the Observer or Time magazine where setting the scene consists of half the bloody article. It's particularly annoying when an article or feature catches your eye and instead of getting into anything at all thought provoking that the headline implies your time is wasted for most of it by some sap at a keyboard trying to create atmosphere

Markham

Tha Gopher wrote:

The media really ought to get over this rich daddys girls who coke binge thing, from my real life experience its almost exclusively working class. Imagine being this unseen dealer to the stars, the politico and the upper echelons of the church, knowing things about people in these trusted positions that could shake Irish society to the core, just where do these journos find such interesting dealers :rolleyes:

Gopher, to say coke is exclusively working class is fairly blinkered. Coke has always been a glamour drug, and, as such, a middle-to-wannabe-upper class status symbol. And this isn't just pie in tke sky either - I've watched young barristers/solicitors/doctors/journalists/entrepreneurs/developers/estate agents and other assorted suit-wearing status-whores ring in their deals on glowing blue Motorola Razr phones as casually as if they're ordering pizza.

30 minutes later: ding-dong goes the doorbell - did you want coke with that, sir? Not hard to imagine the dealers doing their rounds of a Saturday evening at all at all.

As for the 'scene-setting' journalism, it' s another tool of the trade. Shouldn't be used for a straight news bit, but a lead-in para for a feature is quite acceptable.

simu

Slice wrote:

I hate this sort of journalism even if the story was rooted in fact. It seems to be a device that's especially common in the Sunday supplements. I've read features in papers like the Observer or Time magazine where setting the scene consists of half the bloody article. It's particularly annoying when an article or feature catches your eye and instead of getting into anything at all thought provoking that the headline implies your time is wasted for most of it by some sap at a keyboard trying to create atmosphere

I agree. It's annoying as hell. I usually skim through. If I felt like reading something atmospheric, I'd go read a novel or short story, where it's done well. Oi, journalists! Know your place!

Tha Gopher

Markham wrote:

Gopher, to say coke is exclusively working class is fairly blinkered. Coke has always been a glamour drug, and, as such, a middle-to-wannabe-upper class status symbol. And this isn't just pie in tke sky either - I've watched young barristers/solicitors/doctors/journalists/entrepreneurs/developers/estate agents and other assorted suit-wearing status-whores ring in their deals on glowing blue Motorola Razr phones as casually as if they're ordering pizza.

30 minutes later: ding-dong goes the doorbell - did you want coke with that, sir? Not hard to imagine the dealers doing their rounds of a Saturday evening at all at all.

As for the 'scene-setting' journalism, it' s another tool of the trade. Shouldn't be used for a straight news bit, but a lead-in para for a feature is quite acceptable.

meh, men maybe, but the media horn about 17 year old Foxrock girls hoovering the stuff like Scarface is, from my experience, a load of sh1te. Stuff has hit working class areas heavy but i doubt most rich girls i know would know where to obtain the stuff. Run your finger along the tissue dispenser in the cubicle of bars and certain clubs in Dublin, and then do the same in a nightclub known for a wealthier clientele, either the rich folk snort up every last crumb or cocaine has become skang-tastic. Compare that to my area, coke is sometimes easier to get than hash.

Attractive Nun

To be fair, with the Internet, 24 hour TV news and other such developments, print journalism will necessarily go the way of the feature. I'm actually a fan of the "setting the scene"-type feature when it's done right, but it rarely is.

IncredibleHulk

Attractive Nun wrote:

I'm actually a fan of the "setting the scene"-type feature when it's done right, but it rarely is.

You hit the news on the head. This is more a feature type story than a hard news story