Degrees of belief
Posted on:: January 21st, 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.
Categories: Uncategorized dw
Rhetoric of Journalism vs. Blogging
Joho the Blog posts some interesting observations about the different rhetorical strategies used by journalists versus those used by webloggers (although he doesn’t use the R-word): Journalists have a tiny vocabulary for expressing incredulity: ‘allege…
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).
oops–this one’s meant for the Wikipedia post above.
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.