I was very impressed with the discussion we had in class this week that focused on the Boston Globe's story about the slain pizza-delivery man.
As I mentioned, I am a former longtime newspaper reporter and most lately a PR person. I bring this up because PR people deal a lot in "messaging." Messaging involves not only the crux of the info we want to convey, but the words we use to tell the story.
Anyhow, the thing that really rang out for me was that the assistant DA had a very compelling story to tell, essentially speaking as the voice of the murdered father. It goes a bit further though, because the assistant DA also told the story well.
Why is this important?
It's important because deft messaging influences the way the reporter writes the story -- and this has absolutely nothing to do with the reporter's impartiality. (And it certainly doesn't mean that even if somebody is lying but his/her delivery is slick that the reporter will buy it.)
Just thought I would mention, as it is another way to look at news stories, and why certain angles get played up more than others.
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