Shifting Responsibility -- Part II
Posted on Saturday, July 29, 2017 at 1:04 PM
Components of my decision-making process.
By Peter P.
Jacobi
To continue my discussion of what I and that Indiana
University class of budding music writers discussed when I visited the
class taught by a highly respected Bach scholar and nifty writer,
Professor Daniel Melamed, I should expand on that list of important
factors in a review that I gave you and from which a music critic (or
call me a reviewer, I care not what the ID) should choose the ones most
needed for a particular assignment. The choices, as you well know, will
differ; choices of inclusions and exclusions must differ for always
shifting reasons in any story that we write and/or edit.
Details
of Who, Why, and What
Again, we need to consider the who that
is getting the finished product, the ages of your receivers, their
social and economic backgrounds, their education, the financial levels
they exist on and with, the interests that bring your product and them
together, and in what sort of chosen publication: newsletter, newspaper,
daily, weekly, magazine (consumer, trade, academic journal), website,
radio, television, or some other sort of social medium.
Are we
involved in a news story straight and narrow; a publicity release
required to promote; a feature story stressing human interest; an
educational piece designed to teach the readers about something or
other; an opinion piece striving to make a point, to exploit a pint of
views; a sermon-like essay created to cause contemplation, to cause
reflection?
The coverage and content differ. The approach
differs. The use of language differs. The structural devices differ. The
editorial gimmicks differ. These may not be "Editors Only" tasks, since
writers face these issues slam-bang with every part being prepared for
publication or presentation or sweeping into the electronic
stratosphere. But it is the editor -- more than any other contributing
expert in the process of communicating messages of information or
salesmanship or opinion building or inspiring or teaching or
entertaining or what have you -- that holds the primary responsibility
for treating the editorial product properly, efficiently, and most
attractively.
Important Reasons
I consider a part
of my decision-making when I prepare for, cover, analyze, and write a
review which to involve in the process and then which to include and
exclude, emphasize or de-emphasize. They are, alphabetically: allegiance
to art, allegiance to artist, allegiance to audience, analysis,
community boosterism versus welfare of community, consumerism, context,
description, education, elucidation, entertainment, history, impression,
institutional goals, interpretation, intimate knowledge, judgment,
narration, observation, opinion, and reportage.
Some are
self-explanatory, but let me say something about each item on the list,
to make sure you're benefiting from this lesson and that your project
will benefit from a making-sure sentence or so of explaining.
Explanation (exposition) is a critically important part of writing.
Allegiance
to Art and/or Artist
Is a primary goal to
promote/praise/deliver information about, in my case, the music or
musicians; in your case whatever the person or object or institution or
cause you're dealing with? Does that need to be the focus of coverage
and in what form you best provide the coverage?
Allegiance to
Audience
A primary goal of virtually all we do is to serve
our audience, in my case the audience that attends (in a preview piece)
or attended (in a review) or might purchase a recording of; in your
case, again, whether it's the subject matter you're striving to explain
or promote or the reader/listener most important to be served.
Analysis
Does
what you're dealing with require explanation, to be made clear for
understanding?
Community Boosterism versus Community Welfare
This
might be just a matter of choosing the words and/or that information. I
tend to avoid boosterism, acts of circus nature. I prefer to focus on
how what I'm writing reinforces what I believe to be the benefits of the
community that can result from what I've experienced.
Context
What
in the way of backgrounding does your public need to better grasp the
meaning and/or importance of the subject matter?
Description
I
need to describe what I've experienced or, in a preview, am about to;
it's the most difficult task, to translate sound into words; you face
your own difficulties in describing, but some sort of describing you
most likely will have to do.
Education
My readers
need educating, different ones for different events; they need
backgrounding. I suspect that's part of your job, too.
I've got
more "Important Reasons" to present, and they will appear in the
concluding part of this series next issue.
Peter P. Jacobi is
a Professor Emeritus at Indiana University. He is a writing and editing
consultant for numerous associations and magazines, speech coach, and
workshop leader for various institutions and corporations. He can be
reached at 812-334-0063.
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