Writer’s Blog 7: The Importance of Logical and Ethical Implications for Multimedia Journalists
In today’s news, multimedia stories are becoming more and more prominent. Journalists have all of the tools they need at their fingertips to create a story that encompasses audio, video, graphics, and text. All of these elements come together to create stories that media consumers of this fast-paced digital age enjoy and crave to read. These multi-faceted stories aid in compelling storytelling and keep an audience engaged and interacting for longer periods of time. This is all good and well for the news organizations but, they need to be cautious about how all of these elements of the story complement each other…and how they’re interpreted by a wide range of viewers.
Due to this digitized version of journalistic reporting, these multimedia stories, sometimes referred to as multimodal stories, have become normal or expected for the audience. All of the elements of journalism that used to be separated; print, video, and images, are now one whole. All of these pieces work together to make something great, but there are some ethical considerations and logical values that help to make these elements work together in the right way for these digital stories.
One aspect of multimedia stories that hasn’t changed in either print or digital mediums is the use of text and images. However, in the transition from paper to screen there becomes a difference in the logic of writing and the logic of images (Jones & Hafner, 2012). The written logic refers to the fact that stories that are written for print publications follow a linear structure, (Jones & Hafner, 2012) meaning you have to read a story in order to understand what it’s about. On the other hand, image logic refers to how the visual aspect of storytelling is nonlinear and can be viewed at any time.
The biggest way in which these differ is in the emotional and mental response from the viewer. Written stories, usually, take longer to process. You have to sit and read and absorb all the information that is written. Thus, your response or opinion isn’t developed until you finish reading. Whereas with images, your emotional response is immediate. You see something compelling, and you respond right then and there. Like all forms of media, there are affordances and constraints with both of these story elements. Reading takes longer, and if there is a mistake written in a story, it can be a whirlwind of additional issues to correct it. For images, that instantaneity to draw a response can be harmful, especially if the viewer interprets the image incorrectly. This is where the conjunction of text and image come together to provide clarity and a better story overall.
It is important to note that in both written stories and imagery, certain ethical implications should be rigorously upheld. Written stories should be clear and accurate and portray the subject in a respectful and unbiased manner. The Society of Professional Journalists provides a full list of the expectations of journalistic writing. Image ethics are much more specific and cautiously upheld due to the fact that images can be interpreted in an abundance of ways. Staging photos, encouraging biases through photos, and even editing or cropping are a few of the things that are to be avoided in photographic journalism. Similarly, the National Press Photographers Association provides a list that outlines the expectations of photographic journalists.
These ethical and logical values all work together with the other aspects of multimodal stories to create a piece the audience will enjoy. The magic happens when each of these elements complements the others. The text leads to the image, the image illustrates the text, the graphic explains the text, the video summarizes it all together, and so on. The ethical and logical aspects of creating a story are the most important. They are the priority. If not, multimedia stories across all digital mediums would be an utter mess. It is vital to put ethical and logical considerations first, then you can make a story that proves your expertise as a journalist.
