Storytelling in the media
Introduction (150)
“The mythical function of most media narratives is to return us to a stable subjectivity, to remind us of who we are and what reality is.”(Fulton, 2005 P.7)
Narrative and storytelling has always been embedded in human culture. In the 21st century, journalists employ narrative techniques in their writing over a range of media platforms. As Fulton remarks, the narrative does not always have to be fictional; the journalistic story teller reminds the audience of who they really are using narrative techniques to engage the reader of the news article.
1: Immersive long form.
Immersive articles such as this BBC article on heroin use is designed to explore the real life stories behind drug use in Britain instead of just supplying the reader with statistics. Critics have argued that immersive articles that “employ multimediality and interactivity could distract the reader and weaken the immersion” (Lassila-Merisalo, 2014, p. 6).
Many people may argue that journalism should follow the inverted pyramid structure, which is a concise structure that display facts in a simple and coherent way. Although this structure is useful for fast consumption of information and stories, some have criticised the structure for being rather, “a product of old print technology” (Holmes, Hadwin and Mottershead, 2012, p. 129.). To make information fit a page in the days where print media was the most dominant form of journalism, it was easier for an editor to cut from the bottom of the page than the top.
However, others claim that it only makes the story stronger, and Multimedia and interactivity found in immersive long form stories only add to the “multireferential plane” of the story “which can strengthen the authenticity of a story” (Lassila-Merisalo, p.6)
The BBC article has many of the typical features of an archetypal story, it is even separated into chapters, with the central protagonist Lisa, that the story keeps referring back to. Journalistic immersive article stories often concern real life and as Makagon and Neuman remarks, “the worlds in which we live are often far more interesting than those created in fictional entertainment”- (Makagon and Neuman, 2009, p.xi). The true hook of immersive is the focus on the emotional truth behind the story. Emotions play a pivotal role in a journalistic story as “emotions help the audience latch on and imagine themselves in the story” (Mann, 200. Loc 679.). While many readers of the article may not directly relate to ‘Lisa’s story’ as a user of heroin, they may relate to Sandra’s story. This is a story placed in the middle of the article of a mother who is grieving the loss of her son to a heroin overdose; the reader may relate to Sandra and instead be know someone who has lost a loved one to heroin.
It is during Sandra’s story that the multimedia aspect of the article comes into play as her story is presented in a video. It is an unedited video where the use of sound is a stark contrast to the previous silence the reader has experience reading the article. The video is raw and gritty, Sandra’s emotions and long silences are unedited as a method of greater targeting the audiences emotions.
The journalistic narrative comes “full circle” and ties back to the questions raised in the beginning of the story (Bradshaw, 2012, ); yet the story does not end in resolution, instead it is more of an unasked question to the reader about what will happen to Lisa.
“We leave Lisa as she walks into town to pick up fresh needles and syringes for her next hit. She’ll soon be shooting up alone, risking everything for heroin.”
This line is an example of how the long form utilises mimesis, implying that despite the ‘swedish solution’ and medical heroin talked about previously, Lisa will continue to use Heroin dangerously. The line implies that not enough is being done about heroin use in the UK without directly stating this to the reader. The audience has been made closer to a real example of the effect of increase heroin use and is now upset that she is “alone” and “risking everything” and a potential future fatality.
Example 2
Journalists in the 21st century “ cannot waste our time or [the readers], by using words wastefully” (Mottershead, 2012, p.59) and the structure of the story can help to minimise the wastage.
Twitter is a method that enables a short narrative to be told in 240 characters or less. Journalists use twitter to encourage the reader to click on their article. In order to combat the limited character space in a tweet. The above tweet employs a brief introduction of the news story, that Iain Duncan Smith said “we are all Brexiteers now” followed by a twist, which is the negative reaction of the public.
It follows an inverted pyramid structure that plays with the temporality of the story in order to present it most effectively to the reader. The story starts with a statement made in the past, before coming back to the present reaction of the reader; had this order been reversed, the effect may not have been so effective on the reader and the article may not have received as many retweets.
The tweet from Buzzfeed UK Politics uses the “upside down smiley” emoji as a way to express the public upset at Smith’s quote that “we are all Brexiteers now”. Although emojis are beneficial to the area of visual journalism that is prominent in the 21st century, there are some issues that arise.
An emoji “can only arise on inter-individual territory and therefore, [the emoji] is always ideological” (Easthope and McGowan, 1992, p.4). The emoji in journalism may prove to be problematic and the meaning of the emoji changes according to culture and even personal interpretation.
Example 3: Audio. (incomplete)
- seagulls. Sea.
- “Reading the silence” (Rothman, 2012, p.22)
- left in the knock on the door “instead she focused on my red converse.” she got izzy a pair — best stuff is not on camera
- audio of fun and singing.
- Prolepsis. Chronology → Sad part comes at the end after we know she has passed away.
Bibliography
Bradshaw, P., (2012) Podcasting and principles of narrative- a case study. [online] Online journalism blog. Avaliable at: https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2012/02/13/podcasting-and-principles-of-narrative-a-case-study/ [Accessed 5th November 2017]
Easthope, A. and McGowan, K., eds. (1992) A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, 2nd Edn: New York, Open University Press.
Fulton, H.,(2005), Narrative and media, [pdf], Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, available at: http://moodle.bcu.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/1310977/mod_resource/content/1/Narrative_and_media_ch1_2_concepts.pdf [accessed 4th November]
Gupreet, M., (2017) Storytelling in the digital age: people, communities and stories.
Holmes, T., Hadwin, S., and Mottershead, G., (2012), The 21st Century Journalism Handbook: Essential Skills for the Modern Journalist, Routledge.
Lassila- Merisalo, M., (2014) Story First: Publishing Narrative Long-Form Journalism in Digital Environments, Journal of magazine & new media research, Vol 15, №2, Avaliable at: https://aejmcmagazine.arizona.edu/Journal/Summer2014/LassilaMerisalo.pdf [accessed 7th November 2017].
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