A curious question keeps coming my way as I edit and critique posts by journalism students in this country and particularly abroad.
One of the most frequent criticisms of young writers is their injection of opinion in what are supposed to be news features. Few argue with that point when confronted with it, but many seem unable to see that fine but clear line between fact and opinion. So they ask: “How can I keep opinion out of my story?”
The answer is one of the most fundamental formulas in journalism: accuracy + attribution = credibility.
The accuracy part speaks for itself. But attribution is the part that confounds those aspiring journalists as well as others who do not practice the profession but write as part of their daily routine.
Who says something is often as important as what is said because it adds context and transparency to the statement. So, for example, if a writer is making a point about the ravages of unclean water around the world, just saying that people are dying from dirty water is one thing. When that statement is attributed to the World Health Organization with some statistics thrown in for good measure, the claim takes on a far higher level of authority.
When writers feel empowered to tell “the truth,” whatever that is, they often are so confident in their assumptions that they believe they are stating the obvious and don’t need to cite any source to support their thesis. Too often, they are misguided, or just wrong. A simple online search for a source not only results in confirmation of the statement but also may open the writer’s eyes to contrary or even refuting information.
And the concept can be taken too far, like when one student cited the CIA World Factbook to note that India became independent in 1947. But the other extreme is far more common, and dangerous.
For those who are not journalists but write memos, reports and other workplace documents, the principle of attribution still applies. Academics, sometimes to a fault, rigorously cite sources in journals, theses, books and other publications. In business, a well place source citation can mean the difference between a misguided and potentially costly mistake and a conclusion based on verified information. Credibility in any workplace is a valuable commodity, and an honest distinction between fact and opinion in anything from a formal board proposal to an informal email builds a reputation of trustworthy credibility that can often pay off at promotion time.
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