| March 6, 2006 Web Wire Editor's Note |
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| Written by Alicia Oltuski | |||||
| Monday, 06 March 2006 | |||||
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Warning: Personal Somewhere on the news radar of the associated press is a technology that allows for the falsification of caller identity. Last year, Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) was the victim of telephone complaints that seemed to originate from his own office - the key word being “seemed.” It has become quite easy to throw one’s voice, now even on the telephone. But they are not the only ones who consider themselves master’s of identity deception. Journalists have long since sought to parenthesize their own identities. Wait until the column to say what you think. But this has not stopped newspapers and journals alike from adopting the reputations of conservative, liberal, petty. Can journalist’s identities be escaped? Should they? Is not reportage – the choice of what to cover and how to cover it – in itself one of the strongest assertions of identity? My fellow Web Wire editors and I had an interesting exchange on the texture of our wire, the ratio of personal pieces to reporting. I would like to argue that there is no large difference in self-seepage between reporting pieces and columns, even personal essays. In fact, like a scandal, the more you try to cover it up, the more it invites speculation. One of the greatest misconceptions is that reporting is less personal than opinion pieces. After all, how best to influence society than to anthologize it, to decide what gets chronicled and what forgotten? Of course it is necessary to filter what you read through the sift of its writer, but it is important to remember that items deemed personal or “opinion,” do not necessarily suffer more heavily from identity than does the reporting world. We don’t even need a Caller ID. It is everywhere. Just read it.
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