Note: this post is a part of a crash course in journalism. If this is the first post from the series you encountered, it is highly recommended to start the course from the beginning. See index of previous lessons at the end of the post.
We are nearing the end of the course, and this is a good time to talk about perspective, and why it is the thing, a journalist should seek to understand, and convey to the readers, more than anything else.
You can learn about the importance of perspective from great artists like Leonardo da Vinci or Rembrandt. However, unlike the immortal creations of great artists, journalistic writing is a very transient thing. Yesterday's newspaper is only good for wrapping fish, as they say, and in our cyberculture, news and blog entries get outdated even faster. So what is left from all this hard work? Well quite simply, what sediments into the people's mind and changes their perspective.
Here is the thing about perspective: It is like the fool on the hill in The Beatles’ song:
”But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around”
Just as everybody wonder about the smile of the Mona Lisa, although it is just a smile that becomes special because of the genius of the whole painting, full with details that no one remembers, perspective is something that no one really wants to care about. We want to believe that it is this or that catchy detail that makes the story, but a good writer knows how to sway the attention of the readers and then slam the door on them with the compelling truth.
Perspective in the context of journalism, is therefore, the funnel of a carefully laid trap. But on the other hand, the way you choose to lead your readers into the trap represents your point of view on the story, the way it changes your perspective.
As a journalist, you have to make sure that you maintain this sense of wonder, the appetite for what you don't understand. In other words, to keep discovering and conveying new perspectives, you have to be yourself, the fool on the hill
Index of previous lessons:
Lesson number one: Buy a notebook
Lesson 5: Using your notebook in the field
Lesson 6 : "The something else"
