Friday, July 3, 2015

Quotes and Subject Matter in the Washington Post

I came across an interesting quote situation while reading Justin Moyer's article on Bo Dukes response to the removal of "The Dukes of Hazard" from TV Land. Moyer quotes a fellow cast member's Facebook post, which was written in all caps. He quotes the post verbatim, in all caps, noting that is how it originally appeared within the text of the article. I agree with this decision, as the decision to type in all caps communicates a certain tone that the speaker (writer?) likely intended. However I wonder if this is too much of an assumption to make - how would a reader know if this is someone who always types in all caps or if this was specific emphasis made for this particular post on this topic? I would guess it is the journalists responsibility to contact the person who posted the statement in question and give them the opportunity to speak for themselves, but this does not seem like the logistically realistic option, especially for breaking news stories. 

On an entirely different note, I have been surprised by some of the articles various news sources are releasing about the Supreme Court ruling for same-sex marriage. For example, in today's Washington Post, there is an opinion piece that questions the use of gay pride symbolism by non-gay individuals who support the decision, but perhaps did not involve themselves in the struggle for rights as deeply as those who the issue directly effected. Last week the New York Times ran an article describing the loss of an oppressed identity that is confusing and saddening to several gay individuals. These stories both struck me as not entirely news-worthy and odd choices of perspectives to focus on in an incredibly positive moment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/02/bo-duke-tweets-photo-of-dylann-roof-in-protest-after-tv-land-dumps-dukes-of-hazzard/?tid=pm_pop_b

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/02/why-you-should-stop-waving-the-rainbow-flag-on-facebook/?tid=pm_pop_b

1 comment:

  1. Sorry, this post was supposed to be up yesterday. I just realized I saved it as a draft rather than publishing it. Stories are from yesterday's (July 2) paper.

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