By MARISSA YOUNG<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Washington Post<\/em> columnist Richard Cohen faced allegations that he himself made a racist comment, when in fact he was expressing the views of some of the subjects of his article.<\/p>\n The exact quote he used was that \u201cpeople with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York \u2014 a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children.\u201d<\/p>\n The problem is that Cohen was trying to convey the sentiments of a particular group of people separate from himself, but readers confused this with a statement of his own opinion.<\/p>\n This is one hardship of journalism.\u00a0 If we are writing about controversial topics, we are going to have to express others\u2019 opinions that we do not share (or that we do share but do not wish to disclose).\u00a0 How do we avoid being called \u201cracist\u201d or \u201csexist\u201d when we are only retransmitting someone else\u2019s message?<\/p>\n The task is not an easy one.\u00a0 Some readers automatically perceive what they read to be the opinion of the author.\u00a0 These people might be stubborn and hard to convince otherwise, no matter what you do.<\/p>\n With people who don\u2019t jump to this conclusion, journalists can be overly clear that they are not the ones with the thoughts they are writing or speaking.\u00a0 Stress your sources.\u00a0 In situations when you might be tempted to write \u201cmany believe that\u201d or \u201csome think that,\u201d reconsider this.\u00a0 Instead, wherever possible, insert the identity of the party, such as the name of a group or a specific individual you are quoting.\u00a0 This should take as much suspicion off of you as possible.<\/p>\n Still, no matter how hard you try, it is difficult to tell how readers will view others\u2019 opinions you write about.\u00a0 People, like journalists, are always looking for drama.\u00a0 The more scandalous an issue, the more scandalous it would be for you to express your own unpopular beliefs.\u00a0 People tend to see what they want to see, which is not always what is actually there.\u00a0 Unfortunately, to maintain your professionalism, you cannot write in block letters \u201cI DO NOT AGREE WITH THE STATEMENTS THAT I QUOTE IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE\u201d at the top of your story.<\/p>\n Just as fiction authors do not necessarily share the same experiences as their narrators, journalists do not always hold the same opinions as their articles\u2019 subjects.\u00a0 As the saying goes, don\u2019t shoot the messenger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By MARISSA YOUNG On Tuesday, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen faced allegations that he himself made a racist comment, when in fact he was expressing the views of some of the subjects of his article. The exact quote he used … Continue reading