Over the course of the semester, the staff of UNBOUND has been faced with a few nagging questions. Those with which we struggled the most were those which we were forced to ask ourselves.
What DOES IT mean to be an UNBOUND journalist?
What exactly is an UNBOUND story?
After months of strife, I have come to the conclusion that these questions cannot be answered by the writers or editors alone. We have to make our best attempt at being UNBOUND without expecting any of our colleagues to tell us whether or not we have achieved our goal. The true test of our stories comes long after the writing, the cutting and the fact checking. It involves many people and is essentially a lifelong process.
The true test of a story involves the way in which it is received once it leaves our hands.
Did the reader understand the message within the piece, or did he not realize that there was a message? Did the reader walk away from the piece with a lasting impression, or did he simply walk away? And finally, did the writer get across that which he intended to convey, or was his tone misleading, his wording confusing, or his diction inconsistent?
It's all in the delivery, and with writing there is no way to specify delivery instructions. No lick-and-stick warnings. No FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE, or possibly the most important THIS END UP. The instructions must come across somewhere within the words.
This task brings to mind one of my favorite childhood games- telephone.
Remember telephone? The game that sends six-year-olds into fits of laughter as words get jumbled and meanings lost in a matter of seconds?
It always amazed me how quickly the intended message was lost. I was sure that the sender hadn't spoken clearly or, more likely, that there was a mischievous link somewhere along the line sabotaging the transmission.
To prove this theory I gathered some of my most trustworthy playground comrades- my dodgeball team (minus the kid who gave me that nasty bump on my head the day before my birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese's). I assembled what I was sure to be a competent phone line and clearly whispered "I bet that flower is a rose" to the first link. I carefully monitored the rest of the process- making sure there were no disturbances from the sidelines. In about two minutes the message had arrived at its destination.
"Go ahead" I insisted.
He hesitated.
Growing impatient, I repeated myself in a harsher tone.
"Um...my big fat father has no nose?"
All efforts to stifle the laughter were fruitless. Hysteria overtook the schoolyard.
Defeat.
Luckily this miscommunication was easily remedied. When my father, not an unusually portly man, arrived to pick me up from school that day I made sure that everyone saw his nose- some insisted on touching it just to be sure.
I'm still grateful that he was in good humor that day, and even more so that he never asked for an explanation.
Unfortunately miscommunication isn't always that easily corrected. More often than not the source has no control after the information has left his hands. Falsity spreads and no one is the wiser.
This is why a journalist seeks multiple sources before writing a story, and why it is equally as important for you as a reader to question the information with which you are confronted. Find a backup source of your own- don't trust the writer simply because it's his job to tell the truth.
True, an ethical journalist will not consciously deceive you. But even those who strive to tell the truth in a clear and concise manner are not always successful in the delivery. Trusting a journalist on blind faith is no safer than trusting the runny-nosed kid at the end of the phone chain.
With so many authorities emerging on everything from crime prevention to diet aides, it's easy to close your eyes and fall into step.
An UNBOUND reader does not run blindly with the masses.
An UNBOUND reader is not a passive reader. He asks why and how, and continues to research until his thirst for knowledge is satiated.
An UNBOUND reader is a journalist's worst nightmare. He questions facts, challenges the credibility of sources and doubts established authority. He makes the writer sweat and root through archives of research in order to justify the "facts," and even then he is rarely satisfied. He is not easily convinced.
An UNBOUND reader is a journalist's greatest ally in the search for the truth.
Karli Goering, Editor-in-Chief