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Voice-Address: Still Essential for Journalists

by John Aquino on 07/17/17

One of the most important things a journalist should master is voice-address. It was taught to public speakers and writers from the time of Aristotle into the 20th century. When I have managed or taught journalists, young and old, I have emphasized it. In talking to some journalists recently, I have received the impression they haven't known what I was talking about.

Voice-address consists of asking who I in writing the article am, who I am writing for, and what am I trying to get them to do? Am I writing in my own voice in an op-ed piece, am I a writer for a lobbyist or an association, am I a more neutral/objective voice?  Am I writing for a professional readership, a general readership, a targeted group of voters or investors? Am I trying to get them to vote in a particular way, to buy a product, to contact their congressional representative, to know something about an event or issue or subject area to help them do their job better?

Determining these things affects everything that a writer does next, from the vocabulary used to the length of the article. The more one writes and the more one hears from or talks to those he or she is writing to, a picture of the reader begins to take shape. Sometimes the writer develops the work for a particular person or a composite person or a group of people. But he or she knows how they speak, their educational level and what is important to them.

In the 21st century, the issue of a divided readership becomes more and more likely. A journalist can write an article for a newspaper with a circulation of 70,000 and then see it posted on the internet where it could reach millions. Ideally, the journalist should review and revise for any change in audience. For news pieces, delay is unthinkable. In writing a news piece, the journalist should write for both audiences.

The worst thing he or she can do is consider the less distinct audience as a shapeless mass. If one is writing to get people to invest, is the internet audience an investor who is similar to the circulation of the investor print publication in which the article originally appeared? If one is writing for a professional audience to educate them about  particular event and the article will also be placed on a general interest website, will the journalist's goal for the reader of the article on that website remain the same as for the original publication and will the journalist's conception of the reader of the article remain the same?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then the article should be rewritten for the different audience. An article is a crafted thing. It is a living thing. If any element of the voice address element changes, then the article should be rethought. If time passes between the article's publication and its re-publication, the article needs to be reviewed before the republication.

The latter instance has legal implications. Say a news article written for a professional publication in April is posted on a general interest website in May. Say it states a company is under investigation by a government agency, but the investigation was called off by the end of April. The article wasn't changed for posting on the website and, due to the statement  of the investigation, the company's stock falls. The company sues the publisher of the article and the owner of the website.

When a complaint for defamation is filed against a publisher, the publisher responds, the plaintiff responds to the response and then the publisher usually moves to dismiss. When an individual who is not a public figure sues, he or she has to prove negligence. When a public figure or corporation sues, which covers most of what journalists write about, they must show absolute malice, which is knowledge that the statements in the article are false or reckless disregard as to whether they are true or false. Republication of the statements in the article without verifying that they are still true could be considered absolute malice.

When you write, consider voice-address and all of its implications.
Copyright 2017 by John T. Aquino

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