Which Story to Write

A friend showed me this article, and I had to share it. I find it rather disturbing. It’s about a sushi restaurant that offers this special sushi platter that is served ON a model (woman of course). The writer notes that, “To an onlooker, the most disturbing aspect of her job might be Hadaka’s rule that forbids a model to eat the sushi that rests inches away from her mouth.” If I was an onlooker, I think seeing that a woman was being used as the plate, trying to stay still while “lying supine and being poked by chopsticks” would be the most disturbing for aspect for me! It’s not a narrative article, but it’s worth a read:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/dining/18nake.html

This weeks readings and the latest event at Virginia Tech made me think about the focus of journalism articles and how to choose what story to write. While I see the need to present Imus’s story as The Power that Was did, I think we’re just giving him what he wants. The story from the NYTimes brought up a point I loved and made me think- the need to tell the women’s story and stop focusing on Imus’s. In the same way we are giving the shooter what he wants by talking about him on the news and not his victims. Reading the selections from the book about how to pick a story topic, I see the dilemma in which story to write. The author of The Power that Was does take a new stand on an already popular story, but I didn’t find the style very intriguing. I “heard” neither Imus’s voice nor the author’s conveyed in the story. I also think that we were focusing too much on Imus, and that’s part of what didn’t interest me.

So how does one decide on which story to write? Do you write a story about someone you don’t like, or the “bad guy” because it’ll make a good story (and one that people want to hear)? How does one decide?

I had not heard the whole story of the Virgina Tech incident before last night, so watched a primetime special (I think it was 20/20). They did a nice job talking about the victims and their story and focusing less on the killer. What was ironic was this news broadcast talked about how media coverage of similar events leads to copycat incidents (so how were they being any better?) and how media needs to be careful about its coverage. I caught the last end of Oprah tonight and they were talking about a similar issue- making sure to honor the loved ones lost and not about the killer. But people do want to know about the killer and what made him do this. So do we write the heartfelt story about the victims? Or the one about the “bad guy,” which in many ways is giving him what he wants? This really makes me see the struggle in picking a good story.

I loved reading the handout article too. I thought it was very well written because you strongly heard the voice of the 10-year-old boy and still heard that of the author’s. It was also so fantastic to read about families that are working to combat gender norms and issues of sex and sexuality in their young children.