What separates a Quality Journalist from a simple citizen or a police officer? A Quality Journalist can decide which information is important and which are not to be found in an article because the reader might possibly draw incorrect conclusions from it. In our Basic Course on Quality Journalism, we define the principle with a practical example from life.

Here now is a police report about an event from eastern Westphalia:

Back on June 8th in a train from Paderborn to Bielefeld there were verbal and threatening actions by a group of four. One of the people allegedly waved about with a machete. Besides that there was talk of a pistol on the train. These remarks had been passed on by the passengers to the police who intended to take the group into custody in Bielefeld. The group, however, debarked at the station in Brakwede. There it led immediately to serious bodily injury among the intoxicated group at 11:14 p.m. In the incident, a 34-year-old man from Schloss-Holte was beaten to the ground by a 19-year-old Albanian from Brackwerde and kicked several times in the head. Another (20-year-old) of the group was then commanded by the Serb to “stab” the 34-year-old with the machete. Fortunately it didn’t come to that because a third one from the group (20-year-old) took the machete away from him. The 34-year-old man had to be brought to a hospital and remained stationary there. He suffered from a concussion, serious injuries to the face and contusions. The machete was found and secured by the police in the area of the bicycle stand there. The 19-year-old Albanian has already appeared many times in criminal police records and is still under surveillance. Upon request by the district attorney, he was brought to arraignment. The Bielefeld administrative court issued a warrant for his house arrest.

Did you notice? The non-profesisonal report of the police officer is completely overloaded with uninteresting data that would only confuse citizens and have nothing to do with the real incident. A professional has to take care of it — in this case, a Quality Journalist from the Neuen Westfälischen. And now, from the confused scribblings, a well-formulated newspaper report, that even you and I can now understand without problems:

Rioting in the Train from Paderborn to Bielefeld on Friday: A group of four men threatened with a machete and beat a 34-year-old man from Schloss so that he had to go to the hospital.

Passengers had already alarmed the police and reported about a pistol. The rioters had left the train in Bielefeld-Brackwede. At the train station, the 34-year-old was beaten up by a 19-year-old and kicked several times in the head and face. The 19-year-old told another group member to “stab” the 34-year-old with the machete. At just the right moment, another group member intervened and took the machete out of the action.

The 34-year-old was brought into the hospital with a concussion, serious injuries to the face and contusions. The 19-year-old was brought before the arraigning court and is now under investigative custody.

See how it works? Great, then you can also become a Quality Journalist!

(Hat Tip: Dapunk / Translation: Anders Denken)

What separates a Quality Journalist from a simple citizen or a police officer? A Quality Journalist can decide which information is important and which are not to be found in an article because the reader might possibly draw incorrect conclusions from it. In our Basic Course on Quality Journalism, we define the principle with ...

PI, 20. Aug 2010 |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | post a comment    
Kategorie: Germany, Islamisation of Europe, Media, Violence "of foreign origin";

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