Question
What do you see as the pros and cons of hype and contextual reporting? As a fashion writer, which stance do you see yourself taking?
Answer
Pros and Cons of Hype and Contextual Reporting
Hype reporting involves taking news to an extreme, and may at times involve some manipulation of the true facts in order to receive greater attention (Zelizer & Allan, 2010). There are a number of benefits in hype reporting. First, it can help drive sales of newspapers or attract more viewers. Second, hype reporting is cheap and requires relatively short time to prepare a story. Third, hype reporting makes a piece of news more interesting to readers or viewers. On the flip side, contextual reporting does not present facts as information is distorted to fit the needs of the reporter. Second, hype reporting does not conform to journalism standards and ethics. Third, it represents miscommunication to the public.
Contextual reporting involves a lot of work by all the correspondents. Contextual reporting may also be referred to as analytical reporting or explanatory reporting. Contextual reporting focuses on causes rather than merely focusing on event (Eccles & Krzus, 2015).
Related: Make-up Routine
There are a number of advantages in contextual reporting. First, it enables the reporter to identify tacit knowledge about due to the open-ended kind of interaction that takes place. Second, contextual reporting provides information that is highly reliable. The reporter conducts in-depth investigations into the matter before releasing information to the public. The information is also backed by figures and scientific research. Third, contextual reporting provides highly detailed information to the public. The reporter must seek crucial details before releasing information to the public. Lastly, contextual reporting is flexible in nature. This is because the contextual inquiry can be conducted in a variety of settings such as offices, homes, construction sites, and other places (Eccles & Krzus, 2015).
Contextual reporting has a number of limitations in its use. To start with, contextual reporting is resource-intensive. This is because the reporter has to travel and conduct investigations with every person involved. Second, contextual reporting is time consuming. Contextual reporting requires in-depth inquiry into the matter which may take a lot of time. Lastly, contextual inquiry results cannot be applied in providing a statistical inference due to inadequacy of data (Eccles & Krzus, 2015).
As a fashion writer, I will take the stance of hype reporting. Hype reporting will help increase readership/viewership which is a plus in the fashion industry.
References
Eccles, R. G., & Krzus, M. P. (2015). The integrated reporting movement: Meaning, momentum, motives, and materiality. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Zelizer, B., & Allan, S. (2010). Keywords in news and journalism studies. Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: Open University Press, McGraw Hill Education.
Related
