Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

Jim Harnish

Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.

Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.

Fernando Figueroa

Gary Beemer

Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

Sean Marcus

Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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Reporting or Opinion: Emotionally Charged Words Sway As Well as Inform Readers

Posted Jan 23, 2009 by Kris DiGiovanni

Updated Jan 23, 2009 at 08:33 AM

The English teacher in me makes me more sensitive than most to word choice by the media. I cringe when I hear a TV anchor announce, “Cops busted down the door,” or a commentator explain how resources could be better “utilized” or employees more “incentivized.”

The use of slang and “non-words” had crept into the English language at such a steady pace, that I sometimes think E. B. White must have become an alternative energy source, what with all the grave spinning going on. However, those types of language transgressions don’t bother me nearly as much, as the deliberate use of specific language and descriptors to stir emotion when only the facts are required to report the event. For example:

“Grandmother Arrested in Pot Sting”

The fact that the person is a grandmother has no relevance to the fact that she was arrested on a drug charge. It may not even reflect the fact that she is old, since I’ve know grandmothers as young as 32. But the use of the term conjures up an image of a sweet, gentle person, and juxtaposed against the crime, elicits far more outrage than if the headline was:

“Local Woman Arrested in Pot Sting”

Thus, an emotionally charged word in place of a more pedestrian choice makes the headline more than just a simple report of the facts of the matter.

A recent headline in the Tampa Tribune read:

“Florida Legislature Raids Reserves For Funds”

This headline was on the front page, not the editorial section. Note that the writer did not choose to say that the legislature had voted to “access,” or “tap,” or even “use” these earmarked funds – although any of those words would have been accurate in describing what had occurred. Instead, the reporter decided to make it an opinion piece by using the word “raid,” meaning “assault or attack.” The word “raid” appeared later that week in an editorial about the same subject, and its use there was appropriate. Readers knew that what they were reading was viewpoint, not objective reporting.

I see examples of opinion that pass for reporting every day. Often they are subtle. How much differently would you evaluate an article in which the writer used the words “claimed” and “admitted” instead of “said” and “told” when describing statements made by someone accused of breaking the law? The first pair of words definitely imply guilt, or at the least, an attempt to cover something up.

People are informed by facts, but moved by emotion. In today’s cut-throat media industry where every outlet is competing fiercely for eyes and ears, is it so wrong for reporters and journalists to use every tool in their arsenal to increase reader- or viewer-ship? Various studies have show there is far more emotion in reporting since 9-11. But where do you draw the line between the legitimate injection of “humanity” into a story, and the deliberate use of words designed to manufacture emotion and increase ratings?

Reporters and journalists have an obligation to inform the public. Sometimes that means going beyond a vanilla recitation of the facts and telling a “story.” Because one proven way to gain enough attention to open someone’s mind is to first engage their heart, emotion has a justifiable place in the news.

But each person who purports to be a bringer of “news” to the public must hold themselves to stringent standards. Has the subject/person been treated fairly? Have the facts been colored in a way designed to influence how the viewer will feel, or have they been shown in a light that allows the viewer to make up their own mind? And maybe most important of all – if this story was about me, my loved one, or something I hold dear, is this the way I would want the public informed?

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