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It is very hard for journalism to be 100% non-fiction. See, fiction is whenever a writer or other journalist takes a story and rather than tell the whole truth they embellish it.

This embellishment can come from leaving part of the story out, adding something to the story, or even the way it is said. It does not have to be intentional. When we edit a story for time and don't get the "whole story publicised" we have quite possibly changed the meaning of the story for someone. Now, as if this wasn't complicated enough we have to think of one more thing that makes journalism fiction.

Hearing! That's right hearing. It doesn't matter how we tell a story if we don't have someone who can hear it the way it is supposed to be. As we all know, we can listen to a speech and listen to the person next to us explaining what we just heard and go,"Man, where did he hear that!". So. in conclusion, fictitious journalism is two-fold.

If we add a little or remove a little and someone hears a little or adds to what he hears then we have pure fiction based on a true story. We must learn our demographic base and watch how we edit and make sure we let ourselves be understood. Then we will be close to pure journalism.

Learn more about this author, Stanley Roberts.
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