Angela Grant, at her blog In The Circle, raises a question that has so far escaped my attention: Is music editorializing? There’s some food for deep thought here, when it comes to the multimedia storytelling that is now a staple of most news organizations. A sample:
As a print news reporter, my editors would sometimes agonize over single words or short phrases. Is this word too strong here? Too emotional? Biased? Believe me, a music track is much more efficient at creating emotion than a single word.
The easy answer is to only use music that is collected as part of the reporting and that relates directly to the story — music playing in the background, performances, etc. But “non-collected” music can add a depth and emotion to storytelling.
Grant is right to say that there are ethical considerations that go with every musical choice. So add that to the skill set for 21st century journalists: the ability to use music ethically in new-age storytelling.
(Grant’s blog is new to me; I discovered through a pointer at Innovation in College Media. I’ve added her to my Journalism bookmarks.)
TAGS: MULTIMEDIA, JOURNALISM, MUSIC
Thanks for the link! I think I’ll add this blog to my reader too.
I think one question a journalist could ask about music is: Does the music add a feeling or emotion that was really present at the scene? Put another way, does the music accurately illustrate the real emotion that was there? You obviously wouldn’t want to put sad music with a happy story, for example.
That question is dangerous though, because music is so subjective.